Literary Terms for AP Lit Midterm

Use for AP exam in May

abstract

a general term, that refers to a broad concept, as opposed to a term that refers to a specific, particular thing; opposite of concrete.

act

the major subunit into which the action of a play is divided. The number of these divisions typically ranges between one and five, and are usually further divided into scenes.

Aestheticism

entails the point of view that art is self-sufficient and need serve no other purpose than its own ends. Art is an ends in itself and need not be (or should not be) didactic, politically committed, propagandist, moral - or anything else but itself. It should not be judged by aesthetic criteria. In other words, aesthetes believed in "art for art's sake."

allegory

a literary work that portrays abstract ideas concretely. Characters are frequently personifications of abstract ideas and are given names that refer to these ideas.

alliteration

the repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a sequence of words or syllables.

allusion

a reference to another work of literature, or to art, history, or current events.

analogy

in literature, a comparison between two things that helps explain or illustrate one or both of them.

anapest

a metrical foot used in poetry. It consists of two unstressed syllables (˘) followed by a stressed syllable (´).

anaphora

repetition of an initial word or words to add emphasis.

annotation

the act of noting observations directly on text, especially anything striking or confusing, in order to record ideas and impressions for later analysis.

antagonist

character in a story or play who opposes the protagonist; while not necessarily an enemy, the antagonist creates or intensifies a conflict for the protagonist. An evil antagonist is a villain.

apostrophe

a direct address to an abstraction (such as Time), a thing (the Wind), an animal, or an imaginary or absent person.

archaic language

words that were once common but that are no longer used.

Ars Poetica

literally, "the art of poetry"; a form of poetry written about poetry.

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words.

atmosphere

the feeling created for the reader by a work of literature. Atmosphere can be generated by many things, but especially style, tone, and setting. Synonymous with mood.

ballad

first taking shape in the later Middle Ages, the ballad was a sung poem that recounted a dramatic story. Ballads were passed down orally from generation to generation. Arising in the Romantic period, the literary ballad—a poem intentionally imitative of the ballad's style and structure—attempted to capture the sentiments of the common people in the same way the traditional ballad had.

Beat Movement

a movement of American writers in the 1950s who saw American society as oppressively conformist. These writers rejected mainstream values, seeking ways to escape through drugs, various forms of spirituality, and sexual experimentation. The writers of the Beat generation, among them Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, celebrated freedom of expression and held generally antiestablishment views about politics. Their writing, likewise, rejected conventional norms of structure and diction, and their books prompted several notorious obscenity trials, which helped reshape censorship laws in the United States.

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter, blank verse is the most commonly used verse form in English because it is the verse form that comes closest to natural patterns of speaking in English.

bildungsroman

a novel that explores the maturation of the protagonist, with the narrative usually moving the main character from childhood into adulthood. Also called a coming-of-age story.

cadence

quality of spoken text formed from combining the text's rhythm with the rise and fall in the inflection of the speaker's voice.

caesura

a pause within a line of poetry, sometimes punctuated, sometimes not, often mirroring natural speech.

caricature

a character with features or traits that are exaggerated so that the character seems ridiculous. The term is usually applied to graphic depictions but can also be applied to written depictions.

carpe diem

a widespread literary theme meaning "seize the day" in Latin and found especially in lyric poetry, carpe diem encourages readers to enjoy the present and make the most of their short lives.

catharsis

refers to the emotional release felt by the audience at the end of a tragic drama. The term comes from Aristotle's Poetics, in which he explains this frequently felt relief in terms of a purification of the emotions caused by watching the tragic events. (Catharsis means "purgation" or "purification" in Greek.)

character

a person depicted in a narrative. While this term generally refers to human beings, it can also include animals or inanimate objects that are given human characteristics.

characterization

the method by which the author builds, or reveals, a character; it can be direct or indirect. Indirect characterization means that an author shows rather than tells us what a character is like through what the character says, does, or thinks, or what others say about the character. Direct characterization occurs when a narrator tells the reader who a character is by describing the background, motivation, temperament, or appearance of a character.

chorus

in drama, especially classical Greek drama, the chorus refers to a group of participants in a play who deliver commentary on the play's action. The role of the chorus is no longer a regular feature of modern drama, although it has been employed in a few prominent works, such as T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.

climax

the point in a story when the conflict reaches its highest intensity.

colloquial language

an expression or language construction appropriate only for casual, informal speaking or writing.

Colonialism

the occupation of one country by another. In the early 1800s, European countries controlled 35 percent of the world, but by 1914, that number had risen to nearly 85 percent and included parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The legacy of colonialism has extended beyond the political independence that many countries gained in the 1960s and 1970s.

comedy

usually used to refer to a dramatic work that, in contrast to tragedy, has a light, amusing plot, features a happy ending, centers around ordinary people, and is written and performed in the vernacular.

Comedy of Manners

a satiric dramatic form that lampoons social conventions.

concrete

a concrete term is one that refers to a specific, particular thing, as opposed to a term that refers to a broad concept; opposite of abstract.

conflict

the tension, opposition, or struggle that drives a plot. External conflict is the opposition or tension between two characters or forces. Internal conflict occurs within a character. Conflict usually arises between the protagonist and the antagonist in a story.

connotation

meanings or associations readers have with a word or item beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Connotations may reveal another layer of meaning of a piece, affect the tone, or suggest symbolic resonance.

consonance

an instance in which identical final consonant sounds in nearby words follow different vowel sounds.

denotation

the literal definition of a word, often referred to as the "dictionary definition."

denouement

in this phase of a story's plot, the conflict has been resolved and balance is restored to the world of the story; literally means "untying the knot".

dialect

dialogue or narration written to simulate regional or cultural speech patterns.

dialogue

the written depiction of conversation between characters.

diction

a writer's choice of words. In addition to choosing words with precise denotations and connotations, an author must choose whether to use words that are abstract or concrete, formal or informal, or literal or figurative.

dramatic monologue

a type of poem in which the speaker, who is clearly distinct from the poet, addresses an audience that is present in the poem.

ekphrastic poetry

a form of poetry that comments on a work of art in another genre, such as painting or a piece of music.

elegy

a contemplative poem, on death and mortality, often written for someone who has died.

end-stopped line

a line of poetry that concludes with punctuation that marks a pause. The line is completely meaningful in itself, unlike run-on-lines, which require the reader to move to the next line to grasp the poet's complete thought.

enjambment

a poetic technique in which one line ends without a pause and must continue on to the next line to complete its meaning; also referred to as a "run-on line."

epigram

a short, witty statement designed to surprise an audience or a reader.

epigraph

a quotation preceding a work of literature that helps set the text's mood or suggests its themes.

epiphany

a character's transformative moment of realization. James Joyce, often credited with coining this as a literary term, defined it as the "sudden revelation of the whatness of a thing," the moment in which "the soul of the commonest object...seems to us radiant...a sudden spiritual manifestation [either] in the vulgarity of speech or of a gesture or in a memorable phrase of the mind itself."

eulogy

a poem, speech or other work written in great praise of something or someone, usually a person no longer living.

exposition

in a literary work, contextual and background information told to readers (rather than shown through action) about the characters, plot, setting, and situation.

falling action

in a plot diagram, this is the result (or fallout) of the climax or turning point. In this phase, the conflict is being resolved.