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AP Lit Lit Terms
all of the lit term quiz words
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Alliteration | Repetition of the same sounds of the beginning of multiple words in a phrase. (Big blue bats baited bold badgers). |
| Anapest | Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. (Unaware). |
| Anaphora | The repetition of the same word at the beginning of multiple sentences or phrases. |
| Apostraphe | Addressing a person who is not there / referring to an inanimate thing as if it was a person. |
| Assonance | Repetition of internal vowel sounds. |
| Aubade | A poem meant to accompany dawn. |
| Ballad | A narrative song, typically in the oral tradition and containing quatrains. |
| Blank Verse | Unrhyming poetry typically in iambic pentameter. |
| Cacophany | Repetition of harsh consonant sounds. |
| Cadence | Rise and fall of the natural foice when reading poetry. |
| Caesura | Rhythmic pause in the middle of a line. |
| Conceit | Complex or surprising intellectual metaphor. |
| Consonance | Repetition of consonant(s) at the end of words in a sentence or phrase. |
| Couplet | Two successive lines that rhyme and share poetic meter. |
| Dactyl | One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones. (Bicycle, elephant). |
| Dirge | Funeral lamentation song / poem. |
| Double Rhyme | A rhyme involving two syllables. (Inviting / Exciting). |
| Elegy | A poem that reflects upon death. |
| End Rhyme | Rhyme between line endings. |
| Enjambment | Continuing a phrase over where the line breaks. |
| Extended Metaphor | A metaphor that takes up a significant part of the work. |
| Euphony | Pleasing sounds, warm vowels. |
| Eye Rhyme | Two words that appear to rhyme from a spelling perspective but are said differently. (Come / Home). |
| Feminine Ending | A line ending in an unstressed syllable. |
| Foot | Repeated sequence of 2+ syllables. |
| Free Verse | Poetry without rhyme or meater |
| Heroic Couplet | Two lines in rhyming iambic pentameter. |
| Iamb | A short syllable, followed by a long one. (Amuse / Portray). |
| Iambic Pentameter | Five successive iambs. |
| Idyll | A portrayal of a peaceful scene. |
| Internal Rhyme | A rhyme involving a word mid-line and then one at the end of the line. |
| Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet | 14 line poem divided into sections of 8 and 6. |
| Kenning | An old metaphor that usually appears as a compound word. (Whale-road = Sea). |
| Lyric Poem | A poem which expresses feelings and emotions to an emphasized degree. |
| Masculine Ending | Line ending in a long syllable. |
| Meter | The syllabic pattern of beats within a poem. |
| Narrative Poem | A poem that is used to tell a story |
| Near / Off / Slant Rhyme | Words that do sound similar but do not quite rhyme. |
| Ode | A sung lyric poem that addresses a certain subject. |
| Onomatopoeia | Verbal representations of sounds. (BOOM, CRACK, SNAP, POP). |
| Parallelism | Successive lines that mirror each other in some way. |
| Quatrain | Four-line stanza. |
| Refrain | A line that is repeated in a poem. |
| Rhyme Scheme | The way rhymes are laid out in a poem. |
| Scansion | Analyzing a given line to find its rhythm. |
| Sestet | The last six lines of a sonnet (or, less specifically, just six lines of any poem). |
| Shakesparean Sonnet | Three quatrains and a couplet that follow an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme. |
| Spondee | Two stressed syllables. (Bookmark, handshake) |
| Stanza | The poetry equivalent of a paragraph. |
| Trochaic | Stressed, unstressed syllabic pattern. (garden, highway). |
| Aestheticism | Support of aesthetic values over all other elements. |
| Allegory | A story that can be interpreted in more than one way, usually as a representation for a greater idea or theme. |
| Allusion | A direct or indirect reference of some other work or piece of pop culture. |
| Ambiguity | An event in a story that can be interpreted in multiple ways. |
| Anachronism | An object, place, person etc. that is historically out of time. (Seeing a car in ancient greece) |
| Anagnorisis | A discovery a character makes that leads to a greater understanding of themselves. |
| Analogy | A comparison made to highlight some inherent meaning. |
| Anastrophe | Reversal of expectic syntactical word order. (The form divine). |
| Anecdote | A short story / memory told by a character that is thematically relevant to the greater plot. |
| Antecedent | The "thing" a pronoun is referring to. (John looked at his mom; john is the thing in this case) |
| Anticlimax | Transition to a less serious or trivial idea when a grand revelation was expected. (it was all a dream...) |
| Antihero | A protagonist that is lacking traditionally virtuous qualities in some way. |
| Antithesis | Contrasting syntax, ideas, characters, etc. |
| Aphorism | Catchy phrase meant to hold a universal truth or life lesson. |
| Apotheosis | Elevation of an individual to a deity. |
