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AP Lit Terms
| Terms | Definition |
|---|---|
| abstract | unable to be touched; not concrete |
| abstraction | a concept or value that can not be seen which the writer usually tries to illustrate by comparing it metaphorically to a known, concrete object |
| ad hominem | attacking the arguer and not the argument; mud-slinging |
| alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds |
| allusion | figure of speech which makes brief reference to an historical or literary figure, event, or object |
| ambiguity | expression of an idea in language which gives more than one meaning and leaves uncertainty as to the meaning |
| anachronism | something out of its place in time or history |
| analogy | comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object us similar to the familiar one |
| anapest | meter having two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable; ( - - / ) |
| anaphora | repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases for rhetorical or poetic effect |
| antagonist | character in a narrative or play who is in conflict with the main character; an antagonist may not even be a person, or may be the same person as the main character |
| anticlimax | intentional used of elevated language to describe the trivial or commonplace, or sudden a sudden transition from significant thought to a trivial one in order to achieve a humorous or satiric effect |
| anti-hero | protagonist who is the antithesis of the hero; graceless, inept, stupid, sometimes dishonest |
| anthithesis | figure of speech in which a thought is balanced with the contrasting thought in parallel arrangements of words and phrases |
| aphorism | brief statement which expresses an observation of life, usually intended as a wise observation |
| apollonian | the noble qualities of human beings and nature as opposed to the savage and destructive forces |
| apostrophe | addressing someone or something, usually not present, as though present; apostrophe is to a god, ghost, or some supernatural thing, like Death, Night, or Fate |
| apotheosis | larger-than-life presence; godlike paragon worthy of respect and reverence |
| appeal to ignorance | the claim that whatever has not been proved |
| aside | statement delivered by an actor in such a way that the other characters on stage are presumed not to have heard him |
| arguments | assertions made based on facts, statistics, logical or objective reasoning, hard evidence, etc. |
| assonance | similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words |
| asyndeton | omission of conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words and phrases |
| aubade | a poem about morning |
| auditory imagery | word choices that appeal to the ear |
| autobiography | author's own like story; first-person account |
| ballad | form of verse to be sung or recited and characterized by a dramatic or exciting episode in a fairly short narrative |
| Carpe diem | "seize the day"; a theme emphasizing that life is short, time is fleeting, and the one should make most of present pleasures |
| bathos | anticlimax which is unintentional; unintentional shift from the sublime to the ridiculous |
| begging the question | assuming the answer; a persuasive fallacy in which the writer assumes the reader will automatically accept an assertion without proper support |
| bildungsroman | German: growth novel; a novel showing the development of its central character from childhood to maturity |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter; metrical verse with no ending rhyme |
| bombast | elevated, often pompous or overdone |
| cacophony | a combination of harsh, unpleasant sounds which create an effect of discordance |
| caesura | a pause for effect in the middle of a line of poetry |
| Canon | works generally considered by scholars, critics, and teachers to be the most important to study or read |
| carpe diem | Latin phrase which translated means "Seize (Catch) the day" |
| catharsis | Aristotle's word for the pity and fear an audience experiences upon viewing the downfall of a hero |
| cause and effect relationships | a dominant technique in which the author analyzes reasons for a chain of events |
| characterization | the method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work |
| chiasmus | repetition in successive clauses which are usually parallel in syntax |
| classicism | an approach to literature which emphasizes reason, harmony, balance, proportion, clarity, and the imitation of ancient writers and philosophers |
| climax | the turning point, or crisis, in a play or other piece of literature |
| colloquial expressions | informal, not always grammatically correct expressions that find acceptance in certain geographical areas |
| comedy | a work which strives to provoke smiles and laughter |
| comic relief | something of humor interrupts an otherwise serious, often tragic, literary work |
| complication | the part of a plot in which the entanglement caused by the conflict is developed |
| conceit | an extended metaphor - two unlike things are compared in several different ways |
| concrete poetry | where the actual typeset layout of the poem suggests the topic |
| conflict | a struggle between opposing forces |
