AP Literary Terms

act

a major division within a play or drama that encompasses a series of related scenes.

antagonist

a character or force that opposes the main character, known as the protagonist, creating conflict in a narrative.

aside

when a fictional character breaks away from the events of the story to talk to themselves or directly to the audience.

catastrophe

the final action that completes the unraveling of the plot in a play, especially in a tragedy.

catharsis

the emotional release or purification that the audience experiences, particularly during a tragedy.

character

a person or being in a narrative who plays a crucial role in the story's development, driving the plot and engaging the reader's emotions.

dynamic character

a character who undergoes a significant internal change throughout the story, typically a transformation in personality, attitude, or understanding of life

flat character

a one-dimensional figure who is relatively uncomplicated and does not change throughout the story.

round character

a complex, multi-faceted character with depth, flaws, and a believable personality that evolves throughout the story.

static character

a character that does not undergo significant internal change or development throughout the story.

stock character

a stereotypical character that is easily recognised by the audience and requires little to no development by the writer.

climax

the peak moment of tension and conflict, often a turning point where the main conflict reaches its highest intensity and the outcome of the story begins to be determined.

comedy

hybrid genre often deals with real life situations, grounded characters, and believable situations.

comic relief

used to insert humor into an otherwise serious or dramatic work.

conflict

a struggle between opposing forces that drives the narrative and keeps the audience engaged.

crisis

a crucial, decisive moment where a character or characters face a major turning point, often involving a difficult choice or a high-stakes situation.

denouement

the final part of a play where the plot's complexities are resolved, loose ends are tied up, and the outcome is revealed, providing a sense of closure.

deus ex machina

any situation where something unexpected or implausible is brought in to the story line to resolve situations or disentangle a plot.

epilogue

a concluding section, often a speech delivered by one of the characters, that comes after the main action of the play.

exposition

the part of the play that provides necessary background information to the audience, setting the stage for the unfolding events.

falling action

the sequence of events that occur after the climax, leading towards the resolution or denouement.

farce

a type of comedic drama that relies on exaggerated situations, stereotyped characters, and often physical humor to entertain audiences and provoke laughter.

foil

a character whose traits contrast with those of another character, usually the protagonist, to highlight or emphasize the protagonist's qualities.

hamartia

a character's tragic flaw or error in judgment that ultimately leads to their downfall.

hero

a character, often the protagonist, who is admired for their courage, strength, or noble qualities and is expected to overcome obstacles and achieve a positive outcome, even if they face challenges and potential flaws.

hubris

excessive pride or arrogance displayed by a character, often a tragic hero, that ultimately leads to their downfall.

monologue

a long speech delivered by a single character, either to other characters or directly to the audience.

prologue

an introductory speech or scene delivered at the beginning of a play, often by a character who may or may not be part of the main cast.

protagonist

the main character whose journey and experiences the audience primarily follows.

protagonist

the main character whose journey and experiences the audience primarily follows.

scene

a specific part of a play or film where the action takes place in one location and time.

soliloquy

a dramatic device where a character speaks their thoughts aloud, usually when alone on stage, revealing their inner feelings, motivations, or intentions to the audience

tragedy

a genre characterized by a serious, somber tone, often culminating in the downfall or destruction of a central character.

tragic flaw

a character trait that leads to the downfall of the protagonist, often a tragic hero.

villain

a character, often the antagonist, whose actions and motivations oppose the protagonist or hero, creating conflict and driving the plot.

alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

assonance

the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in non-rhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible.

blank verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

cacophony

a combination of harsh, discordant, and unharmonious sounds.

cadence

the patterned, rhythmic flow of language, created by the rise and fall of sounds, often through variations in the length and emphasis of syllables, and the use of punctuation and line breaks.

caesura

a pause or break within a line, often indicated by punctuation or a natural pause in the rhythm of the verse.

conceit

an elaborate, often extended, comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things, serving as a literary device to create deeper meaning.

connotation

the emotional or cultural associations that a word or phrase evokes beyond its literal meaning.

consonance

a literary device that repeats the same consonant sounds in adjacent or nearby words.

controlling image

a recurring image or metaphor that shapes the central idea and theme of a poem.

couplet

a pair of successive lines, usually rhyming and often sharing the same meter, that form a unit or stanza.

dirge

a short, lyrical poem expressing grief, lamentation, and mourning, typically written to honor the deceased.

