Fantasy
A form of literary genre in which a plot cannot occur in the real world
Farce
A literary genre and type of comedy that makes use of highly exaggerated and funny situations aimed at entertaining the audience. Farce is also a subcategory of dramatic comedy, which is different from other forms of comedy as it only aims at making the a
Feminine Rhyme
It rhymes on one or two unstressed syllables
Feminist Criticism
An attempt to describe and interpret (and reinterpret) women's experience as depicted in various kinds of literature - especially the novel, and, to a lesser extent, poetry and drama. It questions the long-standing, dominant, male, phallocentric ideologie
Fiction
narrates a story, which aims at something bigger than merely a story. In this attempt, it comments on something significant related to social, political, or human related issues
Figurative Language
Uses figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive, and impactful:
-has five different forms:
--Understatement or Emphasis
--Relationship or Resemblance
--Figures of Sound
--Errors
--Verbal Games
Figure of Speech
Is a phrase or word having different meanings than its literal meanings. It conveys meaning by identifying or comparing one thing to another, which has connotation or meaning familiar to the audience
First Person Point of View
Mode of storytelling or discourse in which the narrator recounts events using "I" to explain events from their own personal perspective.
Flashback
Interruption of a literary work in which previous occurrences are explained, helps to fill in missing information, and characterize.
Flat character
Simple unchanging characters that are very predictable throughout the entirety of a literary work.
Foil
A character whose qualities contrast with those of another in order to emphasize particular qualities of another character.
A subplot can also serve as a foil to the main plot by serving as a catalyst to the overall theme.
Folk Ballad
Consists of a Quatrain in which the first and third lines have four stresses while the second and fourth have three stresses. Usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme. The rhythm is basically iambic, but the number of unstressed syllables in a line
Folklore
Customs, superstitions, stories, dances, and songs that have been adopted and maintained within a given community by processes of repetition passed on from one generation to the next orally.
Foot
The most basic unit of a poem's meter, containing stressed and unstressed syllables.
Foreshadowing
the writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story
often appears at the beginning of a story, or a chapter
helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a story.
Form
a text's structure--how it is constructed and organized
Formatic Criticism
style of inquiry that focuses on features of the literary text itself
Frame
a narrative technique in which a story is surrounded by a secondary story, creating a story within a story
the inner story is usually the bulk of the work
framing device places the inside story within a different context
Free Verse
vers libre; poetry that is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms but is rather based on natural rhythmical phrases
Freight-Train
sentence consisting of three or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunctions
Generalization
the abstraction of a general idea, principle, or pattern from the observation of particular objects, events, or experiences; a statement that is broad enough to cover or describe characteristics that are common to a variety of particular objects, events,
Generic Conventions
describes traditions for each genre
helps to define each genre
distinguishes the unique features of a writer's work from those dictated by convention
Genre
A type of art, literature, or music characterized by a specific form, content, and style. Literature has four main genres: poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction. All of these genres have particular features and functions that distinguish them from one an
Gothic Novel
A style of writing that is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion. These emotions can include fear and suspense.
Hamartia
Also known as a tragic flaw
A personal error in a protagonist's personality that brings about his tragic downfall in a tragedy.
Harangue
An exhortatory speech, usually delivered to a crowd to incite them to some action.
Hemistich
The exact or approximate half of a stich, or poetic verse or line, especially as divided by a caesura or the like.
Heptameter
A metrical verse line composed of seven feet (see foot). In the context of English verse, in which a heptameter is a seven-stress line, it is often referred to as a fourteener. It is sometimes known as a septenary.
Hero
The principal character of a literary work.
This term is also employed in another sense, for the celebrated figures in certain ancient legends, and heroic epics like Gilgamesh, the Iliad, Beowulf, or La Chanson de Roland. However, it has traveled a long w
Heroic Couplet
Commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, a pair of rhymed lines with iambic pentameter
hexameter
a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet, especially of six dactyls