Unit 5 Literary Terms

epilogue

an incident or scene occurring after the end of the story or play proper; also a speech in prose or verse addressed by a player to the audience after the end of the play itself, in such speech the player might point out the moral and aid the audience in the interpretation of the play

epiphany

a sudden flash of insight; a startling discovery and/or appearance; a dramatic realization

epiphany example

Jocasta’s sudden realization that her husband is her son is an epiphanous moment in Sophocles’ *Oedipus Rex*

episode

a group of related incidents forming a unit in the plot; usually made up of a series of incidents, a book-length piece of fiction is usually made up of a series of them

epitaph

an inscription upon a tomb; occasionally means a brief composition characterizing a dead person, and it is expressed as if the deceased himself intended the saying to be inscribed on his tombstone

epitaph example

Here lies W.C. Fields,

On the whole

I would rather be living

In Philadelphia

\
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

essay

a short prose composition, either formal or informal, usually dealing with one central idea and usually expressing the personal point of view of the author

exposition

explanation or disclosure of information necessary for the reader’s understanding of the situation

exposition example

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little of no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish, Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quickly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ocean with me.”

\- Herman Melville’s *Moby Dick*

fable

a short story intended to reveal some useful truth or precept, especially a story in which animals or inanimate things speak and act like human beings

fantasy

a highly imaginative piece of fiction containing supernatural elements and accenting charm and whimsicality; something capricious, playful or fanciful

fantasy example

Barrie’s *Peter Pan*

farce

a kind of comedy that depends on exaggerated or improbable situations, physical disasters, and sexual innuendo to amuse the audience; many situation comedies on television

feminine ending

when a line of poetry ends on an unstressed syllable, especially one exceeding the general metrical pattern of the poem

feminine ending example

“How that might change his nature, there’s the question”

\- Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

feminine rhyme

rhyme in which the rhyming words both end on unstressed syllables

fiction

an invented or imaginary story, whether novel, short story, play, or narrative poem

figurative language

unlike literal expression, it uses figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, metonymy, personification, and hyperbole; appeals to one’s senses

figurative language example

Sweet daughter of a rough and stormy sire,

Hoar Winter’s blooming child; delightful Spring!

Whose unshorn locks with leaves

And swelling buds are crowned…

\- Anna Laetitia Barbauld, “Ode to Spring”

figure of speech

a form of expression that deviates intentionally from the ordinary mode of speech for the sake of more powerful, pleasing, or distinctive effect; common ones are alliteration, antithesis, apostrophe, assonance, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, personification, and simile

fine writing

an affected, over-careful, over-refined, flowery style

fine writing example

“The man of thought comes to the man of words; and the man of words, duly instructed in the thought, dips the pen of desire into the ink of devotedness, and proceeds to spread over the pages of desolation. then the nightingale of affection is heard to warble to the rose of loveliness, while the breeze of anxiety play around the brow of expectation.”

\- Newman’s T*he Ideas of a University*

flashback

a passage in a play or story which breaks the chronological sequence of the story to deal with an earlier event

flat character

a simple, one-dimensional character who remains the same, and about whom little or nothing is revealed throughout the course of the work; may serve as symbols of types of people, similar to stereotypical characters

focus

the center on which the author seems to concentrate the material of his literary work; the particular, whether of idea, incident, character, or setting, that the author wishes to stress; may change or remain the same throughout a piece of writing

foil

a character used to bring out, by contrast, the traits of another character; hence, the distinctive traits of both are emphasized by the dissimilarity of the two characters

foot

unit of meter in a line of poetry; can have two or three syllables consists generally of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables

foreshadowing

a device or method for hinting at the outcome of a narrative; often increases interest by making the reader curious to see if his vague expectations will be fulfilled; sometimes done by prophet-like, supernatural, or demented characters, or by children, animals, events or natural phenomena

form

the overall arrangement and organization in a work of literature to give a general effect; style and structure are subdivisions of it

format

the shape and size of a book, or its general form of arrangement

frame

a story in it is preceded by a scene presenting the narrator, who is about to tell the story, and often followed by a scene presenting him as he ends it; sometimes, but not usually, it is interrupted by glimpses of him in the midst of his recital

free verse

poetry having no regular meter or rhyme