dissonance

a deliberate use of harsh, clashing, or discordant sounds and rhythms to create a jarring or unsettling effect.

dramatic monologue

a poem written from the perspective of a single character, revealing their personality, situation, and thoughts to an implied or explicit audience.

elegy

a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

end-stopped line

a metrical line containing a complete phrase or sentence, or a poetic line ending with punctuation.

enjambment

the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next without a pause or punctuation mark.

epic

a long narrative poem, typically focusing on heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.

euphony

the use of harmonious and pleasing sounds to create a melodious effect.

foot

a basic unit of measurement for rhythm, consisting of a specific pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

free verse

a form of poetry that does not adhere to a strict metrical pattern, rhyme scheme, or other traditional rules of versification.

iamb

a metrical foot consisting of two syllables: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

imagery

the use of vivid language to create a sensory experience for the reader, appealing to their senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

in medias res

a narrative technique where a story begins in the midst of the action, rather than at the story's chronological beginning.

lyric

a genre of poetry characterized by its focus on expressing the speaker's personal emotions and thoughts, often in a song-like or melodic way.

measure

the rhythmic structure of a line, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

meter

the rhythmic structure of a line, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

octave

an eight-line stanza, often found in the first part of a Petrarchan sonnet.

ode

a type of lyric poem, characterized by its formal tone and structure, that often celebrates or praises a person, place, thing, or idea.

pentameter

a line that contains five metrical feet.

persona

a poetic form where the speaker is a character or voice distinct from the poet's own identity, often taking on a specific role or perspective.

quatrain

a four-line stanza in poetry.

repetition

the intentional reuse of words, phrases, lines, or even entire stanzas to emphasize a point, create a rhythm, or enhance the poem's meaning and emotional impact.

rhyme

the repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line.

end rhyme

rhymes that occur in the final words of lines of poetry.

external rhyme

rhyme that occurs in the last words of each line in a poem.

feminine rhyme

a rhyme that contains a stressed syllable followed by one or more unstressed syllables.

internal rhyme

rhyme that occurs in the middle of lines of poetry.

masculine rhyme

a rhyme that occurs only in stressed final syllables.

scansion

the analysis of a line of verse to determine its rhythm and meter.

sester

a stanza or poem consisting of six lines.

sonnet

a 14-line poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter, that follows a specific rhyme scheme.

English sonnet

a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter, following a specific rhyme scheme (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG).

Italian sonnet

a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme and structure.

stanza

a grouped set of lines, similar to a paragraph in prose, that forms a unit within a poem.

stress

the emphasis or prominence given to certain syllables within a word or line.

trochee

a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, where the first syllable is stressed and the second is unstressed.

antithesis

a literary device where two contrasting or opposite ideas are placed close together in a sentence or phrase, often using parallel grammatical structure.

balanced sentence

a sentence where two or more clauses of similar length and structure are placed in parallel, creating a sense of symmetry and often highlighting a contrast or relationship between them.

coherence

the quality of being logically connected and making sense as a whole.

complex sentence

a sentence structure that combines one independent clause (a clause that can stand alone as a complete thought) with at least one dependent clause (a clause that relies on the independent clause for its meaning).

compound-complex

it combines two or more independent clauses, typically joined by a coordinating conjunction (like "and," "but," "or") or a semicolon.

ellipsis

the deliberate omission of words whose meaning is easily understood from the context, or to the use of the punctuation mark "..." to indicate a pause, a trailing thought, or the elision of text within a quote.

intervened sentence

words or groups of words that come between the subject and verb of a sentence.

loose sentence

a sentence structure where the main clause (independent clause) comes first, followed by one or more subordinate clauses or phrases that add details and modify the main idea.

atmosphere

the overall mood or feeling created for the reader through various literary devices.

colloquial

uses informal, everyday language and expressions, similar to how people speak in casual conversation.

connotation

the emotional or cultural associations that a word evokes beyond its literal, dictionary definition.

denotation

the literal, dictionary definition of a word, free from any emotional or implied meaning.

dialect

a form of writing where the language used mimics the speech patterns, vocabulary, and pronunciation of a specific region or social group.

dialogue

the conversation between two or more characters.

epigram

a short, witty saying or poem that expresses a thought or idea in a clever and amusing way.

invective

abusive, insulting, or highly critical language used to attack, belittle, or condemn a person, idea, or situation.

inversion

a literary device where the standard order of words in a sentence is reversed, often to create emphasis or a specific effect.