AP Lit

Allegory

A story, fictional or nonfiction, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these characters, things, events is meant to reveal an abstraction or a truth. These characters, etc. may be symbolic of the ideas referred to.

Alliteration

the repetition at close intervals of initial identical consonant sounds. Or, vowel sounds in successive words or syllables that repeat.

Allusion

an indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is expected to be familiar. Allusions are usually literary, historical, Biblical, or mythological.

Anachronism

Assignment of something to a time when it was not in existence, e.g. the watch Merlyn wore in The Once and Future King.

Anaphora

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

Antagonist

the character or force causing the problem; often but not always the “bad” guy

Antithesis

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

Apostrophe

an address to the dead as if living; to the inanimate as if animate; to the absent as if present; to the unborn as if alive. Examples: "O Julius Caesar thou are mighty yet; thy spirit walks abroad," or "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll."

Archetype

an image, character, story, symbol, situation, or pattern that recurs throughout literature consistently enough to be considered a universal concept or situation.

Assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity. "Fake" and "lake" denote rhyme; "lake" and "fate" demonstrate assonance.

Asyndeton

A series of words separated by commas (with no conjunction), e.g. "I came, I saw, I conquered." The parts of the sentence are emphasized equally; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence.

Carpe diem

Latin expression that means 'seize the day.' These have a theme of living for today.

Climax

point of highest intensity in the story; the point that determines the outcome. Occurs toward, sometimes at, the end.

Colloquialism

Use of slang or informal language—includes regional dialect

Conceit

Unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things (a special kind of metaphor or complicated analogy.)

Conflict

the major problem(s) the character faces

Connotation

Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations associated by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation.

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

Couplet

rhyming stanza made up of two lines.

Deductive reasoning

a form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases.

Deus ex machina

A god who resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention. The Latin phrase means, literally, "a god from the machine." The phrase refers to the use of artificial means to resolve the plot of a play.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types and arrangements of words have significant effects on meaning. An essay written in academic diction, for example, would be much less colorful, but perhaps more precise, than street slang.

Didactic

a term used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model or correct behavior or thinking.

Direct characterization

the author tells us directly what the character is like

Disparagement

To speak of in a slighting way; belittle; reduce in rank or esteem

Dramatic irony

Discrepancy between what the reader or audience knows and what a character knows

Dynamic Character

A character who changes over the course of the work

Enjambment

the running over of a sentence from line or stanza into another so that closely related words fall in different lines

Epigraph

a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of a theme. One found at the beginning of John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign; that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him." —Jonathan Swift.

Epiphany

A major character's moment of realization or awareness..

Epistolary novel

a novel that tells a story through letters

Epithet

a term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great. Also a term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title or a person, such as The Great Emancipator for Abraham Lincoln.

Euphemism

the use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but is also considered less distasteful or less offensive than another. E.g. "He is at rest" instead of "He is dead." Also consider "Technicolor yawn" for "vomiting."

Exposition

Initial information given at the beginning of a story, such as characters, setting, and initial conflict

Extended Metaphor

one developed at length that involves several points of comparison.

External conflict

conflicts in which an individual struggles with something outside him/herself (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society)

Falling action (dénouement)

the events which follow the climax

Figurative Language

a word or words that are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensations or responses that the thing described evokes. Figurative language may be in the form of metaphors or similes, both non-literal comparison. Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" is an example of non-literal figurative language (metaphor specifically).

First Person Point of View

in the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting (See Unreliable Narrator).

Flat Character

a character constructed around a single idea or quality; a flat character is immediately recognizable.

Foil

a character whose traits are the opposite of another and who thus points up the strengths and weaknesses of the other character.

Foreshadowing

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

Hyperbole

Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect. Not intended literally, often humorous. Example: "And fired the shot heard round the world."

Imagery

the use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong unified sensory impression.

Incongruity

a surprising contrast occurring through situation, image, allusion, character, diction, anachronism, etc.

Indirect characterization

An author implies a character's personality through what the character says or does, how the character looks or dresses, the character's inner thoughts and feelings, and what others say about the character.

Inductive reasoning

A form or reasoning which works from a body of facts to the formulation of a generalization; frequently used in science and history.

Internal conflict

a conflict that takes place within an individual (man vs. himself)

Invective

Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. Tool of anger, the bitterest of all satire.

Irony

the discrepancy between what appears to be true and what actually is true or between expectation and reality.

Litotes

Opposite of hyperbole; a kind of understatement through stating the opposite. E.g. saying "It wasn't my best day" instead of "It was my worst day."

Lyric poetry

Once referred to poetry meant to be sung to music, but now describes any short, concentrated poem expressing personal feelings.

