Literary Terms #3

Exposition: a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory
Expressionism: portraying the inner workings of a person’s mind by, effectively, turning them ‘inside out’ and allowing mental states to shape their face, body, and even the world in which they live
Fable: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, which features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson
Fallacy: argument that uses poor reasoning
Falling action: the part of a literary plot that occurs after the climax has been reached and the conflict has been resolved
Farce: a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations
Figurative language: language used by writers to produce images in readers’ minds and to express ideas in fresh, vivid, and imaginative ways
Flashback: an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point
Foil: One that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another
Folk tale: a characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people
Foreshadowing: literary device by which an author explains certain plot developments that may come later in the story
Free verse: an open form that does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern
Genre: term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment
Gothic tale: genre or mode of literature that combines fiction, horror and Romanticism.
Hyperbole: use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech
Imagery: use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas
Implication: the conclusion that can be drawn from something, although it is not explicitly stated.
Incongruity: out of place
Inference: a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.
Irony: figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words