ap lit terms

alliteration

repetition of initial consonant sounds or letters, mainly for tonal effects. (allie’s apples are awesome)

allegory

whole story is symbolism

ambiguity

a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way/has more than one meaning

anaphora

repetition of the same words at the beginning of several consecutive sentences

anastrophe

the natural order of words is inverted to emphasize the phrase that is displaced

analogy

sustained comparison, usually to clarify a complex or abstract idea

anglo-saxon

old english

anecdote

very short, unadorned narrative, usually to illustrate character or personality

antithesis

a rhetorical pattern in which contrasting ideas are emphasized by the balance or parallelism of words (to be or not to be)

antihero

somebody who is the central character of the story but who is not brace, noble, or morally good as heroes traditionally are

aphorism

a concise statement that expresses a general truth or principle

aposiopesis

when the speaker deliberately stops the sentences short to leave something unexpressed that is, or should be, obvious to the reader

apostrophe

a direct address to an absent, imaginary, or dead person, or to an object, quality or idea

apotheosis

elevation to divine status

apposition

the writer places two elements side by side; the second element is used to define or modify the first

archetype

a term describing certain characters or plot elements representing recurrent patterns of experience in man’s inheritence and appearing in myth, legend, dream, literature (king, warrior, explorer, etc)

aristeia

a series of exploits, or deeds of bravery, centered on a single hero

assonance

the repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sequence of nearby words

aside

a remark made by an actor, usually to the audience, that the other characters on stage supposedly cannot hear

asyndeton

conjunctions are omitted from the text in order to speed up the rhythm of the passage

atmosphere

a prevailing emotional tone or attitude, especially one associated with a specific place or time.

aubade

a short lyric expressive of one’s feelings at daybreak

ballad

traditionally, a folk song telling a story or legend in simple language, often with refrain

bildungsroman

a novel of formation or of education; the subject is the development of protagonist’s mind and character in passage from childhood to maturity.

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter

caesura

a pause in a line of poetry. indicated by //

canto

a division of a long poem (Dante’s divine comedy)

caricature

a drawing, description, or performance that exaggerates somebody’s or something’s characteristics

chronicle plays

a play the deals with historical scenes and characters (16th century England)

conceit

an elaborate parallel between two seemingly dissimilate object or ideas

comedy of manners

a satiric form of comedy: aristocratic and high society settings

connotation

all other associations other than the dictionary meaning conveyed by a word

consonance

the repetition of a final consonant sound or sounds following different vowel sounds (lumpy umpy)

couplet

two successive lines of rhyming verse

denotation

the dictionary meaning of a word

denouement

French for “unknotting”, both refers to events following climax and implies some resolution of conflict

deus ex machina

Latin for “god from a machine'“, the intervention of a nonhuman force to resolve a conflict

dialect

a regional variety of language, with differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

diction

author’s word choice

double entendre

a remark that is ambiguous and sometimes sexually suggestive

dystopia

a bad place set in the future

elegy

a formal poem that laments the death of a friend or public figure, or occasionally a meditation on death itself

elegiac

expressing sorrow or regret; characteristic of a poetic elegy in form or content

epic

a lengthy narrative that described the deeds of a heroic figure

epithet

an adjective or phrase applied to accentuate a certain characteristic (the wine-dark sea)

epiphany

a moment of sudden insight or revelation

end rhyme

rhymes appearing at the end of lines of poetry

enjambment

a poetic expression that spans more than one line

epistolary novel

narrative told through letters written by one or more characteristics

farce

a comic play in which authority, order, and morality are at risk and ordinary people are caught up in extraordinary goings on

foil

character who, by his contrast with the protagonist, serves to accentuate distinctive qualities or characteristics

foot

the basic unit of accentual-syllabic line

framed narrative

a story enclosed within an embedded narrative (a tale within a tale)

free verse

verse without fixed meter or rhyme

genre

the classification of literary works on the basis of their content, form, or technique

heroic couplet

two successive lines of rhymed poetry in iambic pentameter

hubris

pride

hyperbole

extravagant overstatement, not intended to be taken literally

Iamb

two syllables; unstressed, stressed

Iambic Pentameter

the most common rhythm in English poetry, consisting of five iambs in each line

imagery

words or phrases a writer selects to create a picture in the reader’s mind

In medias res

at a critical point in the development of the action: referring to the principle that epics and other narratives should begin literally in the middle of things

internal rhyme

rhymes before the end of a line in poetry

irony

rhetorically, the use of words to imply a meaning opposite to that literally stated

juxtaposition

the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side

kenning

metaphorical compound used in the place of a noun; common in Anglo-Sazon poetry “whale-road = sea” “ring-giver = king”

local color

use of details that are common in a certain region of the country

lyric

short poetic composition that describes the thought of a single speaker

melodrama

drama that emphasizes conflict between good and evil; relies on sensational events and improbabilities from dramatic effect

metonymy

substitution of one term for another that is generally associated with it; “suits” instead of “businessmen”

meter

the pattern created in a line poetry by its structure of sounds and stressed syllables

mood

the feeling a text arouses from a reader

momento mori

a reminder of death; a special type of emblem.

monologue

in drama a speech given by an actorby himself

motif

an important and repeated theme or element in a text

onomatopoeia

use of words such as “pop” or “buzz”

oxymoron

an association of two contrary terms, as in “same difference” or “wise fool”

paradox

statement that seems absurd or contradictory, but often expresses a deeper truth

parody

a literary form that imitates a specific literary work or the style of an author for comic effect

pathos

greek meaning strong emotion

persona

an identity or role that somebody assumes. the image of character and personality that somebody wants to show the outside world

personification

the attributing of human qualities to animals, abstractions, or inanimate objects

picaresque novel

a type of prose fiction that features the adventures of a roguish hero and usually has a simple plot divided into separate episodes (huckleberry finn)

poetic justice

idea that virtuous and evil actions are ultimately dealt with justly; virtue is rewarded and evil in punished

polysyndeton

using conjunctions in close succession in order to slow the rhythm of the passage and add solemnity

refrain

a line or lines that recur throughout a poem or the lyrics of a song. a refrain may vary slightly but it is generally exactly the same

rhymed verse

poetry that follows a rhyme scheme as opposed to free verse without rhyme

rhythm

a term referring to a measured flow of words and signifying the basic beat or pattern established by stressed syllables, unstressed syllables and pauses

satire

a literary genre that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity’s vices & foibles, giving impetus to reform through ridicule

soliloquy

lines in a play in which a character reveals thoughts to the audience but not to the other characters; it is usually longer than an aside and not directed at the audience

sonnet

a lyric poem that almost always consists of fourteen lines (usually printed as a single stanza) and that typically follows one of the conventional rhyme schemes

stream of consciousness

the continuous flow of sense perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and memories in the human mind; a literary method of representing such a blending of mental processes in fictional characters. (Ulysses)

synecdoche

a figure of speech that refers to a whole entity by identifying only a part of it “the crown, for the english”

syntax

the manner in which words are arranged into sentences

tableau

a dramatic, often symbolic arrangement of characters on a stage.

tone

the attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work

understatement

a statement, or a way of expressing yourself, that is deliberately less forceful or dramatic than the subject would seem to justify or require

unreliable narrator

one whose perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the matters s/he narrated do not coincide with the implicit opinions and norms of the author or those the author expects the reader to share

verse

poetry or an individual poem, that is any metrical composition

voice

awareness of a voice behind the fictitious voices that speak in a text. sense of a pervasive authorial presence, intelligence, and moral sensibility which invented and ordered the literary characters