Name______
Literary Elements Notes
Fill in the blanks while you focus on the presentation.
Main Idea / The most important point in a literary work. What the story is mostly about. Sometimes the main idea is directly stated and sometimes you need to use supporting details to figure it out.Mood / The feeling the reader experiences as a result of the reading.
Tone / The writer’s attitude or feeling about the subject of the story. Word choice, sentence structure, and line length all help to create the tone.
Characters / The people or animals in the story. You can learn about the characters through direct characterization (stated directly) or indirect characterization (physical appearance; their speech, thoughts, feelings or actions or those of other characters).
Character Traits / The qualities, attitudes, and values that a character has or displays.
Point-of-view / The perspective from which the narrator tells the story.
First person: the narrator is a character in the story. (uses I, we, our)
Third Person: the narrator is not a character in the story. (uses he, she)
Setting / When and where a story takes place.
Theme / The message in a story that the author wants you to recognize. It usually needs to be inferred and can be applied to real life.
Plot / The sequence or related chain of events that take place in a story.
Six Elements of Plot / • Exposition: introduction of the characters, setting and basic situation in the beginning of the story.
• Rising action: introduces problems and builds suspense. Events that occur as the conflict develops.
• Conflict: the struggle or problem. An internal conflict is when a character struggles within himself or herself. The external conflict happens when a character struggles against an outside force such as another person or something in nature.
• Climax: the turning point of the story. It is often considered the most exciting or suspenseful part of the story.
• Falling action: the events after the climax.
• Resolution: ending outcome of a story.