AP English Lit Terms

Alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds at beginning of word

allusion

writer refers to a person, place, or something that happened and is commonly known

caesura

pause within a line of poetry

conceit

extended metaphor over several lines of text (shakespeare's sonnet 73

connotation

feeling or idea that a word has in addition to its literal meaning (negative, positive)

consonance

repetition of consonant sound anywhere in word, with different vowel sounds

couplet

2 line stanza, rhymes

dramatic monologue

poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character to a silent audience

enjambment

run the lines of a poem from one to the next without using a terminating punctuation

epistolary

works of fiction written in letters or other documents

foil

character who contrasts with another character (usually protagonist)

imagery

visual descriptions or figurative language that appeals to 5 senses

juxtaposition

opposing lines, when you put 2 things together, opposites

metaphor

comparison not using like or as

narration

a narrator's or speaker's perspective that controls the details and emphases that affect the readers, experience and interpret a text

onomatopoeia

a word that imitates the sound it represents.

personification

a literary device that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things or inanimate objects

petrarchan vs shakespearean sonnet

petrarchan- ABBAABBA CDCDCD, 1 octave, 1 sestet, Francesco Petrarca

shakespearean- ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, 3 quatrains, 1 couplet, William Shakespeare

quatrain

4 line stanza

rhetorical question

figure of speech where question is asked for a reason other than to get the answer, usually to persuade, don't answer question

rhyme scheme

pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song

riddle

a puzzle or hidden meaning you have to figure out

simile

comparison using like or as

soliloquy

a monologue delivered when character is alone

stanza

group of lines in a poem, consisting of two or more lines as a unit

symbol

anything that stands for or represents something else

tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

romanticism

19th century artistic movement that appreciated nature, the individual, imagination, emotions, supernatural, common man and childhood

victorian era

during reign of Queen Victoria in Great Britain and its Empire(1837-1901)

antebellum south / post civil war era

decades leading up to civil war (slavery) / realism

harlem renaissance

poetry, fiction, and non-fiction written by Black American writers during the early twentieth century