AP LIT glossary voab
Terms
undefined, object
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- Aside
- A convention in drama by which an actor directly addresses the audience, revealing his or her observations or emotions. The aside is not meant to be heard by the other characters in the drama
- Apostrophe
- A rhetorical device in which an absent or imaginary person or an abstraction is directly addressed as through present; ("O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?")
- Alliteration
- The repetition of initial consonant sounds; Dressy Daffodils
- Assonance
- Repetition of vowel sounds. When it occurs at the end of lines, assonance rhyme does not have the same consonant sounds, so it is not a full rhyme; (Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things.)
- Anaphora
- A rhetorical device of repeating the same word or words at the start of two or more lines in poetry
- Analogy
- A devise explaining or describing something unfamiliar through a comparison with something more familiar. A simile is an expressed analogy; a metaphor is an implied analogy
- Abstract Language
- Diction that describes intangible things, like ideas or emotions, or denotes general qualities of persons or things. A passage lacking vivid details or specifics may be called abstract. It is the diction of analysis and commentary, the opposite of concrete language
- Anticlimax
- A rhetorical devise in which details of lesser importance are placed where something greater is EXPECTED, or in which the importance of items in a series is decreased rather than increased
- Allusion
- A brief reference to a commonly known historical or literary figure, event, or object. Tis indirect devise works on the knowledge and memory of the reader, tapping associations and emotional resonance.
- Antecedent action
- Events that preceded the starting point of the piece of literature
- Atmosphere
- The prevailing mood of literary work, often established by setting or landscape, lending an emotional aura and influencing the reader's expectations and attitudes
- Antagonist
- The character in conflict with the protagonist: rival, opponent, or enemy
- Antithesis
- A rhetorical device contrasting words, clauses, sentence, or ideas, balancing one against the other in strong opposition. The CONTRAST is reinforced by the similar grammatical structure; (when present, you wish to be absent, and when absent, you desire to be present)
- Ambiguity
- In literature, the intentional creation of MULTIPLE MEANINGS. In a given context, a word may convey not only a denotation but connotative overtones of great richness and complexity
- Authorial voice
- A discernible authorial presence, distinct from that of the narrator or speaker, revealing a particular perspective. Mood and tone may be conveyed directly by this voice, sometimes directly addressed to the reader.
- Argument, literary
- The thesis of a poem
- Analysis
- the methodical examination of the parts in order to determine the nature of the whole
- Archetype
- a recurrent pattern in bodies of literature, such as the loss of paradise