Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the beginning of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest. [2] Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an "outro" patterned on the use of "intro" for "introduction".
Poetic closure is the sense of conclusion given at the end of a poem. Barbara Herrnstein Smith's detailed study—Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End—explores various techniques for achieving closure. One of the most common techniques is setting up a regular pattern and then breaking it to mark the end of a poem.
An afterword is a literary device that is often found at the end of a piece of literature. [1] It generally covers the story of how the book came into being, or of how the idea for the book was developed.
A plot twist is a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. [1] When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist ending or surprise ending. [2]
As with other literary terms, these have come about gradually as descriptions of common narrative structures. Conflict was first described in ancient Greek literature as the agon, or central contest in tragedy. [3] According to Aristotle, in order to hold the interest, the hero must have a single conflict. The agon, or act of conflict, involves ...
Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations originally had a bleaker conclusion, with Pip meeting Estella, but after she remarried. In a letter, Dickens stated that he had been persuaded by Edward Bulwer-Lytton to change it prior to publication. [1] Ernest Hemingway struggled with the ending of A Farewell to Arms. By his count, he wrote 39 of ...
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
In detective stories, the dénouement is the segment of a mystery novel in which the protagonist of the story, or a character serving in his or her stead, reveals all the clues and lays out the conclusion for the other characters. This is usually in an attempt to show readers how the character came to the conclusion and solved the mystery.