better ap lit terms

Allegory

A story in which people, things, and actions represent an idea about life; they often have a strong lesson.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Allusion

A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.

Analogy

A comparison of two or more like objects that suggests if they are alike in certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways as well.

Aside

An actor’s speech directed to the audience that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry.

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Caesura

A pause or sudden break in a line of poetry.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within a line of poetry.

Couplet

A rhymed pair of lines in a poem.

Dialect

A form of language that is spoken in a particular place or by a particular group of people.

Dramatic Monologue

A literary device where a character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings through a speech recited while other characters are present onstage.

Elegy

A literary song or poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died.

Enjambment

In poetry, the running over of a line or thought into the next of verse.

Extended Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares two essentially unlike things in great length.

Flashback

An interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence.

Foil

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

Foot

A unit of meter within a line of poetry.

Foreshadowing

When the writer provides clues or hints that suggest or predict future events in a story.

Free verse

Poetry without regular patterns of rhyme and rhythm.

Heroic couplet

A couplet consisting of two successive rhyming lines that contain a complete thought.

Historical fiction

Fiction that explores a past time period and may contain references to actual people and events.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect.

Idiom

A phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say.

Imagery

The use of words and phrases that appeal to the five senses.

Irony

A contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens.

Verbal irony

When the speaker means something different than what he or she is saying.

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows something the characters don’t know.

Situational irony

The difference between what is expected to happen and the way events actually work out.

Memoir

An autobiographical writing that covers only a piece of the writer’s life.

Meter

The regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables.

Metonymy

The metaphorical substitution of one word or phrase for another related word or phrase.

Mood

The feeling that a literary work conveys to readers.

Motif

A recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words whose sound suggests their meaning.

Oxymoron

A form of figurative language combining contradictory words or ideas.

Paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself but is, nevertheless, true.

Parallelism

The use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance.

First person point of view

The narrator is one of the characters in the story, using 'I'.

Third person limited

The narrator is not one of the characters but only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.

Third person omniscient

The narrator is an outside observer who knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters.

Repetition

A technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis.

Satire

A literary technique in which ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.

Soliloquy

A speech delivered by a character who is alone on the stage.

The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet

Usually written in iambic pentameter, consisting of an octave and a rhyme scheme a-b-ba, a-b-b-a.

English or Shakespearean sonnet

Three quatrains and a rhyme couplet.

Symbolism

Using something specific to stand for something else, especially an idea.

Synecdoche

A literary technique in which the whole is represented by naming one of its parts.

Tone

The writer’s attitude or feeling about his or her subject.