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Terms for subject Literature (1061 entries)

fable	A brief narrative illustrating human tendencies through the depiction of animal characters. Unlike the parables, fables often feature talking animals or animated objects as the principal characters. The interaction of these animals or objects exposes truths about human nature.
fabliau (plural, fabliaux)	A humorous or "dirty" narrative popular with French poets, who traditionally wrote the story in couplets. Fabliaux often revolve around trickery, practical jokes, sexual mishaps, mistaken identity, and bodily humor. Chaucer included several fabliaux in The Canterbury Tales (the Shipman, the Friar, the Miller, the Reeve, and the Cook)
fairy tale	A story, generally for children about magical beings or the supernatural, often with a moral or message.
fairy tale	A story, generally for children about magical beings or the supernatural, often with a moral or message.
false cognate	Words which appear in two languages, looking like the same word, but with different meanings.
fame/shame culture	A culture which embraces the notion of 'death before dishonour', glorifying warriors.
fantasy	Fiction with a large amount of imagination in it.
farce	A form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations.
Faustian bargain	To agree to a sacrifice in exchange for knowledge. From the legend of Faust. He exchanged his soul for knowledge.
feminine ending	An extra syllable at the end of a line of verse.
feminine rhyme	An extra syllable at the end of a line of verse.
feminism	The intellectual, philosophical and political discourse aimed at equal rights and legal protection for women
feminist criticism	A discourse which addresses what it considers to be the patriarchal nature of society and literature, and attempts to think about equality of men and women.
fiction	This term refers to a story devised by a writer, using their imagination. Fiction usually contains little or no truth.
fictional character	An imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story)
figurative language	Language where literary or poetic techniques and devices, such as metaphors and similes, are used to produce a meaning beyond the literal surface meaning.
figure of speech	A phrase or expression which uses words not in their literal sense.
finno-ugric	A language group including such languages as Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian and others.
first folio	A collection of Comedies, Histories and tragedies (36 in total) of Shakespeare's works, published in 1623.
first language	The preferred or native/fluent language a speaker chooses to communicate in.