AP LITERARY TERMS

ALLEGORY

story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities. EXAMPLE: Animal Farm; Dante's Inferno; Lord of the Flies

ALLITERATION

repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.). Example: calling something kafkaesque

AMBIGUITY

deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way

ANALOGY

Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

ANAPHORA

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent.

ANASTROPHE

Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion. "Powerful you have become; the dark side I sense in you."

ANECDOTE

Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual

ANTAGONIST

Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.

ANTIMETABOLE

Repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order. Moliere: "One should eat to live, not live to eat."

ANTITHESIS

Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure. "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…"

ANTIHERO

Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples. "Severus Snape"

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification)

APHORISM

brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram. "knowledge is power"

APOSTROPHE

calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation. Josiah Holland

APPOSITION

Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first (often set off by a colon). Paine: "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

ASSONANCE

the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."

ASYNDETON

Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z… the writer uses X,Y,Z…. "I came, I saw, I conquered" et "egalité, fraternité, liberte"

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character's private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the characters effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character in action. Common in modern literature

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style literature relied more heavily on this form.

STATIC CHARACTER

is one who does not change much in the course of a story.

DYNAMIC CHARACTER

is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action.

FLAT CHARACTER

has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.

ROUND CHARACTER

has more dimensions to their personalities

CLICHE

is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. "Think outside the box."

COLLOQUIALISM

a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. Example: "He's out of his head if he thinks I'm gonna go for such a stupid idea.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT

conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and society

INTERNAL CONFLICT

a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person's mind.

CONNOTATION

the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition "Home"

DICTION

a speaker or writer's choice of words

EPANALEPSIS

device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence. Voltaire: "Common sense is not so common."

EPIGRAPH

a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme. "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once."

EPISTROPHE

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora). Government of the people, by the people, for the people…

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.

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…."

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 "This is the forest primeval."

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else. "Wow, I love getting stuck in traffic!"

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. "A fire station burns down"

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. "Romeo and Juillet"

IMPLIED METAPHOR

does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: "He wolfed down his food."

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. Juxtaposition is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. "Parasite's wealthy Park home vs. the Kims' flooded basement apartment"

EXTENDED METAPHOR

is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. Life = theater in macbeth

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 met

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.

MOOD

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected. Eerie

MOTIF

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. "Nevermore" The Raven

MOTIVATION

the reasons for a character's behavior

ONOMATOPOEIA

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. "Pop." "Zap."

OXYMORON

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. "Jumbo shrimp." "Pretty ugly." "Bitter

PARADOX

a statement that appears self contradictory

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures

PERSONIFICATION

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

PLOT

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

one of the characters tells the story

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters.

OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events

POLYSYNDETON

sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in a series. Results in X and Y and Z…

PROTAGONIST

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. Usually the hero or antihero

PUN

a "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things "Broken pencils are pointless"

RHETORICAL QUESTION

a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer "Do andriods dream of electric sheep?"

SIMILE

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles

STYLE

the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax

SUSPENSE

a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story

SYMBOL

a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.

SYNECDOCHE

a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. "If you don't drive properly, you will lose your wheels." The wheels represent the entire car

THEME

the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

TONE

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization

UNDERSTATEMENT

a statement that says less than what is meant. Example: "Tis but a scratch"

VERNACULAR

the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality