AP Literature and Composition Terms

Summer Assignment ^^

absolute

Definition: a word free from limitations or qualifications.

Example: "best," "all," "unique," "perfect."

adage

Definition: a familiar proverb or wise saying.

allegory

Definition: a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions.

alliteration

Definition: the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words.

allusion

Definition: a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize.

analogy

Definition: a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way.

anaphora

Definition: the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences.

anecdote

Definition: a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event.

antecedent

Definition: the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers.

antithesis

Definition: a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced.

aphorism

Definition: a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance.

apostrophe

Definition: a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction.

archetype

Definition: a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response.

argument

Definition: a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work.

asyndeton

Definition: a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions.

balanced sentence

Definition: a sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against each other to emphasize a contrast.

bildungsroman

Definition: a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character: in particular, his or her psychological development and moral education.

chiasmus

Definition: a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed.

Example: "Fair is foul and foul is fair."

cliché

Definition: an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off.

climax

Definition: the point of highest interest in a literary work.