AP Literature & Composition Literary Terms Flashcards

A complete collection of AP Literature and Composition vocabulary flashcards covering prose, characterization, dialogue, irony, narrative modes, plot, poetic style, meter, and poetic forms.

Allegory

A narrative or description having a second or symbolic meaning beneath the surface one, used to express large, complex ideas in an approachable manner.

Allusion

A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history.

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting or humorous incident.

Artistic Unity

That condition of a successful literary work whereby all its elements work together for the achievement of its central purpose.

Genre

A type or class, as poetry, drama, etc.

Imagery

The representation through language of sensory experience, classified into visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, olfactory, organic, and kinesthetic sensory details.

Mood

The pervading impression of a work; the atmosphere of a piece and the overall feeling it conveys to the reader.

Moral

A rule of conduct or maxim for living expressed or implied as the "point" of a literary work.

Prose

Non-metrical language; the opposite of verse.

Theme

The main idea, or message, of a literary work formulated as a complete sentence.

Tone

The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject, the audience, or herself or himself; the emotional coloring or emotional meaning of a work.

Topic

The subject matter or area of a literary work; not to be confused with theme.

Setting

The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs.

Symbol

Something that means more than what it is; an object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning suggests other meanings as well.

Verse

Metrical language; the opposite of prose.

Voice

The distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book.

Antagonist

Character in a story or poem who opposes the main character (protagonist).

Deuteragonist

The second most important character, after the protagonist, often a foil or eventual antagonist.

Direct Presentation of Character

A method of characterization in which the author, by exposition or analysis, tells us directly what a character is like, or has someone else in the story do so.

Dynamic Character

A character who during the course of a story undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of character or outlook.

Flat Character

A character whose character is summed up in one or two traits.

Foil

A character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character's personality.

Hero

A man who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for bold exploits, and favored by the gods.

Hubris

Overbearing and excessive pride.

Indirect Presentation of Character

That method of characterization in which the author shows us a character in action, compelling us to infer what the character is like from what is said or done by the character.

Protagonist

The main character of a novel, play, or film.

Round Character

A character whose character is complex and many sided.

Static Character

A character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as at the beginning.

Stock Character

A stereotyped character.

Tragic Flaw

A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.

Aside

A brief speech in which a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience.

Colloquial

Informal, conversational language.

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.

Diction

Word choice.

Epithet

A descriptive literary device that describes a place, a thing, or a person in such a way that it helps in making its characteristics more prominent than they actually are; also known as a nickname, "by-name," or "descriptive title."

Euphemism

Substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for a harsh, blunt, or offensive one.

Figure of Speech

Broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly, a way of saying one thing and meaning another.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth.

Invective

Denunciatory or abusive language.

Monologue

(1) A dramatic soliloquy. (2) A literary composition in such form.

Proverb

A short, pithy saying that expresses a basic truth or practical precept.

Pun

A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

Sarcasm

Bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed.

Soliloquy

A device often used in drama whereby a character relates or works through his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters.

Slang

A kind of language occurring in casual or playful speech, usually made up of short-lived coinages and figures of speech deliberately used in place of standard terms.

Understatement

A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.

Dramatic Irony

An incongruity or discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true.

Situational Irony

A situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfillment, or between the actual situation and what would seem appropriate.

Verbal Irony

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Epistolary Novel

A novel written as a series of documents.

First Person Point of View

The story is told by one of its characters, using the first person.

Flashback

A literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative.

Flashforward

A literary device in which a later event is inserted into a narrative.

In medias res

A Latin phrase denoting the literary technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning.

Limited Omniscient Point of View

The author tells the story using the third person, but is limited to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tells us only what that one character thinks, feels, sees, or hears.

Linear Structure

A plot that follows a straight-moving, cause and effect, chronological order.

Objective Point of View

The author tells the story using the third person, but is limited to reporting what the characters say or do without interpreting their behavior or telling private thoughts.

Omniscient Point of View

The author tells the story using the third person, knowing all and free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.

Narrator

The speaker or the "voice" of an oral or written work who serves as the direct window into a piece of work.

Nonlinear Structure

When the plot is presented in a non-causal order, with events presented in a random series jumping to and from the main plot with flashbacks, flashforwards, or in medias res.

Point of View

The angle of vision from which a story is told.

Stream of Consciousness

Narrative which presents the private thoughts of a character without commentary or interpretation by the author.

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised, usually first-person narrators.

Anticlimax

A sudden descent from the impressive or significant to the ludicrous or inconsequential.

Catastrophe

The concluding action of a classical tragedy containing the resolution of the plot.

Catharsis

A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially as an effect of tragic drama.

Comic Relief

A humorous incident introduced into a serious literary work in order to relieve dramatic tension or heighten emotional impact.

Dilemma

A situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.

Deus ex machina

The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence.

Epilogue

A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience at the end of a play.

Indeterminate Ending

An ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved.

Inversion

A reversal in order, nature, or effect.

Motivation

An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action.

Mystery

An unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation; used to create suspense.

Paradox

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.

Plot

The sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed.

Plot Manipulation

A situation in which an author gives the plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved.

Plot Device

An object, character, or event whose only reason for existing is to advance the story, often breaking suspension of disbelief.

Prologue

An introduction or a preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play.

Red Herring

A literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item or person of significance.

Scene

A subdivision of an act in a dramatic presentation in which the setting is fixed and the time continuous.

Suspense

That quality in a story that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end.

Suspension of Disbelief

An unspoken agreement between writer and reader: "I agree to believe your make-believe if it entertains me."

Subplot

A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work.

Surprise

An unexpected turn in the development of a plot.

Comedy

A type of drama, opposed to tragedy, usually having a happy ending, and emphasizing human limitation rather than human greatness.

Comedy of Manners

Comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social customs, etc.) of a certain segment of society.

Satire

A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice.

Scornful Comedy

A type of comedy whose main purpose is to expose and ridicule human folly, vanity, or hypocrisy.

Romantic Comedy

A type of comedy whose likable and sensible main characters are placed in difficulties from which they are rescued at the end of the play.

Farce

A type of comedy that relies on exaggeration, horseplay, and unrealistic or improbable situations to provoke laughter.

Escapist Literature

Literature written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life or behavior.

Fable

A short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing animal characters that act like human beings.

Fantasy

A kind of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality.

Interpretive Literature

Literature that provides valid insights into the nature of human life or behavior.

Myth

Any story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is, often passed down by oral tradition involving religion.

Novel

A book of long narrative in literary prose.

Novella

A written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel.

Parable

A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.

Tragedy

Drama in which a noble protagonist falls to ruin during a struggle caused by a tragic flaw (or hamartia) in his character or an error in his rulings or judgments.