Prepared for Miss

Ashburns 7
th
and 8
th

grade English class
Elements of
Literature
By Laura B. Page
Library Media Specialist
Objective
Students will recognize elements of
recognized literature to facilitate the
composition of original stories.
(Alabama Courses of Study for English
Language Arts: 7.23, 8.21)
OK, now that you have seen the formal
objective
Heres the plan in everyday English:
A.Youre going to be writing stories.
B.You want them to be GOOD stories.
C.So well look at what goes into a good
story, so you can use the same things to
create a good story of your own.

Its as simple as
The elements of literature we will
examine today are:

Character
Plot
Theme
Setting



Point of view
Style
Literary rhythm
Tone
Character
Character: A person
who takes part in the
action of a story, novel,
or a play. Sometimes
characters are animals
or imaginary creatures,
such as beings from
another planet.
Character
Consider Winnie-the-Pooh.
Did you know he was a book
character long before Disney
made him a movie star? Or
that Christopher Robin was a
real person in England?
Its true: Christopher Robin Milne, son
of author A. A. Milne, had a teddy bear
he named Winnie-the-Pooh. Milne
made up bed-time stories about Pooh
and his buddies, all of which were other
stuffed animals in Christopher Robins
collection.
What is it about those characters?
Think of the Winnie-the-Pooh characters.
Which one is your favorite?

Heres why I like Pooh:
Pooh is nearly always cheerful.
Pooh doesnt let bad things bring him
down.
Pooh is adventurous.
Pooh values his friends.
Pooh is a problem-solver.
Pooh enjoys the value of a good meal and
a good napI can relate!
By the way, these are called character
traits or characteristics.
Now its your turn

Pick a character from Winnie-the-Pooh and
describe some characteristics. Make a list and
share it with your neighbor.
What makes this character appealing?
Can you relate to the character?
Do you share any of his/her characteristics?
How could these traits be used in your story?

Note: Please do NOT use the words cute or cool.
You can do better than that!
Plot
Plot : The action or sequence of events in a
story. Plot is usually a series of related
incidents that builds and grows as the story
develops.
Plot
There are five basic elements in a plot line:
(a) exposition; (b) rising action; (c) climax;
(d) falling action; and (e) resolution or
denouement.

Exposition
Rising
Action
Climax
Falling
Action
Denouement
What??
Exposition: Introduce the story, using vivid,
descriptive words to paint a picture in the
readers mind.
Rising Action: Get the plot into gear,
develop a conflict, and build toward the
climax.
Climax: The main action at its highest
pointmake it interesting!
Falling Action: Wind it down, fill in missing
pieces, show the consequences.
Denouement: Conclude the story.

By the way, denouement is pronounced
day-noo-MON.

In French it literally means untying the
knot.
You can think of the climax as
being like a mass of ropes at
their tightest and most tangled;
the denouement detangles and
sorts them out.
Consider Winnie-the-Pooh and the
Blustery Day.
Exposition: Its a windy, blustery day as a
storm is brewing in the Hundred Acre
Wood. Pooh goes about wishing everyone
Happy Winds-day.



Winnie-the-Pooh and the
Blustery Day.
Rising Action: At night, when the rains
come and flood the Wood, Piglet gets
trapped in his chair at home and Pooh gets
stuck in a honey pot. The others organize
a rescue, but its too late. Pooh and Piglet
have floated away.

The Climax
In the turbulent stream, Pooh and Piglet
try frantically to reach land, but wind up
going over a waterfall! Oh no!!!
Christopher Robin and the others organize
a search.


Falling Action: Pooh and Piglet finally float
to Christopher Robins house. Christopher
Robin believes that Pooh has rescued
Piglet, and throws a hero party for Pooh.

