AP English Lit and Comp

Flashback

Allows writers to show their audience specific events that happened before the current action of the story

Genre

Category system that literature falls into based on specific conventions that develop to characterize the differences

Irony

Can be verbal, situationa, or dramatic and has the result of the meaning, situation, or action being one thing but meaning something different

Parody

a type of literary work that satirizes another work, its author, or the ideas presented

Subplot

minor story that runs inside the main story

Connotation

the feeling a word evokes and/or the way a word is used that may be different from its dictionary defintion

Symbol

concrete or physical object that represents an abstract concept

Allusion

intentional reference to another literary work or piece of art in order to make connections

Foreshadowing

hints at actions that will come in the future

Metaphor

comparison of two things to make them more alike without using like or as

Narrator

tells the story either in the first, second or third person point of view

Understatement

a statement that says less than what it means

Pathos

appeal to emotions

creation of empathy

sharing of feeling and perspective from the text to the reader

Simile

using "like" or "as" to build comparison between two ideas

Parallelism

Any structure which brings together parallel elements to show that the ideas in parts are equal in importance

Didactic

Writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach

Oxymoron

Contradictory terms or ideas are combined

Apostrophe

when an absent person, inanimate object, or abstract being is addressed directly

Diction

choice of words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness

Hyperbole

extreme exaggeration for effect

Romance

A type of fiction, comprising idealized love, chivalry, obsessive association with somebody v or some idea, and mysterious adventures

Denouenment

the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved

Rhetorical Question 

a question asked without expectation of an answer

Personification

giving human characteristics or traits to nonhuman objects

Malapropism

The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one

Cliche

a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought

Realism

portraying mundane, everyday experiences as they are in real life

Satire

use of ridicule, sarcasm, irony, etc. to expose vices, abuses, etc.

Imagery

writer's vivid description that helps readers visualize

antithesis

a rhetorical device that places two strongly contrasting or opposite ideas in a parallel grammatical structure to create a powerful effect, often highlighting the stark difference between them

Pastoral

uses imagery, characters, and themes associated with idealized rural life to evoke themes of nature, innocence, and simplicity

Epiphany

signifies a character's sudden, enlightening realization or "Aha! moment," which often leads to a significant change in their perspective or understanding of the story