only ap lit senior year specific terms

Allegory

A story in which characters, events, and settings represent deeper moral, political, or philosophical ideas.

Alexandrine

A line of poetry consisting of twelve syllables, traditionally divided into two six-syllable halves.

Anachronism

Something placed in a time period where it does not historically belong.

Anapest

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable.

Anthropomorphism

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or behavior to animals, objects, or other nonhuman things.

Antihero

A protagonist who lacks traditional heroic qualities.

Aphorism

A brief, memorable statement expressing a general truth or observation.

Apostrophe

A direct address to an absent person, dead person, abstract idea, or inanimate object.

Ballad

A narrative poem or song that tells a story, often involving love, adventure, or tragedy.

Biographical Criticism

A critical approach that interprets literature using information about the author's life.

Caesura

A deliberate pause within a line of poetry.

Carpe Diem

A Latin phrase meaning "seize the day"; the idea of making the most of the present.

Classicism

A literary and artistic tradition emphasizing order, balance, reason, restraint, and classical Greek and Roman ideals.

Comedy

A literary genre intended to entertain and generally ending happily.

Complaint

A literary work or poem expressing grief, sorrow, dissatisfaction, or a complaint about a situation.

Conceit

An elaborate or extended comparison between seemingly unrelated things.

Closed Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines in which the thought or sentence is complete at the end of the second line.

Heroic Couplet

A rhymed pair of iambic pentameter lines, often used in formal or epic poetry.

Dactyl

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Deconstructionist Criticism

A critical approach that examines contradictions and challenges the idea that texts have one fixed or definitive meaning.

Dramatic Monologue

A poem or speech in which a single speaker addresses a silent listener and reveals aspects of their character.

Elegy

A poem or literary work mourning the death of someone or reflecting on loss.

Epigram

A short, witty, often satirical statement or poem.

Existentialism

A philosophy emphasizing individual freedom, choice, responsibility, and the search for meaning in life.

Expressionism

A literary and artistic movement emphasizing subjective emotion and inner experience, often through distortion or exaggeration.

Feminism

A critical approach examining literature through gender, power, equality, and the experiences of women.

Formalism / New Criticism

A critical approach focusing primarily on the text itself, especially its language, structure, imagery, symbolism, and literary techniques.

Frame Story

A story that contains another story or stories within it.

New Historicism

A critical approach that interprets literature in relation to its historical, social, cultural, and political context.

Iamb

A metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Idyll

A short literary work depicting an idealized or peaceful rural setting.

Impressionism

A literary and artistic style emphasizing subjective impressions, sensations, and momentary experiences.

Legend

A traditional story based partly on historical people or events but often containing exaggerated or fictional elements.

Light Verse

Humorous or playful poetry that is generally not serious in subject or tone.

Litotes

An understatement that expresses an idea by negating its opposite.

Marxism

A critical approach focusing on social class, economic power, labor, wealth, and inequality.

Mask

A persona or identity adopted by a writer, speaker, or character.

Meter

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it.

Metric Foot

A basic unit of poetic meter consisting of a specific pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Neoclassicism

A literary movement emphasizing reason, order, restraint, balance, and classical Greek and Roman models.

Ode

A formal lyric poem that praises or addresses a person, object, or idea.

Ottava Rima

A poetic stanza consisting of eight lines with the rhyme scheme ABABABCC.

Pastoral

A literary work that idealizes rural life, nature, and shepherds.

Pessimism

A belief or attitude emphasizing negative outcomes, suffering, or the limitations of human existence.

Psychoanalytic Criticism

A critical approach that interprets literature through unconscious desires, psychological conflict, and the workings of the mind.

Pyrrhic

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables.

Romance

A literary genre involving adventure, love, heroic action, or extraordinary events.

Scansion

The analysis of the meter and rhythm of a poem, often by marking stressed and unstressed syllables.

Spondee

A metrical foot consisting of two stressed syllables.

Style

The distinctive way an author uses language, including diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and tone.

Synecdoche

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

Synaesthesia

A figure of speech that combines or transfers descriptions associated with different senses.

Tercet

A three-line stanza.

Terza Rima

A poetic form using interlocking three-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme such as ABA BCB CDC.

Tragedy

A literary genre in which a serious conflict leads to suffering or downfall, often involving a tragic hero.

Triplet

A group of three consecutive lines, often sharing the same rhyme.

Trochee

A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.

Verse

Writing arranged in lines with rhythm or meter, especially poetry.

Villanelle

A nineteen-line poem consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain, with repeating lines and a specific rhyme scheme.

Wit

Clever, intelligent, and often humorous use of language.