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Literary Terms
100 Literary Terms for AP English Literature
98
English
Undergraduate 1
09/03/2007

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Term
Allegory
Definition
A narrative in which literal meaning corresponds clearly and directly to symbolic meaning
Term
Allusion
Definition
An implicit reference within a literary work to a historical or literary person, place, or event
Term
Anachronistic
Definition
The quality of appearing to be out of place within the story's natural time period
Term
Anecdote
Definition
The brief narration of a single event or incident
Term
Antagonist
Definition
The primary character or entity that acts to frustrate the goals of the protagonist
Term
Anti-Hero
Definition
A protagonist who is not admirable, or who challenges one's notions of what should be considered admirable
Term
Antithesis
Definition
the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangement or words, clauses, or sentences
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
An exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech, when a character makes a direct address to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea
Term
Archetype
Definition
A theme, motif, symbol, or stock character that holds a familiar and fixed place in a culture's consciousness
Term
Aside
Definition
A literary device in which a character makes a statement to another character, without our any other characters aware of what is said
Term
Ballad
Definition
Alternating tetrameter and trimester, usually iambic and rhyming
Term
Bildungsroman
Definition
A novel about a child or adolescents development into maturity, with special focus on the protagonist's quest for identity
Term
Blank Verse
Definition
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Term
Caesura
Definition
An especially pronounced pause between feet
Term
Chronological
Definition
The arrangement of ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words in temporal order
Term
Climax
Definition
The moment of highest tension, at which the conflict comes to a head
Term
Comedy
Definition
A lighthearted play characterized by humor and a happy ending
Term
Conciet
Definition
An elaborate parallel between two seemingly dissimilar objects or ideas
Term
Connotation
Definition
A word's emotional content
Term
Denotation
Definition
A formal, or dictionary, definition
Term
Denouement
Definition
The latter part of a narrative, during which the various plot elements introduced protagonist in the rising action are resolved, and the protagonist responds to the events of the climax
Term
Deus ex machina
Definition
A sudden or improbable plot twist that brings about the plot's resolution
Term
Dialect
Definition
The usage of language that is characteristic of the language from a particular geographic area
Term
Diction
Definition
An author's word choice
Term
Doppleganger
Definition
A technique by which a character is divided into two distinct personalities
Term
Dramatic Irony
Definition
A technique in which the author informs the audience or reader of a character's situation whilst the character himself remains in the dark
Term
Dramatic Monologue
Definition
In literature, the occurrence of a single speaker addressing a silent audience
Term
Dystopia
Definition
The antithesis of a utopia; that is, an imaginary place or state of corruption and degradation
Term
Elegy
Definition
A formal poem that laments the death of a friend or public figure, or, occasionally, a meditation on death itself
Term
Enjambment
Definition
When a sentence of clause runs onto the next line without a break, creating a sense of excitement or suspense and gives added emphases to the word at the end of the line
Term
Epic
Definition
A lengthy narrative that describes the deeds of a heroic figure, often of national of cultural importance, in elevated language
Term
Epigraph
Definition
A brief quotation which appears at the beginning or a literary work
Term
Epigraph
Definition
A brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work
Term
Epistolary
Definition
A novel told as a series of letters written by one of more characters
Term
Epitaph
Definition
A commemorative statement honoring a deceased person
Term
Euphemism
Definition
The use of decorous language to express vulgar or unpleasant ideas, events or actions
Term
Existentialism
Definition
A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe
Term
Extended Metaphor
Definition
A protracted comparison of characteristics for the purpose of illumination that is developed at great length
Term
Foil
Definition
A character who illuminates the qualities of another character by means of contrast
Term
Foot
Definition
The basic rhythmic unit into which a line of verse can be divided
Term
Foreshadow
Definition
The presentation of material in a work in such a way that later events are hinted at or foretold
Term
Frame tale
Definition
A story within a story
Term
Free Verse
Definition
Verse that does not conform to any meter of rhyme scheme
Term
Genre
Definition
Designates types of categories into which literary works are grouped according to specific criteria, such as form, technique, or subject matter
Term
Heroic Couplet
Definition
Verse form consisting of iambic pentameter lines with rhymed couplets
Term
Hubris
Definition
A protagonists overweening pride, often resulting in fatal retribution
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
An excessive overstatement or conscious exaggeration of fact
Term
Imagery
Definition
Language that brings to mind sense- impressions, especially via figures or speech
Term
In medias res
Definition
The technique of starting a narrative in the middle of the action
Term
Introspection
Definition
Self-observation and contemplation of one's thoughts or feelings
Term
Juxtaposition
Definition
The act of arranging two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in close proximity for the purpose of comparison
Term
Metaphor
Definition
