AP Lang Terms Part 2

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genres can be subdivided as well (poetry can be classified into lyric, dramatic, narrative, etc.). The AP Language exam deals primarily with the following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death. Also refers to an architectural style of the middle ages, often seen in cathedrals of this period.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind. Usually this involves the five senses. Authors often use imagery in conjunction with metaphors, similes, or figures of speech.

Invective

A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Verbal irony

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different. For example, if your gym teacher wants you to run a mile in eight minutes or faster, but calls it a 'walk in the park' it would be verbal irony. If your voice tone is bitter, it's called sarcasm.

Dramatic irony

When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn't and would be surprised to find out. For example, in many horror movies, we (the audience) know who the killer is, which the victim-to-be has no idea who is doing the slaying.

Situational irony

Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie. Sometimes it makes you laugh because it's funny how things turn out. (For example, Johnny spent two hours planning on sneaking into the movie theater and missed the movie. When he finally did manage to sneak inside he found out that kids were admitted free that day).

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison. Authors often use juxtaposition of ideas or examples in order to make a point.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction). Syntax is often a creator of mood since word order, sentence length and strength and complexity also affect pacing and therefore mood.

Motif

A recurring idea in a piece of literature. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the idea that 'you never really understand another person until you consider things from his or her point of view' is a motif, because the idea is brought up several times over the course of the novel.

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox - 'wise fool,' 'eloquent silence,' 'jumbo shrimp.'

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author's writing. Writers can use a variety of devices (syntax, polysyndeton, anaphora, meter) to change the pacing of their words.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true. 'You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without getting a job.'

Parallelism

(Also known as parallel structure or balanced sentences.) Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.

Anaphora

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

Chiasmus

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed.

Antithesis

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.

Zuegma (Syllepsis)

When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies.

Parenthetical Idea

Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence. It is almost considered an aside...a whisper, and should be used sparingly for effect, rather than repeatedly.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. It borrows words or phrases from an original, and pokes fun at it.

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story. Do not confuse with alter-ego.

Poetic device

A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.