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AP Lit Terms List
Literary Terms list--all must knows!
73
English
12th Grade
10/15/2008

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Term
Abstract
Definition
Complex, Intangible style of writing. Seldom use examples.
Term
Absurd Hero
Definition
Determined to continue living with passion even though life appears to e meaningless. Sisyphus w/rock.
Term
Academic
Definition
Style of writing. Sucks all life out of writing. Dry, theoretical
Term
Accent
Definition
In poetry, the stressed portion of a word.
Term
Aesthetic
Definition
"Appealing to the Senses". Coherent, overall sense of taste. Coffin-sleeper. Aesthetics=study of beauty.
Term
Allegory
Definition
A story in which all individual parts have a metaphorical meaning. Ex=Plato's cave.
Term
Alliteration
Definition
Repetition of INITIAL consonant sounds.
Term
Allusion
Definition
Reference to another work or famous figure. Can be classic, cultured, or pop culture.
Term
Ambiguity
Definition
Result of something being stated in a way which the meaning cannot be determined. Anything Zawacki says. "I would waste no time in hiring him."
Term
Anachronism
Definition
Misplaced in Time. Brutus with a wristwatch.
Term
Analogy
Definition
A Comparison. Usually have two or more symbolic parts.
Term
Anaphora
Definition
Deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at beginning of successive verses/clauses/etc.
Term
Anecdote
Definition
A short narrative or story.
Term
Antecedent
Definition
Word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to.
Term
Anthropomorphism
Definition
Inanimate objects being given human qualities. (no human shape needed)
Term
Anticlimax
Definition
Action produces smaller results than expected.
Term
Antihero
Definition
Protagonist who is completely unheroic: morally weak, coward, dishonest, etc. Deadpool.
Term
Aphorism
Definition
Short, witty saying.
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
Speaker talks to something that is nonhuman or absent. "I see dead people"
Term
Apothegm
Definition
Terse, witty, instructive saying, maxim. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Term
Archaism
Definition
Deliberate use of old-fashioned language. Ye Olde anything.
Term
Archetype
Definition
Original model off of which a character or object/theme is developed.
Term
Aside
Definition
Speech (monologue) by actor *to audience*. Breaks forth wall.
Term
Aspect
Definition
Trait or characteristic.
Term
Assonance
Definition
Repeated use of vowel sounds.
Term
Atmosphere
Definition
Emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene.
Term
Ballad
Definition
Long poem. Regular meter/rhyme. More folksy than an epic.
Term
Bathos
Definition
Writing strains for grandeur and tries to create tears from every hiccup.
Term
Bildungsroman
Definition
Novel that recounts development from childhood to maturity.
Term
Black Humor
Definition
Use of disturbing themes in comedy. Death, racism, etc.
Term
Blank Verse
Definition
Unrhymed verse, unrhymed iambic patameter.
Term
Bombast
Definition
Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.
Term
Burlesque
Definition
A broad parody. Pretty much parody.
Term
Cacophony
Definition
Deliberate use of harsh, awkward sounds.
Term
Cadence
Definition
Beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense.
Term
Caesura
Definition
Pause in line of poetry. Natural rhythm.
Term
Canto
Definition
Name for section dividing long work of poetry.
Term
Caricature
Definition
A Portrait (verbal/physical) that exaggerates a facet of personality.
Term
Catharsis
Definition
Cleansing of emotion that audience feels watching a play.
Term
Chiasmus
Definition
a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words. "Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure"
Term
Chorus
Definition
Group of citizens who stand outside happenings. Comment on happenings, though.
Term
Classic
Definition
Typical. Not classical.
Term
Coinage
Definition
New word, usually invented on spot.
Term
Colloquialism
Definition
Slang.
Term
Complex/dense
Definition
More than one possibility for meaning of a word. Multiple layers of interpretation of a word.
Term
Conceit, controlling image
Definition
Startling or unusual metaphor, or a metaphor expanded upon across several lines.
Term
Connotation/Denotation
Definition
Implied meaning/Direct meaning.
Term
Consonance
Definition
Repetition of consonant sounds WITHIN words.
Term
Couplet
Definition
Pair of lines which rhyme.
Term
Decorum
Definition
When a style of speech follows common place in life. Bum speaks of bumly things.
Term
Didactic
Definition
Instructs or provides information for a particular purpose.
Term
Diction, syntax
Definition
Author's choice of words. Word choice/word order choice.
Term
Dirge
Definition
Song for the dead. Usually slow, heavy, depressed.
Term
Dissonance
Definition
Grating of incompatible sounds.
Term
Doggerel
Definition
Crude, simplistic verse, usually like limericks.
Term
Double Entendre
Definition
Expression with more than one meaning. Anything that results in "That's what SHE said!"
Term
Dramatic Irony
Definition
When the audience knows something that the characters do not.
Term
Dramatic Monologue
Definition
When a single speaker says something to a silent audience.
Term
Dynamic Character
Definition
One who changes somehow, someway in the span of the story.
Term
Elegy
Definition
Type of poem which meditates on death or morality in a serious, thoughtful manner.
Term
Ellipsis
Definition
Omission of words understood in the context.
Term
Enjambment
Definition
Continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet to the next with no pause.
Term
Epic
Definition
Long narrative poem, serious theme, dignified style. Beowulf.
Term
Epitaph
Definition
Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial site.
Term
Equivocation
Definition
Same word used with two different meanings. "Fine for parking here."
Term
Euphemism
Definition
Word or phrase that takes the place of something else: "do the deed" instead of "fuck"
Term
Euphony
Definition
When sounds blend harmoniously, it's euphony.
Term
Explicit
Definition
To say or write something clearly, directly.
Term
Farce
Definition
Extremely broad humor.
Term
Feminine Rhyme
Definition
Lines rhymed by their final *two* syllables.
Term
First person narrator
Definition
Duh.
Term
Flashback
Definition
Section of literary work that interrupts a sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time.
Term
Foil
Definition
Secondary character whose purpose is to highlight characteristics of main character. Second banana. Bottom->Quince.
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