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AP Lit Terms
Terms for AP Literatire
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. |
| Simile | a directly expressed or explicit comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with “like,” “as,” or “than.” |
| Personification | A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. |
| Hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. (The literal Greek meaning is “overshoot.”) Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. |
| Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. |
| Verbal Irony | When the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s (or speaker’s) meaning |
| Situational Irony | When facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work. |
| Paradox | A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. |
| Stream of consciousness | A character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue. |
| Conceit | Ingenious and fanciful notion or conception, usually expressed through an elaborate analogy, and pointing to a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things. |
| Structure | The arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. |
| Juxtapostion | Placing two or more things side by side for comparison or contrast |
| Shifts | A literary shift is a significant change in a literary work's tone, mood, point of view, or other element that indicates a change in meaning or direction. |
| Point of View | The perspective which a story is told. |
| Repetition | The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. |
| Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses |
| Symbolism | Anything that represents itself and stands for something else. |
| Tone | Describes the author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. Tone is easier to determine in spoken language than in written language. |
| Dialogue | the direct speech or the words within the quote marks; the words that tell the reader who is speaking and how they are speaking; a description of the actions before, during and after speech |
| Foreshadowing | Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. |
| Flashback | A transition in a story to an earlier time, that interrupts the normal chronological order of events. |
| Setting | The time and geographic location within a narrative, either non-fiction or fiction. |
| Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes. |
| Denotation | The literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. |
| Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. |
| Diction | Related to style, diction refers to the writer’s word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness |
| Deux ex machina | A plot device that refers to a sudden and unexpected resolution to a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story. |
| Characterization | The artistic representation (as in fiction or drama) of human character or motives |
| Litotes or Understatement | Ironic minimalizing of fact presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. |
| Metonymy | A figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. |
| Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage |
| Assonance | Repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. |
| Onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. |
| Consonance | Repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. The term usually refers to words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowels that precede them are different. |
| Character foils | A literary element that serves as a contrast to the main character, or protagonist. The foil's personality traits, attributes, values, or motivations serve to highlight the traits of the protagonist. If the protagonist is brave, the foil is timid. |
| Narrative Pace | The speed at which a story is told—not necessarily the speed at which the story takes place. |
| Apostrophe | Figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. |
Created by:
MrMeloon
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