AP LANG GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS & DEVICES

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action; more direct
ex. "Anthony drove while Toni searched for the house."

Passive Voice

When the subject of the sentence receives the action
ex. "The car was driven by Anthony."

Allusion

An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text, although it can be other things commonly known, such as plays, songs, historical events) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

Alter-ego

A character that is used by the author to speak the author's own thoughts; when an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode; develops a point or injecting humor

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Classicism

Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures

Comic relief

When a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood somewhat.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

Colloquial

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation; familiar type of saying, similar to an adage or an aphorism.

Connotation

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
ex. "policeman," "cop," and "The Man" all denote the same literal meaning of police officer, but each has a different...

Denotation

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Jargon

The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.

Vernacular

1. Language or dialect of a particular country.
2. Language or dialect of a regional clan or group.
3. Plain everyday speech

Didactic

A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Adage

A folk saying with a lesson.
ex. "A rolling stone gathers no moss." -\> Similar to aphorism and colloquialism.

Allegory

A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represents qualities or concepts.

Aphorism

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle; can be a memorable summation of the author's point.

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author; related to ellipse, which is the three periods used to show omitted text in a quotation.

Figurative Language

Writing that is not meant to be taken literally

Analogy

A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables. He or she argues that the relationship between the first pair of variables is the same as the relationship between the second pair of variables.
ex. "America is to the world as the hippo is to the jungle."

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Metaphor

Making an implied comparison, not using "like," as," or other such words.
ex. "My feet are popsicles."

Metonymy

Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept.

Synecdoche

A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.

Simile

Using words such as "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

Synesthesia

A description involving a "crossing of the senses."
ex:
"A purplish scent filled the room."
"I was deafened by his brightly-colored clothing."

Personification

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.
ex. "The tired old truck groaned as it inched up the hill."

Foreshadowing

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits.

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind; five senses

Invective

A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Verbal irony

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different; If your voice tone is bitter, it's called sarcasm.

Dramatic irony

When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn't and would be surprised to find out.

Situational irony

An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected; Sometimes it makes you laugh because it's funny how things turn out.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

Motif

A recurring idea in a piece of literature.

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox
ex. "wise fool"

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author's writing.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Parallelism

Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns; used to add emphasis, organization, or sometimes pacing to writing.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent.

Chiasmus

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed; Also called antimetabole.

Antithesis

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.
ex. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

Zuegma (Syllepsis)

When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies.
ex. "The butler killed the lights, and then the mistress."

Parenthetical Idea

Used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence; considered an aside...a whisper, and should be used sparingly for effect, rather than repeatedly and can also be used to set off dates and numbers.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes; It borrows words or phrases from an original, and pokes fun at it. This is also a form of allusion.

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.

Poetic device

A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Consonance

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

Internal rhyme

When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.

Slant rhyme

When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly - they are merely similar.

End rhyme

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of a poem's end rhymes.

Stressed and unstressed syllables

In every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed, or said with more force than the other syllable(s).

Meter

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Free verse

Poetry that doesn't have much meter or rhyme.

Iambic pentameter

Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

Sonnet

A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Polysyndeton

When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions.

Pun

When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication.

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle

The relationships, in any piece of writing, between the writer, the audience, and the subject.

Rhetorical Question

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Romanticism

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.

Sarcasm

A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded; bitter, mocking tone

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect; serious on the surface; humorous when you discover that it is satire instead of reality; and serious when you discern the underlying point of the author.

Sentence

A sentence is group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.

Appositive

A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning.
ex. "Bob, the lumber yard worker, spoke with Judy, an accountant from the city."

Clause

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

- independent clause: expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.
- dependent, or subordinate clause: cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause.

Balanced sentence

A sentence in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale. Both parts are parallel grammatically.

Compound sentence

Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clause

Complex sentence

Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent clause

Cumulative sentence

When the writer begins with an independent clause, then adds subordinate elements; also called a loose sentence

Periodic sentence

When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence. The writer begins with subordinate elements and postpones the main clause.

Simple sentence

Contains only one independent clause.

Declarative sentence

States an idea. It does not give a command or request, nor does it ask a question.

Imperative sentence

Issues a command.

Interrogative sentence

Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns (what, which,
who, whom, and whose).

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes; may be conscious or unconscious.

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else; something concrete such as an object, actions, character...that represents something more abstract.

Syntax/sentence variety

Grammatical arrangement of words.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work.

Thesis

The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition; short and clear.

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language and organization.

Understatement

The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is.

Litotes

A particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used.

Argument

A piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion.

Premises

Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion

Conclusion

The end result of the argument - the main point being made.

Aristotle's appeals

The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade an audience that one's ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else's.

Ethos (credibility)

Being convinced by the credibility of the author.

Pathos (emotional)

Persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions