AP Lit terms

Allusion

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing

Genre

A category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Prose

Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.

Mood

The general feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader.

Motif

A recurring element, such as an image, idea, or symbol, that helps develop and reinforce the central theme or mood.

Theme

Setting

The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place

Verse

A single line or stanza in a poem

Antagonist

One that contends with or who opposes another

Deuteragonist

The actor taking the part of second importance in a classical Greek drama

Direct Characterization

A literary device where an author explicitly tells the reader about a character’s traits, personality, or appearance

Dynamic Character

A character that goes through significant internal changes throughout a story

Flat Character

A character that lacks depth and complexity, is often defined by a single trait or stereotype.

Foil (not aluminum; not the verb)

Someone or something that serves as a contrast to another

Hubris

Exaggerated pride or self-confidence

Indirect Characterization

A literary device where an author reveals a character’s personality through their actions rather than explicitly stating it.

Protagonist

The principal character in a literary work.

Static Character

A literary character who remains largely unchanged throughout a story.

Tragic Flaw (Hamartia)

A character's inherent defect or error that leads to their downfall.

Aphorism

A short, pithy statement offering instruction, truth, or opinion

Aside

A short speech delivered by a character in a play or novel that is intended for the audience to hear but not by the other characters in the scene.

Colloquial Diction

The informal language used in everyday conversation, often including slang

Dialect

Specific regional or social variety of a language, distinguished by unique vocab, grammar, and pronunciation

Euphemism

A literary device where a milder, less harsh, or more indirect word or phrase is used in place of one that is considered offensive, blunt or unpleasant.

Idiom

A phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meanings of its individual words

Monologue

A long speech delivered by a single character revealing their thoughts and feelings

Soliloquy

A dramatic device where a character speaks their thoughts aloud, revealing their inner feelings, conflicts, and intentions

Stage Directions

The written instructions in a play’s script that guide actors on movement, performance, and technical aspects like lighting and sound

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.

Asyndeton

Conjunctions are deliberately omitted between words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence or passage.

Chiasmus

Rhetorical device where two or more clauses are presented, with the second clause mirroring the first in reversed grammatical structure or idea.

Epigraph

A short quotation, phrase, or poem placed at the beginning of a book, chapter, or other section to suggest its theme or provide context.

Epistrophe

Rhetorical device where a word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive clauses, sentences, or verses.

In medias res

A literary technique where a narrative begins in the middle of the action, rather than at the chronological beginning.

Juxtaposition

The placement of two or more things, ideas, characters, or concepts side by side to highlight their differences and create a specific effect.

Litotes

A figure of speech that employs an understatement by using double negatives to express a positive statement.

Periodic Sentence

Complex sentence where the main clause is held off until the end, creating suspense and emphasis.

Peripeteia

A sudden and significant reversal of fortune or circumstances, particularly in dramatic or narrative work.

Polysyndeton

A literary device characterized by the repeated use of conjunctions in close succession, often within a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses.

Telegraphic Sentence

A concise sentence, typically containing five or fewer words, that omits non-essential elements like articles, conjunctions, and prepositions to achieve brevity.

Apostrophe (not punctuation)

A figure of speech where a speaker directly addresses someone or something that isn’t present or cannot respond

Conceit (lit device, not personality trait)

A literary device that employs an elaborate or striking metaphor or simile that presents a comparison between two different things.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech using extreme exaggeration to create a strong impression or emphasize a point.

Imagery

The use of descriptive language that appeals to the five senses to create a vivid mental image for the reader.

Metonymy

A figure of speech where a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it.

Symbol

A word, object, person, situation, or action that has a literal meaning but also suggests or represents something more abstract, like an idea or belief.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech where a part of something is used to refer to the whole, or less commonly, the whole is used to refer to a part.

Synesthesia

A rhetorical device where one sense is described in terms of another.

Assonance

Repetition of vowels without repetition of consonants used as an alternative to rhyme in verse

Ballad

A narrative composition in rhythmic verse suitable for singing

Blank Verse

Verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter

Consonance

Correspondence or recurrence of sounds especially in words

Heroic Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines, typically in iambic pentameter, that form a complete thought or grammatical unit.

Iamb

A metric foot consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable or of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Iambic Pentameter

A poetic meter in which each line has five “iambs”

Elegy

A poem that expresses sorrow, often lamenting the death of someone or something.

Enjambment

The running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so closely related words fall in different lines.

Epic Poetry

A long narrative poem, often a book length, that recounts the heroic deeds of a central figure or group of characters

Free Verse

Poetry not dictated by an established form or meter and often influenced by the rhythms of speech.

Lyric Poetry

A form of poetry that expresses personal emotions and feelings, often in a song-like manner

Ode

A lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying length of line, and complexity of stanza forms

Slant Rhyme

Rhyming structures with words that share similar sounds but aren’t exactly perfect rhymes

Terza Rima

An arrangement of triplets, especially in iambs, that rhyme

Villanelle

A chiefly French verse form running on two rhymes and consisting typically of five tercets and a quatrain in which the first and third lines of the opening tercet recur alternately at the end of the other tercets and together as the two lines of the quatrain.

Allegory

The expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence

Bildungsroman

A novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character

Epistolary Novel

A novel written as a series of documents, most commonly letters

Picaresque Novel

A genre of prose fiction that typically features a “picaro” or rogue individual as the central character

Gothic

Characterized by its exploration of darkness, mystery, and horror.

Impressionism

An art movement, primarily associated with French painters in the late 19th century, that emphasizes the artist’s impression of a scene.

Modernism

Characterized by its departure from traditional literary conventions and its exploration of modern life.

Naturalism

A literary genre that developed as an extension of realism, emphasizing the impact of heredity, environment, and social conditions on individuals.

Puritanism

The Puritan Plain Style, which emphasizes clear, simple, and direct language, often with a focus on religious themes and moral instruction.

Postmodernism

Skepticism towards grand narratives and objective truth, often embracing fragmentation, self-awareness, and a questioning of reality and representation

Realism

A literary movement that aims to portray life as it is, focusing on the everyday experiences of ordinary people, often the middle and lower class, without embellishment

Magical Realism

A genre where fantastical or impossible elements are interwoven into a realistic narrative, often resting the magical as ordinary and unremarkable within the story’s world

Romanticism

A literary and artistic movement that emphasized emotion, imagination, and individualism

Dark Romanticism

A literary subgenre of Romanticism that focuses on emotion above intellect and the beauty of nature and the human spirit.

Transcendentalism

A philosophy that emphasizes the a priori conditions of knowledge and experience or the unknowable character of ultimate reality or that emphasizes the transcendent as the fundamental reality.