AP English Literature and Composition Key Terminology

Allegory

a prose or narrative in which the characters, behaviors, and even the setting demonstrates multiple levels of meaning and significance

Anapestic

a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed

Anecdote

a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature

Antithesis

a juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas

Apostrophe

an address or invocation to something that is inanimate

Archetype

recurrent designs, patterns of actions, character types, themes, or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature

Assonance

a repetition of identical and similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity

Asyndeton

a style in which conjunctions are omitted, usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose

Ballad Stanza

a common stanza form, consisting of a quatrain that alternates four-beat and three-beat lines: one and three are unrhymed iambic tetrameter and two and four are rhymed iambic trimeter

Blank Verse

the verse form that most resembles common speech, consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter

Caesura

a pause of a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns

Caricature

a depiction in which a character’s characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd

Chiasmus

a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first two parallel clauses is reversed in the second

Colloquial

ordinary language, the vernacular.

Conceit

a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem

Consonance

the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, pish-posh, and clinging and clanging

Couplet

two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection

Denouement

the final resolution of the main conflict in play or story

Elegy

a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next

Epic

a poem that celebrates, in continuous nature, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture

Farce

a play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and often slapstick and physical humor

Formal Diction

language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal

Free Verse

poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and nonrhyming lines

Iambic

a metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Idyll

a short poem describing a country or pastoral scene, praising the simplicity and peace of rustic life

In medias ras

“in the mist of things:” refers to opening a story in the middle of action, necessitating filling in past details by exposition or flashback

Jargon

specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group

Litote

a figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement

Loose Sentence

a sentence grammatically complete and usually stating its main idea before the end

Lyric

originally designated poems meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre; speaker expresses intense personal emotion

Meter

the more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Metonymy

a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something

Occasional Poem

a poem written about or for a specific occasion, public, or private

Ode

a lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, is elevated in style, and sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure, which is often patterned in sets of three

Parable

a short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy

Paradox

a statement that seems contradictory but many actually be true

Periodic Sentence

a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the end

Persona

the voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who many or may not share the values of the author

Petrarchan Sonnet

also called Italian Sonnet, a sonnet form that divides the poem into one section of eight lines and a section section of six lines, usually following the abba abba cde cde rhyme scheme, through the sestet’s rhyme varies

Quatrain

a poetic stanza of four lines

Refrain

a repeated stanza or line in a poem or song

Scansion

the analysis of verse to show its meter

Shakespeare sonnet

also called an English Sonnet; a sonnet form that divides the poem into three units of four lines each and a final unit of two lines, usually abab cdcd efef gg

Trochaic

a metrical foot in poetry that is the opposite of iambic

Verisimilitude

the quality or characteristic of being true or real

Villanelle

a verse form consisting of 19 lines divided into six stanzas—five tercets and one quatrain

Voice

the acknowledge or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker; the “person” telling the story or poem

Shaped Verse

another name for concrete poetry: poetry that is shaped to look like an object

Stock Character

one who appears in number of stories or plays such as the cruel stepmother, the femme fatale

Synecdoche

when a part is used to signify a whole

Syntax

the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences

Terza Rima

a verse consisting of three-line stanzas in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third of the next