| connotation | the emotional implications that a word may carry; implied or associated meaning |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds |
| couplet | a pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter |
| crisis | the climax or turning point of a story or play |
| dactyl | three syllable foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by the unaccented syllable |
| denotation | the specific, exact meaning of a word; dictionary definition |
| denouement | the resolution of a plot after the climax |
| dues ex machina | an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot |
| dialect | speech peculiar to a region; exhibits distinctions between two groups or even two persons |
| dialogue | conversation between two or more characters, usually set off with quotation marks |
| diction | an author's choice of words |
| didactic verse | a term for a poem that teaches, almost preaches; the lesson being taught is more important to the writer than the artistic quality of the work |
| Dionysian | pertaining to the base side of man |
| drama | story performed by actors on a stage |
| dramatic irony | irony in which the character use words which mean on thing to them but another to those who understand the situation better |
| dramatic monologue | a poem that reveals a "soul in action" through the speech of one character in a dramatic situation |
| dystopia | the opposite of a utopia; a controlled world where pain exists instead of pleasure |
| elegy | lyrical poem about death; a serious poem, usually meant to express grief or sorrow |
| empathy | feelings of pity and understanding for a character |
| end rhyme | schematic rhyme that come sat the ends of lines of verse |
| end stop line | line of verse in which both the grammatical structure and the sense reach completion at the end of a line |
| enjambment | line of verse that carries over into next line without a pause of any kind |
| envelope method - (frame) | begins and ends with the same setting and/or narrator(s); middle is flashback |
| epic | a long narrative, usually written in elevated language, which related to the adventures of a hero upon whom rests the fate of a nation |
| epigram | a witty saying, usually at the end of a poem |
| epigraph | a brief quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter |
| epiphany | an awakening; a sudden understanding or burst of insight |
| epitaph | an engraving on a tombstone |
| epithet | nickname or appellation, i.e., "Helen of the white arms" in the Iliad |
| euphemism | substitute word(s) that sounds better than another; the use of inoffensive or neutral words to describe harsher, more serious concept |
| euphony | a quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds, the opposite of cacophony |
| existentialism | a term applied to a group of attitudes which emphasize existence rather the essence |
| exposition | the introductory material which sets the tone, gives the setting, introduces the characters, and supplies necessary facts |
| eye rhyme | a from of rhyme wherein the look rather then the sound is important |
| fable | story written to make a moral point, using animals as characters |
| fairy tale | a fictional tale, marked by fantasy and magic, often appealing to the imagination |
| falling action | everything that happens in the plot between the climax or crisis and the denouement |
| false dichotomy | two extremes in a continuum of intermediate possibilities |
| farce | a totally ridiculous comedy |
| feminine rhyme | double rhyme; two syllables rhyme |
| figurative language | writing or speech not meant to be taken literally; states something that is not literally true in order to create an effect |
| first person | subjective point of view when a character relays a narrative using "I" |
| flashback | a device by which an author can present action or scenes that occurred before the opening scene in a work |
| flat character | character who is not fully developed by an author;character who has only one outstanding trait or feature |
| foil | character who provides a contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the other's traits |
| folk tale | a story which has been composed orally and then passed down by word of mouth |
| foot | a unit of meter; a metrical foot can have two or three syllables; the basic unit of measurement in poetry |
| Iamb (u') | a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable |
| Trochee ('u) | a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable |
| Anapest (uu') | a metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable |
| Dactyl ('uu) | a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables |
| Pyrrhic (uu) | a metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables |
| Dipod | the basic dipodic verse, consisting of an unaccented syllable, a lightly accented syllable, an unaccented syllable, and a heavy accented syllable, in that succession |
| Spondee ('') | a metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented |
| Monometer | a line of one metrical foot |
| Dimeter | a line of two metrical feet |
| Trimeter | a line of three metrical feet |
| Tetrameter | a line of four metrical feet |
| Pentameter | a line of five metrical feet |
| Hexameter | a line of six metrical feet |
| foreshadowing | the arrangement and presentation of events and information in such a way that prepare for later events in a work |
