AP Lit Literary Terms

Allegory

 A story in which characters, events, or settings symbolize abstract ideas or moral qualities, often conveying a deeper moral or political meaning.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art, used to enrich the meaning of a text.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words in a sequence (e.g., “She sells sea shells by the sea shore”).

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences for emphasis or effect.

Anastrophe

The inversion of the normal order of words for emphasis or poetic effect (e.g., “Powerful you have become” instead of “You have become powerful”).

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing, often used to convey emotion or a sense of longing.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within words close to each other (e.g., “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”).

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter commonly used in English dramatic and narrative poetry.

Cacophony

Harsh, discordant sounds, often used intentionally in poetry or prose to create a jarring effect.

Caesura

A pause or break in a line of poetry, often occurring mid-line, which adds a rhythmic variety and emphasizes certain words or phrases.

Carpe diem

Thene encouraging people to “seize the day”

Characterization

The process by which an author reveals the personality, traits, and motives of characters, either directly or indirectly

Chiasmus

A rhetorical device where two or more clauses are balanced against each other by reversing their structures (e.g., “Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool

Closed poetic form

Poetry with a fixed structure in rhyme, meter, and structure.

Conceit

An extended metaphor that compares two very dissimilar things in a surprising or clever way.

Connotation

Emotional or cultural associations of a word beyond its original meaning.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in quick succession, either at the beginning, middle, or end of words (e.g., “The lumpy, bumpy road”).

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary definition of a word, as opposed to its connotation.

Diction

The literal, dictionary definition of a word, as opposed to its connotation.

Elegy

A poem or song that mourns the death of someone or something.

Ellipsis

The omission of one or more words from a sentence, usually indicated by three dots (...), leaving the meaning to be inferred.

End rhyme

Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines in poetry.

Euphony

Pleasant, harmonious sounds in language, often used to create a soothing effect.

Exact rhyme

A type of rhyme where the ending sounds of words are identical (e.g., “cat” and “hat”).

Foil

A character who contrasts with another character, typically the protagonist, to highlight particular qualities of the other character.

Frame narrative

story containing another story within.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses

Inexact rhyme

similar but not identical ending sounds.

Internal rhyme

Rhyming words within the same line in poetry.

Irony

Contrasts between expectation and reality.

Juxtaposition

Two things being placed side by side to emphasize their differences or similarities.

Metaphor

Comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”

Meter

Rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Metonymy

Referring to something by the name of something else that is associated with it.

Onomatopoeia

Word that imitates a sound it describes.

Oxymoron

phrase combining contradictory terms

Periodic sentence

sentence in which the main idea appears in the end.

Personification

Human qualities in animals, objects, or ideas.

Point of View

Perspective of a narrative.

Quatrain

Stanza of four lines.

Rhyme

Repetition of similar ending sounds.

Stanza

groupes set of lines in a poem.

Synecdoche

figure of speech where a part represents the while or the whole represents a part.

Syntax

Arrangement of words and sentences.

Tercet

A stanza of three lines.

Tone

attitude towards the subject or the audience.

Villanelle

Fixed poem of 19 lines, repeating refrains, and a specific rhyme scheme.