| Archaism | Use of outdated language. |
| Archetype | A character or idea that is commonplace within stories. |
| Aside | In a play, a character will turn to an audience to deliver one of these as a quick remark. Other characters are unaware of these. |
| Attitude/tone | The writer's feelings towards a subject. |
| Bildungsroman | A novel that deals with the protagonist's education and development, particularly in their formative years. |
| Bombast | Pretentious speech or writing. |
| Caricature | Exaggeration by comic distortion of certain characteristics. |
| Catalogue | Collection of people, objects, or other elements in list form within a work. |
| Catharsis | Purification of emotion through relief. |
| Chiasmus | Two part phrase in which the parts mirror each other (When the going gets tough, the tough get going.) |
| Chorus | A group of performers existing outside the plot who summarize the events of the play or provide commentary. |
| Colloquial | Informal phrases that are pertinent to the setting. |
| Comic Relief | A character, plot element, or situation that is meant to induce levity and break up the sections of intense themes. |
| Conflict | Confrontational occurances within oneself or with others. |
| Connotation | Implied contextual meaning of a word or phrase. |
| Conventional/Stock Character | A character that fits common tropes and has generally stereotypical traits. |
| Deconstruction | Literary analysis meant to point out inherent contradiction within works. |
| Denotation | The literal dictionary definition of a word. |
| Denouement | Conclusion of the narrative and resolution of plot elements post-climax. |
| Deus Ex Machina | A thing/character that is suddenly introduced into an impossible conflict and provides a contrived solution to the complex problem. |
| Dialectic | Philosophical discussion between 2+ people who hold differing views with the intent to establish truth. |
| Dichotomous thinking | Thinking in binary elements. |
| Diction | word choice |
| Didactic | Literary element designed to teach a concept. |
| Dissonance | Harsh collection of sounds. |
| Dramatis personae | Characters in a drama. |
| Dystopian Novel | Speculative fiction regarding a future dysfunctional society. |
| Epic / Epic Hero | Long narrative poem recalling heroic deeds. |
| Epigram | A short, satirical saying. |
| Epigraph | Poem, quotation, or other element placed at the beginning of a work. |
| Epiphany | A moment wherein a character is granted insight. |
| Epistolary novel | Fiction in the form of letters. |
| Epithet | Adjective used to describe a person (Ex: Ivan the Terrible) |
| Ethos | Appeal to the author's status / intelligence / other qualities |
| Etymology | Study of word origin. |
| Euphemism | Palatable expression used in place of potentially less savory language. |
| Fable | Narrative form that uses animal characters to teach human lessons - Aesop is notable for this form |
| Farce | Type of comedy that uses stereotypes, exaggeration, violence, and other absurd extremes to entertain |
| Figurative Language | Understanding a concept through it's relation to something else, as opposed to literal language |
| Flashback | A memory of the past that breaks the chronological sequence of the narrative. |
| Flat character | A character who is 1-dimensional, or boring. |
| Foil Character | A character who serves as a contrast to the protagonist in some way. |
| Foreshadowing | Alluding to events that will occur later in the story. |
| Frame Story | A story that is told within a work. |
| Genre | Style/category of work. |
| Gothic Novel | European romantic style that uses elements of fear, darkness, horror, mystery, and the supernatural. |
| Hamartia | Tragic flaw. |
| Hubris | Excessive pride. |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration. |
| Idiom | A figure of speech. |
| Imagery | Creation of images (or other senses) in the readers mind through the text. |
| In medias res | Starting a narrative in the middle of the events. |
| Interior Monologue | A character's inner thoughts that are revealed to the reader. |
| Interjection | A word or phrase that expresses intense feeling. |
| Inversion | Reversal of syntax; the same as apostraphe. |
| Situational Irony | Type of irony in which something has the opposite effect as to what was intended. (i.e. the fire station burning down). |
| Verbal Irony | A type of irony in which words are incongruous with intent. (think sarcasm) |
| Dramatic Irony | A type of irony in which character(s) don't know something that the audience does. (think romeo not knowing that juliet isn't actually dead) |
| Juxtaposition | Contrasting elements. |
| Lament | A poem expressing some form of grief. |
| Leitmotif | A recurrent theme (especially in music) that represents a character or idea. |
| Litote | Understatement via double negative. (i.e. he was not unhappy) |
| Local Color | Regional specificity in linguistic dialect or other details. |