| form | the structure, shape, pattern, organization, or style of a piece of literature |
| frame | a narrative constructed so that one or more stories are embedded within another story |
| free verse | unrhymed poetry with lines of varying lengths, containing no specific metrical pattern |
| genre | a specific kind or category of literature |
| gothic | a form of novel in which magic, mystery, horrors and chivalry abound |
| grotesque | focuses of physically or mentally impaired characters |
| haiku | popular Japanese form of poetry with 5,7, then 5 syllable pattern |
| half rhyme | occurs when the final consonants rhyme, but the vowel sounds do not |
| hamartia | a tragic flaw or error in judgement |
| hero/heroine | main character who has strength or moral character, a noble cause |
| heroic couplet | two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter |
| hexameter | a stanza of six lines |
| homily | a long speech denouncing someone or something; a story or lecture on a religious moral theme |
| hubris | the pride or overconfidence which often leads a hero to overlook divine warning |
| humor | writing whose purpose it is to evoke some kind of laughter |
| hyperbole | exaggeration for effect and emphasis; overstatement |
| iambic | 1 unaccented, 1 accented; very Shakespearean |
| iambic pentameter | a metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line |
| idioms | expressions that do not translate exactly into what a speaker mean |
| imagery | devices which appeal to the senses: visual, tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, kinetic |
| auditory imagery | sound imagery; appeals to the sense of hearing |
| gustatory imagery | imagery appealing to the sense of taste |
| kinetic energy | imagery that appeals to movement |
| olfactory imagery | appeals to the sense of smell |
| tactile imagery | type of imagery pertaining to the sense of touch |
| visual imagery | imagery that appeals to the sense of sight |
| in medias res | story that starts in the middle |
| intercalary chapters | expository chapters that come between chapters of plot to relay outside information |
| internal rhyme | rhyming within lines of verse instead of at the ends of the line |
| inverted sentence | reversing the normal subject - verb - complement order |
| irony | surprising, amusing, or interesting contrast between reality and expectation |
| juxtaposition | the positioning of ideas or images side by side for emphasis or to show contrast |
| lampoon | a biting satire that makes its subject appear ludicrous |
| legend | widely told tale about the past, one that may have a foundation in fact |
| limerick | type of poem that consists of two lines rhymed anapestic trimeter, two lines of rhymed anapestic dimeter, and an additional line of anapestic trimeter, the last word of which is the same as, or rhymes with, the last word of the first line |
| line | unit of poetic verse |
| litotes | type of meiosis in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary |
| local color | the descriptions of the setting, people, and dialect, etc., of a particular region |
| loose or cumulative sentence | has independent clause first, followed by a series of independent phrases and clauses |
| lyric verse | one of the main groups of poetry; includes all brief poems in which the author's ardent expression of a emotional element predominates |
| masculine rhyme | single rhyme; last syllable only rhymes |
| mask (persona) | a character with a distinct identity created by an author to a particular message which reflect the authors viewpoint |
| melodrama | a play based upon a dramatic plot and developed sensationally |
| metaphor | figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words "like or "as" |
| metaphysical | of, from, of relating to forces or being outside the natural world |
| metaphysical poetry | characterized but the use of conceits, condensed metaphorical language, unusual comparisons between medicine, love, death and religion, and complex imagery |
| meter | the rhythmical pattern of a poem; classified according to both its pattern and the number of feet to the line |
| Anapestic | a meter composed of feet that are short-short-long (or unaccented-unaccented-accented) |
| Dactylic | a meter composed of feet that are long-short-short (or accented-unaccented-unaccented) |
| Iambic | a meter composed of feet that are short-long; Iambic is the predominant meter of verse written in English |
| Trochaic | a meter composed of feet that are long-short |
| Pyrrhic | two unstressed syllables |
| Spondaic | a foot in which both syllables are stressed |
| metonomy | substituting a word naming an object for another word closely associated with it |
| microcosm | a small "world" that stands for a larger one |
| mixed metaphor | a metaphor whose elements are either incongruent or contradictory by the use of incompatible identifications |
| monologue | a written or oral composition presenting the discourse of one speaker only |
| montage | a series of images that appear one after another |
| motif (leitmotiv) | a recurring concept or story element in literature |
| myth | a fictional tale, originally with religious significance, that explains heroes, gods, nature, and/or natural phonomenon |
| narrative | a story |
| narrator | speaker or persona, the one who tells a story |
