AP Literature Summer Terms

Anaphora

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

Archetype

A recurring character, image, symbol, or situation found across literature.

Aside

A remark spoken by a character that is heard by the audience but not by other characters.

Ballad

A narrative poem that tells a story, often using simple language and repeated refrains.

Bildungsroman

A novel focusing on a character's growth and development from youth to adulthood.

Byronic Hero

A complex, rebellious, and flawed hero who is often isolated and emotionally conflicted.

Indirect Characterization

Revealing a character through actions, dialogue, thoughts, appearance, and others' reactions.

Direct Characterization

The author directly describes a character's traits.

Climax

The turning point or moment of greatest tension in a story.

Comedy

A literary work with humorous elements that typically ends happily.

External Conflict

A struggle between a character and an outside force such as another person, society, or nature.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry, usually with the same rhyme and meter.

Dynamic Character

A character who changes significantly throughout a story.

Ethos

An appeal to credibility, ethics, or the speaker's character.

Exposition

The part of a story that introduces characters, setting, and background information.

Foil

A character whose traits contrast with another character to highlight differences.

Hyperbole

An intentional exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality, including verbal, situational, and dramatic irony.

Kenning

A two-word metaphorical expression, common in Old English poetry (e.g., "whale-road" for sea).

Logos

An appeal to logic and reason using facts or evidence.

Male Gaze

A perspective that presents women as objects viewed from a heterosexual male viewpoint.

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as."

Meter

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Metonymy

Replacing the name of one thing with something closely associated with it.

Metrical Foot

The basic rhythmic unit in poetry made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere created for the reader.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents (e.g., buzz, bang).

Oxymoron

A combination of contradictory words (e.g., "deafening silence").

Pathos

An appeal to the audience's emotions.

First Person POV

A narrative told by a character using "I," "me," or "we."

Third Person POV

A narrative told using "he," "she," "they," or character names.

Omniscient POV

A narrator who knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters.

Limited Omniscient POV

A narrator who knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

Prose

Ordinary written or spoken language without a regular poetic structure.

Rhyme

The repetition of similar ending sounds in words.

Rhythm

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or beats in language.

Slant Rhyme

An imperfect rhyme in which the sounds are similar but not identical.

Soliloquy

A speech in which a character reveals thoughts while alone on stage.

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem following a specific rhyme scheme and structure.

Stanza

A grouped set of lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph.

Static Character

A character who undergoes little or no change throughout a story.

Theme

The central message or underlying idea of a literary work.

Thesis

The main argument or controlling idea of an essay or analysis.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject or audience.

Tragic Flaw

A character trait that leads to a tragic hero's downfall.

Tragic Hero

A noble character whose tragic flaw results in suffering or defeat.

Wit

Clever, inventive language or humor.