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AP Literature
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| allegory | a story in which people, things, and actions represent an idea about life; allegories often have a strong lesson |
| alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (tongue twisters) |
| allusion | a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature; often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events |
| analogy | a comparison of two or more like objects that suggests if they are alike in certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways as well |
| anecdote | a brief account of an interesting incident or event that usually is intended to entertain or to make a point |
| aside | an actor's speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by others actors on stage; used to let the audience know what s about to do or what he or she is thinking |
| assonance | repetition of vowels sounds within a line of poetry |
| ballad | is a poem that tells a story and is meant to be sung or recited |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| caesura | a pause or a sudden break in a line of poetry |
| cliché | a type of figurate language containing an overused expression or a saying that is no longer considered original |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within a line of poetry |
| couplet | a rhymed pair of lines in a poem |
| dialect | a form of language that is spoken in a particular place or by a particular group of people |
| dramatic monologue | a literary device is used when a character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings, those that are hidden throughout the course of the story line, through a poem or a speech; recited while other characters are present onstage |
| elegy | a literary song or poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died |
| enjambment | in poetry, the running over of a line or thought into the next of verse |
| epigram | a short poem or verse that seeks to ridicule a thought or event, usually with witticism or sarcasm |
| epic | a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or group |
| epiphany | a sudden moment of understanding that causes a character to change or to act in a certain way |
| epitaph | a short poem or verse written in memory of someone |
| extended metaphor | a figure of speech that compares two essentially unlike things in great length |
| fable | a brief tale that teaches a lesson about human nature; often feature animals as characters |
| figurative language/figure of speech | expressions that are not literally true, such as simile and metaphor |
| flashback | an interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence |
| foil | a character who contrasts with another character--usually with the protagonist--in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character |
| foot | a unit of meter within a line of poetry |
| foreshadowing | when the writer provides clues or hints that suggest or predict future event in a story |
| free verse | poetry without regular patterns of rhyme and rhythm; often used to capture the sounds and rhythms of ordinary speech |
| genre | a type or category of literature, the four main genres are fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama |
| haiku | a traditional form of Japanese poetry, usually dealing with nature; has three lines and describes a single moment, feeling, or thing; 5-7-5 |
| heroic couplet | a couplet consisting of two successive rhyming lines that contain a complete thought |
| historical fiction | fiction that explores a past time period and may contain references to actual people and events |
| humor | the quality that provokes laughter or amusement; writers create this through exaggeration, sarcasm, amusing descriptions, irony, and witty dialogue |
| idiom | a phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say |
| imagery | the use of words and phrase that appeal to the five senses; writers use sensory details to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste |
| irony | a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens; spices up a literary work by adding unexpected twists and allowing the reader to become more involved with the characters and plot |
| verbal irony | when the speaker means something different than what he or she is saying |
| dramatic irony | when the audience knows something the characters don't know |
| situational irony | the difference between what is expected to happen and the way events actually work out |
| legend | a story handed down from the past about a specific person, usually someone of heroic accomplishments |
| limerick | a short humorous poem composed of five lines that usually has the rhyme scheme aabba, created by two rhyming couplets followed by a fifth line that rhymes with the first couplet; typically a sing-song rhythm |
| lyric poetry | a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings or emotions of a single speaker |
| memoir | an autobiographical writing that covers only a piece of the writer's life |
| metaphor | a type of figurative language in which a comparison is made between two things that are essentially unalike but may have one quality in common; does not contain an explicit word of comparison, such a like/as |
| meter | the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables |
| metonymy | the metaphorical substitution of one word or phrase for another related word or phrase; e.g. "the pen is mightier than the sword" pen replaces "words" and sword represents the idea of fighting/war |
| mood | the feeling that a literary work conveys to readers |
| motif | a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature; may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil |
| myth | a traditional story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is; stories that are passed on from generation to generation are of unknown authorship |
| narrative | any writing that tells a story; most novel and short stories are placed into the categories of first-person and third-person narratives, which are based on who is telling the story and from what perspective |
| narrative poetry | poetry that tells a story; can come in many forms and style, both complex and simple, short or long, as long as it tells a story; contains characters, setting, and plot |
| ode | a lyric poem of some length, usually of serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal structure |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sound suggest their meaning; e.g. buzz, bang, hiss |
| oxymoron | a form of figurative language combining contradictory words or ideas; e.g. jumbo shrimp, bittersweet |
| paradox | a statement that seems to contradict itself but is, nevertheless, true |
| parallelism | the use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance; e.g. the sun rises. the sun sets |
| parody | a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author's work for comic effect or ridicule |
| personification | a figure of speech where animals, ideas or inanimate objects are given human characteristics |
| point of view | perspective from which a story is told |
| first person point of view | the person telling the story is one of the characters in the story; "I" point of view; most limited among the types because the narrator can only state what he or she sees, feels, and hears |
| third person limited | the person telling the story is not one of the characters in the story; he or she is an outside observer; reader only knows the thoughts and feelings of ONE character in the story |
| third person omniscient | the person telling the story is also an outside observer, but this narrator is able to know the thoughts and feelings of ALL the characters in the story |
| prose | the ordinary form of spoken and written language; that is, language that lacks the special features of poetry; includes essays, stories, articles, speeches, etc. |
| realistic fiction | imaginative writing set in the real, modern world; the characters act like real people who use ordinary human abilities to cope with problems and conflicts typical of modern life |
| refrain | repetition in literature of one or more lines at regular intervals; sometimes called the chorus |
| repetition | a technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis |
| sarcasm | the use of praise to mock someone or something; the use of mockery or verbal irony |
| satire | a literary technique in which ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society |
| simile | a simile is a type of figurative language that makes a comparison between two otherwise unlike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words like/as |
| soliloquy | a speech delivered by a character who is alone on the stage |
| sonnet | a distinctive poetic style that uses a system or pattern of metrical structure and verse composition usually consisting of fourteen lines, arranged in a set rhyme scheme or pattern |
| Italian or Petrarchan sonnet | usually written in iambic pentameter, consisting of an octave which asks a question or states a problem or proposition and follows the rhyme scheme abba, abba; the sestet offers an answer or resolution to the proposed problem with the rhyme scheme cdecde |
| English or Shakespearean sonnet | three quatrains, each having an independent rhyme scheme typically rhyming every other line, ending with a rhyme couplet; break comes between 12th/13th lines; ending couplet is main thought change and has an epigrammatic ending; abab cdcd efef gg |
| speaker | the voice that talks to the reader in a poem, as the narrator does in a work of fiction; not necessarily the poet |
| stanza | a grouping of two or more lines within a poem; comparable to a paragraph in prose |
| style | how a writer says something; many elements contribute to style, including word choice, sentence length, tone and figurative language |
| suspense | a feeling of growing tension and excitement; created by raising questions in readers' minds about what might happen |
| symbolism | using something specific to stand for something else, especially an ideal person, place, object, or action that stands for something beyond itself; e.g. a dove representing peace |
| synecdoche | a literary technique in which the whole is represented by naming one of its parts; e.g. vehicle being represented by "wheels" |
| tall tale | a humorously exaggerated story about impossible events |
| tone | the writer's attitude or feeling about his or her subject |
| tragedy | a dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character or characters who are often involved in historically or socially significant events; set in motion by an error in judgement, succeeding events lead to disastrous conclusion, usually death |
| understatement | a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said; opposite of hyperbole |
| voice | an author or narrator's distinctive style or manner of expression can reveal much about the author or author's personality |
| hyperbole | a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect |
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