Top 100 Key Terms for AP Literature and Composition

A set of 100 Q&A flashcards covering the key AP Literature and Composition terms from the notes.

What is Allegory?

A story in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts to reveal a larger truth; they may symbolize ideas referred to.

What is Alliteration?

The repetition at close intervals of initial consonant sounds (and sometimes vowel sounds) in successive words or syllables.

What is Allusion?

An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is expected to be familiar.

What is Anachronism?

Assigning something to a time when it did not exist (e.g., a watch in a story set in a different era).

What is Anaphora?

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row to emphasize and unify the point.

Who is the Antagonist?

The character or force causing the problem; often but not always the 'bad' guy.

What is Antithesis?

A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses.

What is Apostrophe?

An address to the dead as living, to the inanimate as animate, to the absent as present, or to the unborn as alive.

What is Archetype?

An image, character, symbol, situation, or pattern that recurs across literature and is considered universal.

What is Assonance?

Repetition of a vowel sound within nearby words; a form of rhyme.

What is Asyndeton?

A series of words separated by commas with no conjunction, emphasizing speed and equal weight of parts.

What does Carpe Diem mean?

Latin for 'seize the day'; poems with this theme urge living for the moment.

What is Climax in a narrative?

The point of highest intensity in the story, often determining the outcome.

What is Colloquialism?

Use of slang or informal language, including regional dialect.

What is Conceit?

An unusual or surprising extended comparison between two very different things.

What is Conflict?

The major problem(s) the character faces.

What is Connotation?

The secondary, associated meanings of a word beyond its dictionary definition.

What is Consonance?

Repetition of a consonant sound within nearby words.

What is a Couplet?

A rhyming stanza made up of two lines.

What is Deductive Reasoning?

Reasoning that begins with a generalization and applies it to specific cases.

What is a Deus Ex Machina?

A god or supernatural force resolving the entanglements of the plot.

What is Diction?

Word choice, especially as it relates to style and meaning.

What does Didactic mean?

Fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral.

What is Direct Characterization?

The author directly tells us what the character is like.

What is Disparagement?

To belittle or speak of in a slighting manner.

What is Dramatic Irony?

A discrepancy between what the audience knows and what a character knows.

What is a Dynamic Character?

A character who changes over the course of the work.

What is Enjambment?

The running over of a sentence from one line to the next, making related words fall in different lines.

What is an Epigraph?

A quotation at the beginning of a work suggestive of its theme.

What is Epiphany?

A major moment of realization or awareness for a character.

What is an Epistolary Novel?

A novel told through letters.

What is an Epithet?

A descriptive term or nickname; can also substitute for a name (e.g., ‘The Great’).

What is a Euphemism?

A milder or less direct term replacing something harsh or offensive.

What is Exposition?

Initial information about characters, setting, and initial conflict.

What is an Extended Metaphor?

A metaphor developed at length with several points of comparison.

What is External Conflict?

Conflict between a character and an outside force (man vs. man/nature/society).

What is Falling Action (Dénouement)?

The events following the climax leading toward resolution.

What is Figurative Language?

Non-literal language such as metaphors and similes used to evoke sensations or responses.

What is First Person Point of View?

A narrator participates in the action; reliability may be questionable.

What is a Flat Character?

A character built around a single idea or quality.

What is a Foil?

A character whose traits oppose another to highlight differences.

What is Foreshadowing?

Hints of what is to come in the action.

What is Hyperbole?

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or humor.

What is Imagery?

Language that creates vivid sensory experiences through related images.

What is Incongruity?

A surprising contrast in situation, image, or diction, among other things.

What is Indirect Characterization?

The author reveals personality through speech, actions, appearance, thoughts, and others’ views.

What is Inductive Reasoning?

Reasoning that moves from specific facts to a generalization.

What is Internal Conflict?

A struggle within a character (man vs. self).

What is Invective?

Harsh, abusive language directed at a person or cause.