The comparison of one thing to another, without the use of "like" or "as"
Term
Metaphysical Poetry
Definition
An intricate type of 17th century poetry that expresses the complexity and contradictions of life in an intellectual and rational manner
Term
Meter
Definition
A regular pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in a line or lines or poetry
Term
Metonymy
Definition
The substitution of one term for another that generally is associated with it
Term
Modernism
Definition
A 20th century movement involving the disillusionment and break from tradition and, consequently, the search for radical steps to deliberately differentiate new generations from their predecessors
Term
Mood
Definition
The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work by means of description and style
Term
Noble Savage
Definition
An individual belonging to an uncivilized group, and is accordingly considered to be more worthy than the people who live within civilization
Term
Ode
Definition
A serious lyric poem, often of significant length, that usually conforms to an elaborate metrical structure
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
The use of words that sounds like the thing to which they refer
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
The association of two contrary terns
Term
Paradox
Definition
A seemingly contradictory situation or statement
Term
Parallelism
Definition
The use of similar grammatical structures or word order in two sentences or phrases to suggest a comparison or contrast between them
Term
Parody
Definition
A humorous and often satirical imitation of the style or particular work or another author
Term
Pathetic Fallacy
Definition
The attribution of human feeling or motivation to a nonhuman object, especially an object found in nature
Term
Petrarchan/Italian Sonnet
Definition
Developed by Petrarch, divided into an octave with the rhyme scheme ABBAABBA or ABBACDDC and a sestet with the rhyme scheme CDCDCD or CDECDE
Term
Picaresque
Definition
Novel with a loosely structured, episodic plot that resolves around the adventures of a central character
Term
Polysyndeton
Definition
The repetition of conjunctions
Term
Propaganda
Definition
A work of didactic literature that aims to influence the reader on a specific social or political issue
Term
Protagonist
Definition
The main character, around whom the story evolves
Term
Pun
Definition
A play on words that exploits the similarity in sound between two words with distinctly different meanings
Term
Quatrain
Definition
A four-line stanza, and the most common form of English verse
Term
Realism
Definition
A loose term that can refer to any work that aims at honest portrayal, rather than over sensationalism, exaggeration, or melodrama. Technically, realism refers to a late-19th-century literary movement that aimed at accurate detailed portrayed of ordinary, contemporary life
Term
Retrospection
Definition
The act or faculty of reflecting on the past
Term
Rhetoric
Definition
Using language effectively to influence or persuade
Term
Rhyme
Definition
In poetry, a pattern of repeated sounds
Term
Rhythm
Definition
The pattern of sound in a line, created by the varying length and emphasis given to different syllables
Term
Romanticism
Definition
A literary and artistic movement that reacted against the restraint and universalism of the Enlightenment. The Romantics celebrated spontaneity, imagination, subjectivity, and the purity of nature
Term
Satire
Definition
A work that exposes to ridicule the shortcomings of individuals, institutions, or society, often to make a political point
Term
Scansion
Definition
The process of analyzing the number and type of feet in a line
Term
Sestina
Definition
Six, six-line stanzas followed by a three-line stanza. The same words are repeated at the end of lines throughout the poem in a predetermined pattern. The last word in the last line of one stanza becomes the last work of the first line in the next.
Term
Shakespearean/English Sonnet
Definition
Poetic form which contains three quatrains and a final couplet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Term
Simile
Definition
A comparison of two things through the use of "like" or "as"
Term
Situational Irony
Definition
An outcome that turns out to be very different than what is expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does
Term
Soliloquy
Definition
A speech, often in verse, by a lone character, usually in a drama
Term
Stream of Consciousness
Definition
A literary technique which seeks to portray a character's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought process.
Term
Syllogism
Definition
A form of deductive reasoning, by which a conclusion is argued using a major and minor premise, followed by a conclusion.For example,"every virtue is laudable; kindness is a virtue; therefore kindness is laudable"
Term
Symbol
Definition
An object, character of figure, used to represent an abstract idea or concept
Term
Synechdoche
Definition
A form of metonymy in which a part of an entity is used to refer to the whole
Term
Syntax
Definition
The grammatical arrangement of words in sentences
Term
Tone
Definition
The general atmosphere created in a story, or the narrator's attitude toward the story or reader
Term
Tragedy
Definition
A serious play that ends unhappily for the protagonist
Term
Understatement
Definition
A statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant
Term
Utopia
Definition
An imaginary place or state of ideal perfection
Term
Valediction
Definition
A farewell address
Term
Verbal Irony
Definition
The use of a statement that, by its context, implies its opposite
Term
Verisimilitude
Definition
The appearance of truth or reality
Term
Villanelle
Definition
A nineteen-line poem made up of five tercets and a final quatrain in which all nineteen lines carry one of only two rhymes. There are two refrains, alternating between the ends of each tercet and then forming the last two lines of the quatrain
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