Metaphor

a comparison of two things, often unrelated. A figurative verbal equation results where both "parts" illuminate one another. Metaphors may occur: in a single sentence —"Talent is a cistern; genius is a fountain;" as a controlling image of an entire work —"Pilgrim at Sea by Par F. Lagerkvist; as obvious ("His fist was a knotty hammer.") or implied (But O beware the middle mind that purrs and never shows a tooth.").

Meter

a generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. Measured in units called feet and a metrical line is identified by the number of feet in the line.

Metonymy

Designation of one thing with something closely associated with it. E.g. calling the head of a committee a CHAIR, the king the CROWN, a newspaper the PRESS, or old people the GRAY HAIRS.

Mixed Metaphor

when two metaphors are jumbled together, often illogically.

Mood

an atmosphere created by a writer's word choice (diction) and the details selected. Syntax is also a determiner of mood because sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing.

Moral

the lesson drawn from a fictional or nonfictional story. A heavily didactic story.

Motif

A frequently recurrent character, incident, or concept in literature.

Narrative poetry

Poetry that tells a story

Non-sequitur

Inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premise or evidence.

Objective Point of View

with the objective point of view, the writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.

Onomatopoeia

the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss).

Oxymoron

A rhetorical antithesis. Juxtaposing two contradictory terms, like "wise fool" or "deafening silence."

Parable

A short story from which a lesson may be drawn.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity

Parallelism

Sentence construction which places in close proximity two or more equal grammatical constructions. Parallel structure may be as simple as listing two or three modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of two or more of the same type of phrases (prepositional, participial, gerund, appositive) that modify the same noun or verb; it may also take the form of two or more subordinate clauses that modify the same noun or verb. Or, parallel structure may be a complex blend of single-word, phrase, and clause parallelism all in the same sentence.

Parody

A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule

Pastoral

a poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.

Pathos

Qualities of a fictional or nonfictional work that evoke sorrow or pity. Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos.

Persona

a writer often adopts a fictional voice to tell a story. Persona or voice is usually determined by a combination of subject matter and audience.

Personification

when inanimate objects, animals, ideas, or abstractions are given human traits or human form

Polysyndeton

Sentence which uses and or another conjunction, with no commas, to separate the items in a series, usually appearing in the form X and Y and Z, stressing equally each member of the series. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in the asyndeton.

Protagonist

Main character in a dramatic or narrative work, usually trying to accomplish some objective or working toward some goal.

Quatrain

A stanza or poem consisting of four lines. Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme while having a similar number of syllables.

Resolution

the final part of the story; it usually settles the conflict

Rising action

a series of complications that intensify the conflict

Round Character

A character drawn with sufficient depth and complexity that the character feels like a real person

Sarcasm

a type of verbal irony in which, under the guise of praise, a caustic and bitter expression of strong and personal disapproval is given. Sarcasm is personal, jeering, and intended to hurt. The term came from the Greek word “sarkazein” which means “to tear flesh.”

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. Usually targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals; its purpose is customarily to inspire change.

Second Person

rarely used, the story is told from the perspective of the reader; “You” do this or think that, etc.

Setting

Time and place. An author can use setting to provide atmosphere, conflict (as in man vs. nature), or to reveal character.

Simile

A figurative comparison of two things, often dissimilar, using the connecting words: "like," "as," or "than." E.g. "More rapid than eagles his coursers they came."

Situational Irony

when events transpire in a way opposite from expectation.

Stanza

a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme

Static Character

a character who does not change over the course of the work.

Stock Character

Conventional character types that recur repeatedly in various literary genres. E.g. the wicked stepmother or Prince Charming or the rascal.

Style

the choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. In combination they create a work's manner of expression. Style is thought to be conscious and unconscious and may be altered to suit specific occasions. Style is often habitual and evolves over time.

Symbol

A thing, event, or person that represents or stands for some idea or event. Symbols also simultaneously retain their own literal meanings. A figure of speech in which a concrete object is used to stand for an abstract idea —e.g. the cross for Christianity.

Synaesthesia

mixing one type of sensory input with another in an impossible way, such as speaking of how a color sounds, or how a smell looks. "The scent of the rose rang like a bell through the garden." "I caressed the darkness with cool fingers."

Synecdoche

Part of something is used to stand for the whole —e.g. "threads" for clothes; "wheels" for cars.

Syntax

in grammar, the arrangement of words as elements in a sentence to show their relationship.

Theme

A central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction, revealed and developed in the course of a story or explored through argument.

Third Person Limited

a narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor

Third Person Omniscient

a narrator who knows everything about all the characters is all knowing, or omniscient.

Tone

a writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization of the sentence and global levels.

Tragedy

Representations of serious actions which turn out disastrously.

Understatement

deliberately representing something as much less than it really is

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised.

Verbal irony

Discrepancy between what a character says and what the character really means. Occurs in dialogue.