Poetry for Students

Volume 19 317

guish. The two strains hold certain beliefs in com-

mon: that existence cannot be fully understood or

described through empirical effort; that anguish is

a universal element of life; that individuals must

bear responsibility for their actions; and that there

is no common standard of behavior or perception

for religious and ethical matters.

Expatriates:SeeExpatriatism

Expatriatism:The practice of leaving one’s coun-

try to live for an extended period in another

country.

Exposition:Writing intended to explain the nature

of an idea, thing, or theme. Expository writing is

often combined with description, narration, or ar-

gument. In dramatic writing, the exposition is the

introductory material which presents the characters,

setting, and tone of the play.

Expressionism:An indistinct literary term, origi-

nally used to describe an early twentieth-century

school of German painting. The term applies to al-

most any mode of unconventional, highly subjec-

tive writing that distorts reality in some way.

Extended Monologue:SeeMonologue

F

Feet:SeeFoot

Feminine Rhyme:SeeRhyme

Fiction:Any story that is the product of imagina-

tion rather than a documentation of fact. Charac-

ters and events in such narratives may be based in

real life but their ultimate form and configuration

is a creation of the author.

Figurative Language:A technique in writing in

which the author temporarily interrupts the order,

construction, or meaning of the writing for a par-

ticular effect. This interruption takes the form of

one or more figures of speech such as hyperbole,

irony, or simile. Figurative language is the oppo-

site of literal language, in which every word is

truthful, accurate, and free of exaggeration or em-

bellishment.

Figures of Speech:Writing that differs from cus-

tomary conventions for construction, meaning, or-

der, or significance for the purpose of a special

meaning or effect. There are two major types of

figures of speech: rhetorical figures, which do not

make changes in the meaning of the words; and

tropes, which do.

Fin de siecle:A French term meaning “end of the

century.” The term is used to denote the last decade

of the nineteenth century, a transition period when

writers and other artists abandoned old conventions

and looked for new techniques and objectives.

First Person:SeePoint of View

Folk Ballad:SeeBallad

Folklore:Traditions and myths preserved in a cul-

ture or group of people. Typically, these are passed

on by word of mouth in various forms—such as

legends, songs, and proverbs—or preserved in cus-

toms and ceremonies. This term was first used by

W. J. Thoms in 1846.

Folktale:A story originating in oral tradition. Folk-

tales fall into a variety of categories, including

legends, ghost stories, fairy tales, fables, and anec-

dotes based on historical figures and events.

Foot:The smallest unit of rhythm in a line of po-

etry. In English-language poetry, a foot is typically

one accented syllable combined with one or two

unaccented syllables.

Form:The pattern or construction of a work which

identifies its genre and distinguishes it from other

genres.

Formalism:In literary criticism, the belief that lit-

erature should follow prescribed rules of construc-

tion, such as those that govern the sonnet form.

Fourteener Meter:SeeMeter

Free Verse:Poetry that lacks regular metrical and

rhyme patterns but that tries to capture the cadences

of everyday speech. The form allows a poet to ex-

ploit a variety of rhythmical effects within a single

poem.

Futurism:A flamboyant literary and artistic move-

ment that developed in France, Italy, and Russia

from 1908 through the 1920s. Futurist theater and

poetry abandoned traditional literary forms. In their

place, followers of the movement attempted to

achieve total freedom of expression through bizarre

imagery and deformed or newly invented words.

The Futurists were self-consciously modern artists

who attempted to incorporate the appearances and

sounds of modern life into their work.

G

Genre:A category of literary work. In critical the-

ory, genre may refer to both the content of a given

work—tragedy, comedy, pastoral—and to its form,

such as poetry, novel, or drama.

Genteel Tradition:A term coined by critic George

Santayana to describe the literary practice of cer-

tain late nineteenth-century American writers, es-

pecially New Englanders. Followers of the Genteel

Glossary of Literary Terms

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