AP Literature: Literary terms

ALLEGORY

ALLEGORY

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

EXAMPLE: Animal Farm; Dante’s Inferno; Lord of the Flies

ALLITERATION

repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

EXAMPLE: “When the two youths turned with the flag, they saw that much of the regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly back.” –Stephen Crane (Note how regiment and remnant are being used; the regiment is gone, a remnant remains…)

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).

AMBIGUITY

deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work.

An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way- - this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work.

ANALOGY

Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

ANAPHORA

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

This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent.

EX: “You is kind, you is smart, and you is important”

ANASTROPHE

Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion.

EX: 'Powerful you have become; the dark side I sense in you.'

ANECDOTE

Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual

ANTAGONIST

Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.

ANTIMETABOLE

“Against change”: Repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.

Moliere: “One should eat to live, not live to eat.”

In poetry, this is called chiasmus.

ANTITHESIS

Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure.

EX: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

ANTIHERO

Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.

EX: Sherlock Holmes, Capitan Jack Sparrow

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification)

Personification is the use of figurative language to give inanimate objects or natural phenomena humanlike characteristics in a metaphorical and representative way. Anthropomorphism, on the other hand, involves non-human things displaying literal human traits and being capable of human behavior.

EX: the anthropomorphic animals in The Jungle Book have their own personalities, thoughts, and emotions.

APHORISM

brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.

EX: “Don't judge a book by its cover.” “Actions speak louder than words.”

APOSTROPHE

calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation.

Josiah Holland ---“Loacöon! Thou great embodiment/ Of human life and human history!”

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Juliet believes she is alone and addresses Romeo, thinking that he is absent. Therefore, this is considered to be an example of an apostrophe.

APPOSITION

Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first (often set off by a colon).

Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

ASSONANCE

the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together.

EX: The light of the fire is a sight. (repetition of the long i sound).

ASYNDETON

Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z... the writer uses X,Y,Z....

ASYNDETON: “Reduce, reuse, recycle”

POLYSYNDETON: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

BALANCE

Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well.

EX: To err is human, to forgive divine

CHARACTERIZATION

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

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the character’s effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character in action. Common in modern literature

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style literature relied more heavily on this form.

STATIC CHARACTER

is one who does not change much in the course of a story.

DYNAMIC CHARACTER

is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story’s action.

FLAT CHARACTER

has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.

ROUND CHARACTER

has more dimensions to their personalities---they are complex, just as real people are.

CHIASMUS

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: “Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.”

In prose this is called antimetabole.

CLICHE

is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. Avoid clichés like the plague. (That cliché is intended.)

COLLOQUIALISM

a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations.

Example: “He’s out of his head if he thinks I’m gonna go for such a stupid idea.”

COMEDY

in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

CONCEIT

an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor.

EX: "A broken heart is like a damaged clock." The difference between a broken heart and a damaged clock is unconventional, but once you think about it, you can see the connection.

CONFESSIONAL POETRY

a twentieth century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate material from the poet’s life.

CONFLICT

the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT

conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person a whole society.

INTERNAL CONFLICT

a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person’s mind.

CONNOTATION

the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

COUPLET

two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.

DIALECT

a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

DICTION

a speaker or writer’s choice of words.

DIDACTIC

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

Textbooks are, of course, didactic, as are recipe books, fables, parables, and instructional manuals.

ELEGY

An elegy is a poem that expresses sorrow or melancholy, often about someone who has died. A eulogy is usually a speech that praises the achievements and character of a person who has died, often as part of a funeral service. Most of the time, elegy and eulogy aren't confused.

EPANALEPSIS

device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence.

Voltaire: “Common sense is not so common.”

EPIC

a long narrative poem, written in heightened language , which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.

EPIGRAPH

a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.

EPISTROPHE

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora).

ex: Last week, he was just fine. Yesterday, he was just fine. And today, he was just fine.

EPITHET

an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality. “Father of our country” and “the great Emancipator” are examples. A Homeric epithet is a compound adjective used with a person or thing: “swift-footed Achilles”; “rosy-fingered dawn.”

ESSAY

a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.

ARGUMENTATION

is one of the four forms of discourse which uses logic, ethics, and emotional appeals (logos, ethos, pathos) to develop an effective means to convince the reader to think or act in a certain way.

PERSUASION

relies more on emotional appeals than on facts

ARGUMENT

form of persuasion that appeals to reason instead of emotion to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way.

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP

Form of argumentation in which the writer claims that one thing results from another, often used as part of a logical argument

DESCRIPTION

a form of discourse that uses language to create a mood or emotion.

EXPOSITION

one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something is explained or “set forth.”

NARRATIVE

the form of discourse that tells about a series of events.

EXPLICATION

act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

FABLE

a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

FARCE

a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe.

Similes and metaphors are common forms.

FLASHBACK

a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

FORESHADOWING

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

FREE VERSE

poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

HYPERBOLE

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times….”

HYPOTACTIC

sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them. (Use of such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another is known as hypotaxis). I am tired because it is hot.

IMAGERY

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

INVERSION

the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.