Lit Terms #3

Exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.
ex: “A long time ago in a galaxy far away, far away…” This is at the beginning of the Star Warsmovies where everything is explained in text on the screen

Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling(s).
ex: Samuel Beckett was an expressionist playwright

Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.
ex: Aesop's fables include The Ant and the Grasshopper and The Hare and the Tortoise 
 
Fallacy: from Latin word “to deceive”, a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.
ex: the appeal to popular opinion fallacy "A lot of people buy this, so it must be awesome"

Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.
ex: In Titanic when the survivors get rescued and put on the other boat
 
Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.
ex: The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde

Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile).
ex: "A host of golden daffodils;  Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze." from Wordsworth "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.
ex: In Into the Wild Chris has several flashbacks while in the wild about his life in society

Foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.
ex: In Harry Potter, Voldemort is a foil to Dumbledore
 
Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth.
ex: Paul Bunyan.

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.
ex: In John Steinbeck novel “Of Mice and Men”, the George killing Candy’s dog foreshadows Candy killing Lennie because Candy is identical to George and Lennie to the dog.

Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.
ex: Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.
ex: Mystery, romance, fiction, non-fiction

Gothic Tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence. 
ex: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.
ex: I am dying of shame
 
Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.
ex: He whiffed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee

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. 
ex: When the professor said, “All the other professors in this college are pushovers,” he implied (not inferred) that he was a tough professor.

Incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.
ex:  in fables, the clever ones are usually the small/oppressed, while the foolish ones are usually the big/gigantic/ ones. in the end, the small ones always win against the big ones.

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. 
ex: Based on the fact that Allyson got into Princeton, you can infer that she is very intelligent.

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. 
ex: The fire station burns down.