Terminology linked to structure and discourse

Act and Scene The major structural divisions of a play are called acts, and their sub-divisions scenes. An act or scene changes to indicate either the passage of time, a new action or a change of place. Shakespeare's plays have five acts, whereas most modem plays have two or three.

Denouement    A term that may be used of both novels and plays when talking about the way the tangled elements of a plot are untied. Denouements are often linked to discoveries, because it's often in the light of a discovery that a plot can be wound up. Because plots are more important in comic rather than tragic works, their denouements are more complex and, often, more intriguing. The unveiling of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (a discovery) leads to the hoped for denouement - the publicly declared love of Beatrice and Benedick.

Discourse Marker A word or phrase that marks the divisions between the parts of a communication e.g. ‘actually’, ‘basically’, ‘I mean’, ‘anyway’, ‘ok’. Can be used to guide the reader/audience through points in a speech.

Dramatic Irony Occurs when an audience or reader is aware of something that at least one character is not aware of.  This can involve a character failing to grasp the full impact of his or her own words, or those of another character.  Dramatic irony can involve the audience/reader while creating suspense.

End-stopped lines and Enjambement/Run-on Lines.    An end-stopped line is one in which the grammatical unit, be it clause or sentence, is coterminous with the line. Thus, there is the satisfaction of finding the line and the sense ending together. A run-on line (sometimes called an enjambed line) is where the grammar, and thus the sense, is left unfinished at the end of the line. Run-on lines create pleasurable feelings of expectation, as the reader has to look further for the full sense of what is being said.

First Person Narration ‘I’ Using a first-person perspective has a number of advantages.  It is immediate and has a sense of authority. You can usually empathise more with a first person narrator as the voice is personalised.  Often the reader unconsciously adopts their position and accepts what they are saying (manipulated into identifying with the character’s subjective viewpoint). First person narrators may also have their own personal language quirks (idiolect).

Flashback An interruption of the chronological sequence of an event to go back to something that happened in the past. A flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration. By giving material that occurred prior to the present event, the writer provides the reader with insight into a character's motivation and or background to a conflict.

Foreshadowing A literary technique used by writers to provide clues for the reader to be able to predict what might occur later on in the story. The writer drops hints about certain  plot developments.  Foreshadowing strives to let the reader know that the issues to come are larger than the reader might assume.  As a hook device, they may even tell you explicitly that something big is about to happen.

Multiple Narration    A story that is told by more than one narrator. Sometimes, as inWuthering Heights, interesting problems of reliability and perspective are raised when the events are seen from several viewpoints. The reader must be alert to what each narrator knows and aware of the different ways in which they present, interpret and judge what is going on.

Omniscient narrator A narrator adopts an ‘all-knowing’ stance, being able to see into the minds of all the characters.  (see third person narration).

Plot    The pattern of events that constitutes the main business of a narrative. Because plot is a literary idea, it's best to define it as the order of events as they are known to the reader. It's often helpful to look at the problem or situation out of which the plot grows and think about the various ways in which plots can be constructed.

Resolution       A term for the ways in which a plot is sorted out, usually at the close of a book. Resolution usually has two aspects - a human one and a formal one. Audiences and readers want to know how the lives of characters work out, so they take an interest in whether or not the plans and hopes of the characters are fulfilled. The formal aspect is not detached from this interest. Characters form groups and are often very similar or interestingly different from each other. Such grouping prompts a desire in the reader for a balance, or at least a discernible pattern, in the working out of their respective lives. A simple case of this is the desire to see the good rewarded and the bad punished. 
The close of Shakespeare's plays are an interesting balance of the human and formal interests; audiences want to see the lovers married off and they enjoy the way in which the pairings are carefully contrasted with each other. The marriages at the close of As You Like Itform a set of interesting contrasts as well as engaging our sympathies to varying degrees. The term can also be used of poetry, to describe the way in which the passage of feelings in a poem or an argument are brought to a satisfying close.

Retrospective Narration What retrospective narration allows a novelist to do is exploit the distance between the event narrated and the act of narration. Because the narrator looks back, there is a distance in time between the 'then' of the event and the 'now' of the narration. This allows narrators to think about the significance of the past that is being recalled. It also allows readers to think about the differences between the two times. Thus in Great Expectations, Pip recognises how his snobbery was the product of his false sense of values. Sometimes, a retrospective narration is problematic. There are moments when Jane Eyre works retrospectively, but other moments when it doesn't. For instance, Jane never discloses until the final chapter that she is narrating the novel not as Jane Eyre but as Jane Rochester.

Repetition The repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis.  This technique can give great emotional force to a moment. It can help highlight the significance of something and bring attention to a text’s central idea.

Soliloquy    A speech delivered when a character is either alone or isolated on the stage. A soliloquy can be public, in which case the character directly addresses the audience, orprivate, in which case the audience overhears the character talking to himself or herself. In Shakespeare, soliloquies are usually only given to important characters. For instance, Hamlet has a number of private soliloquies, and Iago a number of public ones. Characters very rarely tell lies in soliloquies, so you should pay particular attention to them.

Stanza    A group of lines in a poem that form its basic, structural unit. The shape of a stanza is formed by the number of lines and often by the rhyme scheme. If you choose to write about the stanza form of a poem, you should seek to show how it moulds the meaning of the poem. You can also ask whether the stanza is appropriate to the mood and meaning of the poem. 
Famous stanza forms are terza rima (three lines, usually rhyming ABA,BCD); quatrain (four lines); rime royal (seven lines, rhyming ABABBCC); ottava rima (eight lines, rhyming ABABABCC); and the Spenserian stanza (nine lines, rhyming ABABBCBCC). The last line of the Spenserian stanza is an alexandrine - a line of six (a hexameter) rather than five stresses; this line closes the stanza in a leisurely, even languid manner. (See also Rhyme).

Sub-plot    A minor plot which often echoes the concerns of the major plot. You can use the term of both novels and plays. The relation between major and minor plots deserves attention.

Trajectory    The direction of a plot. The term is useful when discussing how the initial conditions of a plot can be expected to develop. Quite often the delight we have in literature lies in the way in which the trajectory of the plot is other than what we were led to expect. InThe Winter's Tale, for instance, there is an interesting change from a plot pre- occupied with the difficult relationship between the two Kings to one which centres on the loves of their two children.

Tripling/Rule of three One of the easiest and most useful ways of emphasising a point is by using three words or phrases. Arranging ideas using a triadic structure creates a rhythmic cohesive pattern that can make something memorable.