Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Literary Terms List #3

exposition-  beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and characters in a detailed explanation.
Ex. The exposition for Julius Caesar is when readers discover that Caesar has conquered Pompey and are introduced to some of the characters.

expressionism-  movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling.
Ex. James Joyce

fable-  a short simple story usually with animals ar characters, designed to teach a moral truth.
Ex. The turtle and the hare.

fallacy-  a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument.
Ex.  The radio stopped working, Taylor kicked it, it started working again, Taylor fixed the radio.

falling action-  part of the narrative or drama after the climax.
Ex.  The falling action in Romeo and Juliet happens when the bodies of Romeo and Juliet are discovered. Their parents then decide to put aside their fight.

farce-  a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.
Ex.  Saturday Night Live

figurative language-  apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech.
Ex.  The charming young prince swept her off her feet like a magic carpet soaring away into the moonlight.

flashback-  a narrative device that flashed back to prior events.
Ex.  No Exit uses flashbacks when the sinners refer to their past lives.

foil-  a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.
Ex.  Mercutio is a foil for Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.

folk tale-  story passed on by word of mouth.
Ex.  The story about Big Foot is a folk tale.

foreshadowing-  a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action.
Ex.  She began thinking of different poems that have no conventional metrical pattern.

free verse-  verse without conventional metrical pattern.
Ex.  Walt Whitman did many free verse poems.

genre- a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.
Ex.  Science fiction, drama, comedy, and romance.

gothic tale-  a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay.
Ex.  Frankenstein 

hyperbole-  an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.
Ex.  There are over a million people outside waiting for us to open up the doors!

imagery-  figures of speech or vivid descriptions conveying images through any of the senses.
Ex.  The tears ran freshly down her cherry red face like a babbling brook flows down  hill.

implication-  an understanding that is to be arrived at by the reader but that is not fully stated by the author.
Ex.  I can't wait to see Mickey's smiling face this weekend and Cinderella's castle.

incongruity-  the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.
Ex.  A wealthy actor that lives in an old beat up house.

inference-  a judgement or conclusion based on evidence presented, the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probabiltiy according to facts already available.
Ex.  I infer that I am almost done with this assignment.

irony-  a contrast between what is said and what is meant.
Ex.  In Romeo and Juliet, it's ironic that they both kill themselves because they think the other is dead.

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