| Magical Realism | Genre originating in Latin America that incorporates fantastical elements into a seemingly realistic setting. |
| Metahpor | Comparison between two different things to highlight a similar quality. |
| Metonymy | When a word associated with a concept is used to refer to that concept. (i.e. calling a king "the crown" or a dish of food as a "plate".) |
| Modernism | 20th century literary movement that sought to break with traditional forms of expression in search of something new. |
| Monologue | An extended speech given by one person. |
| Motif | Recurring object/concept that represents a theme or idea. |
| Myth | Symbolic narrative of ancient and unknown origin, usually associated with a religion. |
| Peripheral Narrator | A narrator who, while not central to the narrative, conveys it to the reader. (i.e. Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby) |
| Central Narrator | A narrator (usually the protagonist) who is important to the story and also telling it to the audience. (i.e. The Kite Runner) |
| Naturalism | Late 19th century movement that detailed one's social physical environment and how it affects people. |
| Novella | A literary work that is shorter than a novel but longer than a short story (i.e. Of Mice and Men) |
| Oxymoron | Words that, when placed next to each other, create contradiction (i.e. Jumbo Shrimp) |
| Parable | A simple story that teaches a moral lesson (think jesus). |
| Paradox | A statement that appears to be contradictory but holds truth/reveals meaning. (Ex: Some animals are more equal than others). |
| Parody | Imitation of a style/author/genre for comedic/critical purposes. (Ex: Austin Powers, Weird Al) |
| Pastoral | Presents the beauty and freedom of a shepherd's life. |
| Pathos | Persuasion via emotion. |
| Periodic Sentence | A sentence that ends with an independent clause preceded by dependent clause(s). (Ex: Despite the rain, snow, and cold temperatures, the game was played). |
| Peripeteia | The turning point in a drama that precedes the denoument. |
| Personification | Giving a non-human entity human qualities/traits. |
| Picaresque | Genre in which a roguish, low-class hero survives in an unfair society with their wits. (Ex: Huckleberry Finn) |
| 1st Person POV | The narrator is a character in the story telling it from their perspective (Ex: The Kite Runner) |
| Third Person Limited POV | The story is conveyed through a character in the story, but using he/she/they. This usually allows for perspective shifts. |
| Third Person Omniscient POV | A story told from an external perspective, but can understand all thoughts/internal monologues. |
| Post-Modernism | A literary movement that rejects conventional structure/thought in favor of fragmentation, metafiction, intertextuality, and other complex concepts. |
| Protagonist | The main character. |
| Pun | A play on words. |
| Realism | Portrayal of mundane, everyday experience in literature. |
| Repetition | The intentional use of a word or phrase multiple times. |
| Rhetorical Question | A question used for emphasis or insight, not meant to be answered. |
| Romanticism | A literary movement that celebrated human emotion, creativity, and the beauty of nature. |
| Satire | The art of making something or someone appear ridiculous for the purposes of comedy and/or criticism. (i.e. The Onion, Animal Farm) |
| Shift | A change in a work of literature of some sort. |
| Simile | A comparison using like or as. "She was as tired as a koala". |
| Soliloquy | Monologue only audible to the speaker and the audience. "To be, or not to be..." |
| Stream of Consciousness | Narrative style that tries to realistically capture a character's thought process. |
| Structure | The shape of the text as a whole, usually referring to the order of events. |
| Style | The manner in which an author tells a story. |
| Symbol | An object/person/other thing within a work that carries thematic weight along with its literal meaning. (i.e. the sacrificial lamb in the kite runner). |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which the part represents the whole. "I'm keeping an eye on you." |
| Syntax | The arrangement of words, phrases, clauses etc within a sentence. |
| Theme | A universal idea expressed in a work. (i.e. familial loyalty and the lack thereof in Hamlet) |
| Topos | A traditional theme found in literature. |
| Tragedy | A drama in which the hero experiences terrible events, usually as a result of their own flaws. (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet) |
| Tragic Flaw | The flaw that brings about the downfall of the tragic hero. |
| Tragic Hero | The protagonist of a tragedy (Macbeth, Prince Hamlet). |
| Understatement | the description of something as having much less of a particular quality than it actually does. |
| Utopian Novel | Style of fiction that takes place in an idealized world. |
| Verisimilitude | The appearance of being true to reality within a work. |
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