Ap lit terms

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Allegory

Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or abstract ideas

ex) Animal Farm, Dante's Inferno, Lord of the Flies

Alliteration

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

ex) "When the two youths turned with the flag, they saw that much of the regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was slowly coming back." -Stephen Crane

Allusion

Reference to someone or something that is known from history, religion, politics, literature, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something

Ambiguity

Deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation may be interpreted in more than one way - this is done on purpose, and when not, it is vagueness and distracts from the work.

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

Anecdote

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

ex) Moliere: "One should eat to live, not live to eat."

In poetry, it is called chiasmus

Antithesis

Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure. It also refers to a contrast or opposite.

Anti hero

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

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

Apostrophe

Calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or personificated abstract idea. If the character is calling out to a god or goddess for inspiration, it is an invocation

ex) Josiah Holland - "Luacoon! Thou great embodiment/ Of human life and human history."

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)

ex) "These are the tunes that try men's souls: The summer soldiers and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserces the love and thanks of man and woman." - Paine

Assonance

Repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together

Asyndeton

Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: Instead of X, Y, Z… the writer uses X,Y,Z.

Balance

Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well.

Characterization

The process by which the writer reveals what the personality of a character is.

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 character's effect on others(how others feel towards the character), or by showing them 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. Romanitic style liturature relied more heavily on this form

Static Character

One who does not change much in the course of a story

Dynamic Character

One who changes in some way(important) 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 flat cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.

Round Character

Has more dimensions to their personalities - they are complex; just like real people are.

Chiasmus

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed.

ex) "Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike" - Coleridge

In prose, this is called antimetabole

Cliche

A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. Avoid cliches like the plague(intended cliché)

Colloquialism

A word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing, but is inappropriate for formal situations

ex) He's out of his head if he thinks I'm gonna go for such a stupid idea

Comedy

In general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters

Conceit

An elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often extended metaphor

Confessional Poetry

A 20th century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate materials from the poet's life

Connotation

The associations and emotional overtones that have been attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition

Couplet

Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry

Dialect

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area

Diction

A speaker or writer's choice of words

Didactic

Form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking

Elegy

A poem of mourning usually about someone who has died. A eulogy is a great phrase or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died.

Epanalepsis

Device of repetition in which the same expression is repeated at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence.

ex) "Common sense is not so common." - Voltaire

Epic

A long narrative poem written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society

Epigraph

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme

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(opposite of anaphora)

Epithet

An adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality.

ex) "Father of our country", "The great Emancipator"

Homeric epithet -> Compound adjective used with a person or thing(Swift-footed Achilles)

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

ex) similies and metaphors

Flashback

A scene that happens, interrupting the normal, chronological sequence, but is used to describe something that happened at an earlier time.

Foil

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

Foreshadowing

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

ex) "If I told you once, I've told you a million times."

Hypotact

Sentences marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them.

ex) I am tired because it is hot

hypotaxis -> Use of such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another

Imagery

The use of language to evoke a picture or concrete sensation of a person, thing, a place, or 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

ex) "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; / Petals on a wet black bough" - Ezra Pound

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -MLK

Litotes

A form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form.

ex)"…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(see periodic sentence)

ex) "Hector gazed after him a little while, looking with half-fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of this footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure." - Hawthorne

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 exactly the two terms of the comparison

ex) "I like to see it lap the miles"

The verb lap implies a comparison between "it" and some animal that "laps" up water

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it(conceit if it is quite long)

Dead Metaphor

A metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid

ex) "The head of the house."

"The seat of the government."

"A knotty problem."

Mixed Metaphor

A metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible

ex) "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

ex) "We requested from the crown support for our petition."

Mood

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

Motif

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work, unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme

ex) "So it goes" through Slaughter House to remind the reader of the senselessness of death

Motivation

the reasons for a character's behavior