AP English Literature and Language Literary Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards defining literary and poetic devices for the AP English Literature and Language Exam.

Allegory

Narrative in which the characters, setting, and events are all symbolic.

Alliteration

Device in which the initial sound of a word is repeated at least twice in a line of poetry or in a sentence.

Allusion

In a literary work, a reference to something appearing elsewhere in history, culture, or literature.

Ambiguity

Stylistic approach in a literary work whereby the text's lack of clarity allows for multiple, even conflicting interpretations.

Analogy

A resemblance drawn between two items.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase for rhetorical effect.

Antagonist

The opponent of a narrative's protagonist or hero; can sometimes be called the villain, though not all antagonists are villainous.

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Anticlimax

A sudden decline in tension, especially with comic effect or ironic disappointment.

Antihero

A protagonist with villainous qualities who nevertheless can be relatively sympathetic in a narrative.

Antithesis

Statement in which two opposites are paired to make a point.

Antonym

A word that has the opposite meaning of another.

Aphorism

A clever, brief observation about some aspect of life, also called a maxim or a saying.

Apostrophe

An address to something as if it were human, or an address to someone not present.

Archetype

A symbol so ancient and fundamental that its meaning is understood by the unconscious mind, even without contextual explanation.

Assonance

The repetition of a vowel sound in a sentence or line of poetry, which does not have to occur in the initial position of a word.

Atmosphere

The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects described.

Ballad

A sung poem originating in the later Middle Ages that recounted a dramatic story, passed down orally; or a Romantic literary imitation usually featuring four-line stanzas in an ABCB rhyme scheme with alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines.

Bildungsroman

A novel that explores the maturation of the protagonist, usually moving the main character from childhood into adulthood; also called a coming-of-age story.

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter verse that is formal, but still conversational.

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 in the middle of a line of poetry.

Canto

Long section of an epic poem; to a poem what a chapter is to a novel.

Caricature

A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.

Catharsis

According to Aristotle, the audience's release of pity and fear once the tragic hero of a play has experienced a downfall.

Dynamic character

A character who experiences a change in personality, attitude, or behavior during the course of the narrative.

Flat character

An underdeveloped character who is one-dimensional and predictable.

Round character

A more developed, complex character.

Static character

A character that remains the same throughout a work.

Stock character

A type of flat character based on a stereotype who falls into an immediately recognizable category or type and resists unique characterization.

Characterization

The method by which the author builds, or reveals, a character; it can be direct (telling background and temperament) or indirect (showing through speech, thoughts, and actions).

Climax

In a narrative, the point of irreversible action, when what is done cannot be undone.

Colloquial language / colloquialism

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

Comedy

A play in which a temporarily unstable situation is restored to order by the end.

Comedy of manners

A satiric dramatic form that lampoons social conventions; the highest level of comedy.

Conceit

An extended metaphor continuing from an initial comparison.

Connotation

The implied, rather than direct meaning of a word.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in a sentence or line of poetry, not restricted to the initial position of words.

Couplet

In a poem, two consecutive rhyming lines; a two-line, rhyming stanza.

Denotation

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

Denouement

French for "unknotting," this final segment of a narrative follows the climax and "winds things up" in the story.

Dialect

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

Dialogue

The written depiction of conversation between characters.

Diction

Word choice; the most basic element of a text, which can reveal a speaker's tone.

Dissonance

Harsh, unpleasant sounds, especially in poetry.

Dramatic monologue

Poem in which a character speaks as if delivering a soliloquy.

Elegy

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

Enjambment

A line of poetry that continues its sentence into the next line without a break.

Epic poem

Long narrative poem, usually featuring a larger-than-life hero who takes a journey during which he receives divine intervention.

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, described by James Joyce as the sudden spiritual manifestation or revelation of the "whatness" of a thing.

Eulogy

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

Euphemism

From the Greek for "good speech," a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Exposition

Part of a narrative during which characters, setting, and initial action are explained, often occurring near the beginning.

Falling action

Part of a narrative that moves from the climax to the denouement.

Farce

Absurd type of comedy that involves flat characters, slapstick action, and ridiculous misunderstandings.

Figurative language

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.

Flashback

Narrative scene in which action previously unrevealed takes place.

Foil

A contrasting character who allows the protagonist to stand out more distinctly.

Foreshadowing

A narrative element that, even in retrospect, symbolically predicted something in the narrative's future.

Form

The defining structural characteristics of a work, especially a poem (such as meter and rhyme scheme).

Frame narrative

A story within a story, where an exterior narrative serves to explain or encompass the main narrative.

Free verse

Poetry with no rhyme or set meter.

Genre

The major category in which a literary work fits (such as prose, poetry, and drama), as well as its specific subdivisions.

Hubris

A common tragic flaw of protagonists translating from the Greek as "pride," which makes a character foolishly think they are on par with the gods.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect.

Iamb

The most common metrical foot in English poetry, consisting of two syllables with the second one accented.

Iambic pentameter

The most common meter in English poetry, containing five iambs (roughly ten syllables with accents on even syllables) per line.

Imagery

The verbal expression of a sensory experience: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, or kinesthetic.

In medias res

Latin for "in the middle of things"; beginning a story or epic in the middle of action, with preceding events revealed later through flashbacks and exposition.

Inversion

An inverted sentence created by altering standard English word order (subject followed by verb and object) in a declarative sentence.

Verbal irony

Occurs when someone means the opposite of what she or he says.

Situational irony

Occurs when events in a story take an unexpected turn, yet can still be understood in how they happened.

Dramatic irony

Occurs when the audience knows something that a character does not.

Juxtaposition

Placing dissimilar items, descriptions, or ideas close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.

Lyric

A short poem expressing the personal feelings of a first-person speaker, historically descended from poems sung with a lyre.

Metaphor

A direct comparison of two unlike things.

Extended metaphor

A metaphor that continues over several lines or throughout an entire literary work.

Metaphysical conceit

A literary device setting up a striking analogy between two entities that would not usually invite comparison, often drawing connections between the physical and spiritual.

Meter

The formal, regular organization of stressed and unstressed syllables, measured in feet.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it.

Mock epic

Satirical work that parodies the form of the epic poem.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere of a work, especially the emotional undercurrents of a setting.

Motif

A recurring pattern of images and symbols.

Novella

A relatively brief novel, usually not exceeding 200 pages.

Ode

A poem of praise and dedication.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds or words.

Oxymoron

A seemingly self-contradictory term or phrase.

Parable

A brief, symbolic story whose purpose is to instruct.

Paradox

A seemingly self-contradictory statement that upon closer scrutiny actually reveals a truth.

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Parody

A work that mocks another text by closely modeling its style and content.

Persona

A voice and viewpoint that an author adopts in order to deliver a story or poem.

Personification

The instilling of human characteristics in something nonhuman.

Point of view

The perspective from which a narrative is told (such as first person, third person, or omniscient).

Prose

Any literary work that is not poetry, but is written in sentences and paragraphs.

Protagonist

The central character of a literary work.

Pun

A play on words deriving humor from word substitution with similar pronunciation/spelling or from a word with multiple meanings.

Quatrain

A sequence of four lines in a poem; a four-line stanza.