AP Lit Terms Part 2

Allegory

A story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people, events, or abstract ideas/qualities.

Allusion

A reference to someone or something known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture; usually an indirect reference.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life or states a principle or accepted general truth.

Antihero

A central character who lacks qualities traditionally associated with heroes, such as courage, intelligence, or moral principles.

Characterization

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

Cliché

A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.

Didactic

Fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Diction

A speaker or writer's choice of words.

Direct Characterization

When the author directly tells the reader what a character is like.

Dramatic Irony

When a character thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.

Dynamic Character

A character who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action.

Epigraph

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work that suggests the theme.

First Person Point of View

A point of view in which one of the characters tells the story.

Flat Character

A character who has only one or two personality traits and is one-dimensional.

Foreshadowing

The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.

Imagery

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

Juxtaposition

A rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas are placed together.

Litotes

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

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it.

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 to help unify it and connect ideas to the theme.

Objective Point of View

A point of view in which a totally impersonal and objective narrator tells the story without commenting on characters or events.

Omniscient Point of View

A third-person point of view in which an all-knowing narrator tells the story and may reveal information about many characters.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Parable

A relatively short story that teaches a moral or lesson about how to lead a good life.

Paradox

A statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth.

Parody

A work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style.

Pun

A play on words based on multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Romance

A story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful.

Round Character

A character with multiple dimensions to their personality who is complex, like a real person.

Situational Irony

A discrepancy between what is expected or appropriate to happen and what actually happens.

Static Character

A character who does not change much during the course of a story.

Stream of Consciousness

A style of writing that portrays the inner, often chaotic, workings of a character's mind.

Style

The distinctive way in which a writer uses language, including diction, tone, and syntax.

Symbol

A person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole.

Theme

The insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

Third Person Point of View

A point of view in which an unknown narrator tells the story while focusing on the thoughts and feelings of one character.

Tone

The attitude a writer takes toward the subject, characters, or audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.

Understatement

A statement that says less than what is meant.

Verbal Irony

When someone says one thing but really means something else.