AP English Lit Terms
Terms
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- allegory
- work in which each element symbolizes or represents something
- alliteration
- the repetition of intial consonant sounds
- allusion
- references made in a work to people, events, objects, or other works in literature and history
- ambiugity
- a statement that has a double meaning or meaning that cannot be clearly resolved
- analogy
- a comparison of two things that are alike in some respects
- anaphora
-
a word or phrase that repeats or refers to something that precedes or follows it.
Ex. "O Wild West Wind" refers to the title "Ode to the West Wind" - antihero
- a central hero who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes.
- antithesis
- a rhetorical technique in which words, phrases, or ideas are strongly contrasted, often by means of repetition of grammatical structure
- aphorism
- a short (cliched) saying or pointed statement.
- apostrophe
- a rhetorical device by which a speaker turns from the audience as a whole to adress a single person or thing
- assonance
- the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds
- ballad
- a simple narrative poem in four- line stanzas, usually meant to be sung and rhyming abcb
- blank verse
- unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter
- caesura
- a major pause in a line of poetry
- caricature
- a piece of writing that exaggerates certain qualities of a character in order to satirize or ridicule that character type
- catharsis
- purging of the emotions of fear and pity... used to describe tragedy
- characterization
- the use of literary techniques to creat a character
- chiasmus
- rhetorical technique that changes the order of words or phrases to create different meanings
- closed couplet
- pair of rhyming lines that present a complete statement
- climax
- the turning point of a story
- colloquialism
- the use of informal languagein a work
- commedy of manners
- a type of satirical comedy that originated in the Restoration perod and deals with convention and manners of a highly artificial and sophisticated society.
- complaint
- a lyrical poem that deals with loss, regret, unrequited love, or some other negative state of being felt by the speaker
- conceit
- an elaborat or extremely fanciful analogy or metaphor.
- connotation
- an emotional association or implication attached to an expression
- consonance
- a kind of slant rhyme that uses the ending consonant sounds of twor words that match but the preceding vowel does not such as "wind" and "sound"
- couplet
- a pair of rhyming lines that expresses a complete thought
- diction
- word choice
- dialect
- a version of a language spoken in a particular place
- didacticism
- the use of works of art to convey moral, social, educational, or political messages
- epic
- a long story, often told in verse, involving the deeds of gods and heroes
- euphemism
- an indirect word or phrase in place of a direct statement
- extended metaphor
- a pont by point presentation of one thing as though it were another over the whole length of a work (complex presentation)
- foreshadowing
- the act of presenting materials that hint at events to occur later in the story
- free verse
- poetry that avoids use of reagular rhyme, rhythm, meter, or division into stanzas
- hyperbole
- an exaggeration made for rhetorical effect
- hymn
- a song or verse of praise; usually religious
- inversion
- a poetic technique in which normal oredr of words are altered
- in medias res
- setting the story in the middle or "midst" of the action
- dramatic irony
- when the reader knows something the characters don't
- verbal irony
- when one is thing is said, but another thing is meant
- situational irony
- when an event occurs that no one expects to happen
- lyric poem
- a musical verse that expresseds hte emotions of a speaker
- metaphor
- a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken about as if it were another; it is implied; does not use "like" or "as"
- metonymy
-
the naming of an object associated with a thing in place of the name itself
i.e "white house" instead of "us gov't" - mood
- atomosphere or emotion created in the reader by part or all of a literary work
- oxymoron
- statemnet that contradicts itself
- parallelism
- a rhetorical technique in which a writer emphasizes the equal value or weight of two or more ideas by expressing them in the same grammatical form
- paradox
- a seemingly contradictory statement, idea or event; all forms of irony; oxymorons
- similay
- a comparision using like or as
- soliloquy
- a speech delivered by a lone character on stage that reveals the speakers thoughts and feelings
- sonnet
- a fourteen line poem that has a nmber of differnt rhyme schemes
- tone
- the emotional attitude toward the reader or subject implied by a literary work
- villanelle
-
a complex and intricate nineteen line french verse form
rhyme scheme:
aba aba aba aba abaa - olfactory imagery
- smell imagery
- tactile imagery
- touch imagery
- oragnic imagery
- an internal sensation such as hunger
- kinesthetic imagery
- movement or tension in the muscles or joints
- asyndeton
- when conjucations are not used to crate a more fast paced, rapid prose
- ode
- a lyrical poem serious in subject and treatment. uses elaborate stanza structure
- terza rima
-
a three lined stanza
rhyme scheme:
aba, bcb, cdc, ded, and so on