Conclusion: It becomes a double-hero
party when Piglet gives up his house for
Owl to live in (Owls nest had been blown
out of the tree during the storm).
Plot: your turn
Take a minute and sketch out a plot line
diagram. As you write your story, make
sure the action rises and falls.
Exposition
Rising
Action
Climax
Falling
Action
Denouemen
t
Theme
Theme: A central idea or abstract concept
that is made concrete through
representation in person, action, and
image.
Sometimes the theme is directly stated in
the work, and sometimes it is given
indirectly. There may be more than one
theme in a given work.
Hmmm? Think about
Green Eggs and Ham.

Did you know that its about overcoming

Theme
A theme is a central idea or abstract concept
that is made concrete through
representation in person, action, and
image.

ACCEPTANCE (idea)

Theme
Theme is not simply a subject or an
activity, vice for instance, but a specific
idea, such as Vice seems more interesting
than virtue but turns out to be destructive.

Think Aesops Fablesthe moral of the
story. What is the moral of Green Eggs
and Ham?
In your groups, write a moral for this story.
Theme
Sometimes the theme is directly stated in
the work, and sometimes it is given
indirectly.
There may be more than one theme in a
given work.

Setting
Setting: The time and place of the
action in a story, play, or poem. Be sure
to describe the setting so that the reader
can visualize it!




Where does
Green Eggs
and Ham
take place?
How do you
know?
Point of View
Point of view: The vantage point from
which a story is told.
In the first person or narrative point of
view, the story is told by one of the
characters.
In the third person or omniscient point of
view, someone outside the story tells the
story.

Point of View
First Person:
The storyteller is INVOLVED in the storya
character.
The storyteller may even be the hero, (but is
not usually obnoxious about it).

Think of an example of a
first-person story and
share with your neighbors.
Point of View
Third Person:
Somebody who is
NOT involved in the
story is the
storyteller.
Can you name some stories
written in third person?
Style
Style: The particular way a piece of literature is
written. Not only what is said but also how it is
said, style is the writers unique way of
communicating ideas.
Elements contributing to style include
word choice
sentence length
tone
figurative language
use of dialogue
Style
If youve read Song of the Sparrow, by Lisa
Sendell, you know that it is written in verse:
Rhyme patterns
Rhythm patterns
Choice-of-word patterns
So are the Canterbury
Tales, which youll
read during your senior
year.
Literary Rhythm
Literary rhythm is the way the story flows.
Consider A Series of Unfortunate Events,
by Lemony Snicket.
Literary Rhythm
Three orphaned children, Violet, Klaus,
and Sunny, are sent to live with an
increasingly odd selection of relatives.
The stories move from one tragedy to the
next, temporarily resolving one set of
circumstances, but moving rapidly to the
next unfortunate event.

Literary Rhythm
At every turn of events, the children are sabotaged
by their nemesis, the evil Count Olaf and his
henchmen, seeking to deprive them of their
inheritance.
The action looks something like this:
(Sorry, Im new at this free-drawn graph business)
Tone
Tone: An expression of a writers attitude
toward a subject. Unlike mood, which is
intended to shape the readers emotional
response, tone reflects the feelings of the
writer.
Tone can be serious, humorous,
sarcastic, playful, ironic, bitter, or
objective, to name a few.
Tone
Consider The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.
Tone
When Lucy
discovers
Narnia, she
finds that it is a
place where
its always
winter but
never
Christmas.
All Narnia images: http://en.wikipedia.org/
Tone
As the story develops, we get the
impression that the author cares deeply
about Lucy and her siblings, loves and
respects Aslan, and despises the White
Witch, just from the way they are
described.
Summary

Character
Plot
Theme
Setting


Point of view
Style
Literary rhythm
Tone
Weve looked at these eight elements today:
Now its up to YOU.

References
All images: www.google.com/images
unless otherwise noted
Literary Terms Glossary:
http://armour.k12.sd.us/Mary%27s%20Cla
sses/literary_terms_glossary.htm
Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day
plot summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Winnie_the_Pooh_and_the_Blustery
Day#Plot