AP Lit terms 41-60

FABLE

a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

FARCE

a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms

FLASHBACK

a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

FORESHADOWING

the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot

FREE VERSE

poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme

HYPERBOLE

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times….”

HYPOTACTIC

sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them. (Use of such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another is known as hypotaxis). I am tired because it is hot.

IMAGERY

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person , a thing, a place, or an experience.

INVERSION

the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

IRONY

a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen

DRAMATIC IRONY

 is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better

JUXTAPOSITION

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough.”

LITOTES

is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne--- “…the wearers of petticoat and farthingale…stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng…” 

LOCAL COLOR

a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape

LOOSE SENTENCE

one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units.

LYRIC POEM

a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker. A ballad tells a story.

METAPHOR

 a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles

IMPLIED METAPHOR

does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: “I like to see it lap the miles” is an implied metaphor in which the verb lap implies a comparison between “it” and some animal that “laps” up water.

EXTENDED METAPHOR

is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).

DEAD METAPHOR

is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: “The head of the house”, “the seat of the government”, “a knotty problem” are all dead metaphors. 

MIXED METAPHOR

is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. “The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas.” 

METONYMY

a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it. “We requested from the crown support for our petition.” The crown is used to represent the monarch.