Lit Terms #3

exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.

expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic   representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).

fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

fallacy: from Latin word “to deceive”, a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.

falling action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

figurative language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).

flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.

folk tale: story passed on by word of mouth.

foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; “planning” to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

free verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.

genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

gothic tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.

imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

implication: a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author.

incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.

inference: a judgement or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available.

irony: a contrast or incongruity between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens, or what is thought to be happening and what is actually happening.