| naturalism | writing that demonstrates a deep interest in nature; also used to describe any form of extreme realism |
| near rhyme (also eye, half, slant, or sight rhyme) | a rhyme in which the sounds are similar, but not exact |
| neoclassicism | restoration literary movement in which writers turned to Greek/Roman models for inspiration |
| non-sequitur | Latin for "It doesn't follow" |
| novel | an extended prose narrative |
| octave | an eight-line stanza |
| ode | a long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme; a form of lyric poetry using elaborate, sophisticated vocabulary in iambic pentameter |
| omniscient | narrator who stands outside the story itself |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word to represent or to imitate natural sounds |
| parable | a short story to prove a point with a moral basis |
| paradox | a statement which contains seemingly contradictory elements or appears contrary to common sense, yet can be seen as perhaps true when viewed from another angle |
| paralipsis | the suggestion, by deliberately concise treatment of a topic, that much of significance is being omitted |
| parallel structure | a repetition of sentences using the same structure |
| parallelism | the repetition of syntactical similarities in passages closely connected for rhetorical effect |
| paraphrase | a restatement of an idea in such a way as to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form |
| parnassian | of or related to poetry, after Parnassus |
| parody | ludicrous imitation, usually for comic effect but sometimes for ridicule, of the style and content of another work |
| pastoral | a literary work that has to do with shepherds and rustic settings |
| pathetic fallacy | overdone writing that sees the inadequacy of human reason to explain the enigma of the universe |
| pathos | Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering |
| pentameter | poetic line that has 5 metrical feet |
| periodic sentence | saves the subject and verb of the independent clause until the end of the sentence. |
| persona | mask worn by an actor in Greek drama |
| personification | figure of speech in which inanimate objects are given qualities of speech and/or movement |
| playwright | a person who writes a play |
| plot | structure of a story or the sequence in which the author arranges events |
| point of view | the narrator or speaker perspective from which story is told- personal, objective, omniscient, partial or limited omniscient |
| polysyndeton | repetition of a number of conjunctions in close succession |
| post hoc, ergo propter hoc | Latin for "It happened after, so it was caused by" |
| prose | all for of written expression not having a regular rhythmical pattern |
| protagonist | the main character in a story; more than one character may be important enough to call "main" |
| pun | a play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time |
| pyretic | a metrical foot having two unstressed syllables ( - - ) |
| quatrain | a four-line stanza |
| quintet | a five-line stanza |
| realism | fidelity to actuality in literature |
| refrain | a phrase or line, usually pertinent to the central topic, which is repeated at regular intervals throughout a poem; usually at the end of a stanza |
| resolution | the part of a story or drama which occurs after the climax and which establishes a new norm |
| rhetoric | the art of speaking or writing effectively; skill in the eloquent use of language |
| rhetorical device | device used to produce effective speaking or writing |
| rhetorical question | a question solely for effect, with no answer expected |
| rhyme scheme | a pattern of rhyming words in a stanza |
| rhyme | similarity or likeness of sound; may be internal or at the ends of lines in poetry |
| Double Rhyme | a rhyme in which the repeated vowel is in the second last syllable of the words involved |
| End Rhyme | both rhyming words are at the end of the lines |
| Feminine Rhyme | |
| Identical Rhyme | if the preceding consonant sound is the same, or if there is no preceding consonant sound in either word, or if the same word is repeated in the rhyming position |
| Internal Rhyme | one or both rhyming words are within the line |
| Masculine (or Single) Rhyme | the sounds involve only one syllable |
| Triple Rhyme | the repeated accented vowel sound is in the third last syllable of the words involved |
| rhythm | the metrical or rhythmical pattern in a poem |
| rising action | the development of conflict leading to a crisis; the second section of a typical plot |
| romance | works having extravagant characters; remote or exotic settings, adventure, magic, chivalry, and love |
| round character | a fully developed character; character who is complex, multi-dimensional, and convincing |
| run-on-line | the carrying over a sense and grammatical structure from one line to the next |
| sarcasm | the caustic and heavy use of apparent praise |
| satire | a piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work |
| scan | to mark off lines of poetry into rhythmic units, or feet, so as to show their metrical structure |
| scansion | a system for describing more of less conventional poetic rhythms by dividing the lines into feet |
| scene | short division within an act in a play; a particular setting in any work of literature |