What is Irony?

A discrepancy between appearance and reality or between expectation and outcome.

What is Litotes?

A form of understatement achieved by negating the opposite.

What is Lyric Poetry?

Poetry that expresses personal feelings; originally meant to be sung.

What is Metaphor?

A figure of speech comparing two unlike things, illuminating both.

What is Meter?

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

What is Metonymy?

Designation of one thing with something closely associated with it.

What is a Mixed Metaphor?

Two metaphors jumbled together, often illogical.

What is Mood?

The atmosphere created by diction, details, and syntax.

What is a Moral?

The lesson drawn from a story.

What is a Motif?

A frequently recurring symbol, theme, or idea in a work.

What is Narrative Poetry?

Poetry that tells a story.

What is a Non-sequitur?

A conclusion that does not logically follow from the premises.

What is Objective Point of View?

A narrator who reports events without revealing internal thoughts; an observer.

What is Onomatopoeia?

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

What is an Oxymoron?

A juxtaposition of two contradictory terms (e.g., 'deafening silence').

What is a Parable?

A short story from which a moral or lesson is drawn.

What is a Paradox?

A self-contradictory statement that contains a truth.

What is Parallelism?

Sentence construction that places equal grammatical structures side by side.

What is Parody?

A work that imitates another’s style or content for comic effect or ridicule.

What is a Pastoral?

A poem depicting rural life in an idealized, peaceful way.

What is Pathos?

Qualities that evoke pity or sadness; excessive pathos can be over-emotional.

What is a Persona?

A fictional voice adopted by the author or narrator.

What is Personification?

Giving human traits to non-human things or abstractions.

What is Polysyndeton?

The use of multiple conjunctions (and, or) to join items, slowing the rhythm and stressing each item.

What is a Protagonist?

The main character pursuing a goal.

What is a Quatrain?

A four-line stanza with a rhyme pattern (lines 2 and 4 rhyme) and similar syllable count.

What is Resolution in a plot?

The final part of a story that settles the conflict.

What is Rising Action?

The series of events that lead up to the climax, increasing tension.

What is a Round Character?

A deeply developed, complex character with many traits.

What is Sarcasm?

A caustic or biting form of irony intended to hurt; often cruel and personal.

What is Satire?

A work that critiques behavior by exaggeration and wit, aiming to provoke change rather than simply insult.

What is Second Person Point of View?

Rare perspective where the narrative speaks to the reader as 'you.'

What is Setting?

The time and place of a story, used to shape atmosphere and conflict.

What is a Simile?

A comparison using like, as, or than.

What is Situational Irony?

When events occur that are opposite of what is expected.

What is a Stanza?

A division of a poem consisting of a group of lines, similar to a paragraph in prose.

What is a Static Character?

A character who does not change throughout the story.

What is a Stock Character?

A conventional character type that recurs across works (e.g., wicked stepmother, Prince Charming).

What is Style?

The author's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax; expression in a work.

What is a Symbol?

A concrete object that represents an abstract idea while retaining its literal meaning.

What is Synaesthesia?

Mixing sensory experiences (e.g., color that sounds or scent that rings like a bell).

What is Synecdoche?

Using a part to represent the whole (e.g., 'threads' for clothes, 'wheels' for cars).

What is Syntax?

The arrangement of words to show relationships within a sentence.

What is Theme?

The central idea or message developed in a work.

What is Third Person Limited?

A narrator tells the story from the viewpoint of one character, with limited knowledge.

What is Third Person Omniscient?

An all-knowing narrator who has insight into all characters and events.

What is Tone?

The author's attitude toward the subject, revealed through diction and style.

What is Tragedy?

Representations of serious actions that turn out disastrously.

What is an Understatement?

Deliberately presenting something as less significant than it is.

What is an Unreliable Narrator?

A narrator whose credibility is compromised.

What is Verbal Irony?

Irony expressed in dialogue where what is said contrasts with what is meant.