| second person | the narrator sues "you" as the narrator telling the story |
| septet | a seven-line stanza |
| sestet | a six-line stanza |
| setting | the place(s) and time(s) of the story, including the historical period, social milieu of the characters, geographical location, descriptions of indoor and outdoor locales, etc. |
| short story | also called tale; details are arranged to achieve a single effect, with action moving rapidly and with minimal complication or detail of setting |
| simile | a figure of speech which takes the form of a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison can be found; uses "like" or "as" |
| slang | expressions that are usually fleeting and may or may not be particular to a certain region or group |
| soliloquy | long speech made by a character who is alone on the stage in which he reveals his innermost thoughts and feelings |
| sound device | assonance, alliteration, consonance, onomatopoeia |
| spondee | two stressed syllables |
| stanza | a related group of lines in a poem, equivalent to a paragraph in prose |
| stanza forms | the names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit |
| static character | a character who is the same sort of person at the end of the story as s/he was at the beginning |
| statistics of small numbers | a close relative of observational selection |
| stereotype | a characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that one aspect determines what humans are like and so is accompanied but certain traits, actions, and even value |
| stock character | stereotyped character: one whose nature is familiar from prototypes in previous fiction |
| stream of consciousness | narrative technique which presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a character's mind |
| stress | saying certain syllables or words in a line with more emphasis or volume |
| structure | the planned framework for a piece of literature |
| style | a writer's typical way of expressing him or herself |
| subtext | a term denoting what a character means by what (s)he says when there is a disparity between diction and intended meaning |
| syllogism | the underlying structure of deductive reasoning, having a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion based on logic |
| symbol | anything that stands for or represents anything else |
| symbolism | using an image to represent an idea |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole or the whole for a part |
| syneshtesia | the perception or description of one kind of sense impression in words normally used to describe a different sense |
| syntax | the arrangement of words in a sentence, the grammar of a sentence |
| tetrameter | poetic line with 4 metrical feet |
| tercet | a three-line stanza in poetry |
| Theater of the Absurd | play written to show the absurdity of life by having absurd situations |
| theme | an ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity; concerns itself with a work's message or contains the general idea of a work and is worded in a complete message |
| third-person narration | narrative in third person |
| tone | expresses the author's attitude toward his or her subject |
| tragedy | depicts the downfall or destruction of a character |
| tragic flaw | a tragic flaw in error |
| trimeter | a poetic line with three metrical feet |
| trochaic | poetic line created with 1 accented, 1 unaccented syllable |
| trope | another name for figurative language |
| understatement | statement in which the literal sense of what is said falls short of the magnitude of what is being talked about |
| verbal irony | a kind of irony in which words are used to suggest the opposite of their actual meaning |
| verisimiltude | the semblance of truth; the degree to which a writer creates the appearance of truth |
| villanelle | a poem with five triplets and a final quatrain |
| voice | the "speaker" in a piece of literature |
| zeugma | any of several similar rhetorical devices, all involving grammatically correct linkage |
| Ballad | this is a narrative poem describing a past happening that is sometimes romantic but always ends catastrophically |
| Concrete poetry or shaped verse | an attempt to supplement (or replace) verbal meaning with visual devices from painting and sculpture |
| Elegy | a poem, usually personal, of grief or mourning |
| Epic | a long narrative poem about a hero, usually starting with an invocation to the muse and beginning in medias res |
| Haiku | consists of seventeen separate syllables arranged in three lines according to a 5-7-5 count |
| Occasional poetry | poetry written for a particular event or happening |
| Sonnet--Italian | a fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter; has an octave with a rhyme scheme of abbaabba and a sestet rhyming variously |
| Sonnet--Shakespearean | fixed form consisting of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter; lines are grouped in three quatrains with alternating rhymes (ababcdcdefef) followed by a heroic couplet (gg) that is usually epigrammatic |
| Villanelle | a poem with five triplets and a final quatrain; only two rhyme sounds are permitted in the entire poem, and the first and third lines of the first stanza are repeated, alternately, as the third line of the subsequent stanzas until the last |
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