AP Lit terms 2014
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| 2135828594 | Act | A major division in the action of the play, comprising one or more scenes*. A break between acts often coincides with a point at which the plot jumps ahead in time. | 0 | |
| 2135828595 | Antagonist* | The most prominent of the characters who oppose the protagonist* or hero(ine) in a dramatic or narrative work. Often a villain seeking to frustrate a hero; but in those works in which the protagonist is represented as evil, the antagonist will often be represented as a virtuous or sympathetic character such as Macduff in Macbeth. | 1 | |
| 2135828596 | Aside | A short speech or remark spoken by a character in a drama, directed either to the audience or to another character, which by convention* is supposed to be inaudible to the other characters on stage. See also soliloquy. | 2 | |
| 2135828597 | Catharsis* | "The effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama, according to Aristotle's argument in his Poetics(4th century BC), Aristotle wrote that a tragedy* should succeed ""in arousing pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish a catharsis of such emotions"". There has been much dispute about his meaning, but Aristotle seems to be rejecting Plato's hostile view of poetry as an unhealthy emotional stimulant. His metaphor of emotional cleansing has been read as a solution to the puzzle of audiences' pleasure or relief in witnessing the disturbing events enacted in tragedies. Another interpretation is that it is the protagonist's guilt that is purged rather than the audience's feeling of terror. Adjective:cathartic" | 3 | |
| 2135828598 | Character | "1-any of the persons involved in a story. 2-the distinguishing moral qualities an personal traits of a character." | 4 | |
| 2135828599 | Flat character | Character's character is summed up in one or two traits. | 5 | |
| 2135828600 | Round character | A character that is complex an many-sided | 6 | |
| 2135828601 | Stock character | A stereotyped character: one whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in pervious fiction. | 7 | |
| 2135828602 | Dynamic character | A character that is changed by the actions in which he or he is involved | 8 | |
| 2135828603 | Static character | A character that remains unchanged of little changed throughout the course of the story | 9 | |
| 2135828604 | Comic relief | The interruption of a serious work especially a *tragedy by a short humorous episode that relieves emotional tension | 10 | |
| 2135828605 | Conflict* | "A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story. Man vs. man-conflict between main character and other persons Man vs nature- character and some external force Man vs self- the character and some destructive element in his own nature" | 11 | |
| 2135828606 | Denouement* | The portion of a plot that reveals the final outcome of the solution of its mysteries. | 12 | |
| 2135828607 | Deus ex machina* | "(""God from the machine"") the resolution of a plot by use if a highly improbable chance, coincidence or artificial device that solves some difficult problem or crisis" | 13 | |
| 2135828608 | Epilogue* | A concluding section of any written work during which the characters' subsequent fates are briefly outlined | 14 | |
| 2135828609 | Exposition* | The setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject;or the opening part of a play or story, in which we are introduced to the characters and their situation, often by reference to preceding events. Adjective:expository Verb:expound | 15 | |
| 2135828610 | Foil^ | A character whose qualities if actions serve to emphasize those of the protagonist (or another character) by providing a strong contrast with them. | 16 | |
| 2135828611 | Hamartia* | The Greek word for ERROR or FAILURE. Designates the false step which leads to the protagonist's downfall in a tragedy. NOT to be confused with fatal flaw. Hamartia is an action. | 17 | |
| 2135828612 | Hero/heroine | The main character in a narrative or dramatic work. When our expectations of heroic qualities are disappointed, the central character may be called an anti-hero/heroine. | 18 | |
| 2135828613 | Hubris* | Greek word for INSOLENCE or AFFRONT. The arrogance of the hero in a tragedy where they defy moral laws or the prohibitions of the gods. THE PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL. Adj:hubristic | 19 | |
| 2135828614 | In medias res. | IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS. The technique for whining the story in the middle if the action. | 20 | |
| 2135828615 | Narrator* | Teller of the story. See also point of view. | 21 | |
| 2135828616 | Reliable narrator | Trustworthy | 22 | |
| 2135828617 | Unreliable narrator | Untrustworthy | 23 | |
| 2135828618 | Naïve narrator | Uncomprehending. Tells the story without realizing its true implications. | 24 | |
| 2135828619 | Intrusive narrator | Keeps interrupting the narrative to address the reader | 25 | |
| 2135828620 | Protagonist* | Central character in a story | 26 | |
| 2135828621 | Rising action* | The part of a plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the climax or Turning point. | 27 | |
| 2135828622 | Soliloquy | A dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on stage, or while under the impression of being alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience either in supposed self communion or in a consciously direct address | 28 | |
| 2135828623 | Tragedy* | A type of drama in which the protagonist, a person of unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding abilities, suffer a fall in fortune due to some error of judgement or flaw in his or her nature | 29 | |
| 2135828624 | Tragic flaw* | The defect of character that brings about the protagonist's downfall in a tragedy | 30 | |
| 2135828625 | Turning point | The point on the plot where the protagonists situation turns for the better or worse. After this the action begins its movement toward a final resolution | 31 | |
| 2135828626 | Aestheticism | Reverence for beauty; movement that held beautiful form is to be values more than instructive content. | 32 | |
| 2135828627 | Ambiguity | A word, phrase, or attitude that has multiple meanings leading to multiple possible interpretations. | 33 | |
| 2135828628 | Atmosphere | The pervasive mood or time of a literary work- gloom, foreboding, joyful expectation, etc | 34 | |
| 2135828629 | Attitude | The author's viewpoint regarding his subject matter. Attitude can usually be detected in author's tone. | 35 | |
| 2135828630 | Baroque | A grand and exuberantly ornamental style | 36 | |
| 2135828631 | Classicism | An adherence to the principles of Greek and roman literature | 37 | |
| 2135828632 | Colloquialisms | Words or phrases that are used in everyday conversation or informal writing which are usually considered inappropriate for a formal essay | 38 | |
| 2135828633 | Connotation | The range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its straightforward dictionary meaning. | 39 | |
| 2135828634 | Convention | A device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression. Ex. Convential lovers might not eat or sleep, but an author might mock this by making them overweight and sleep a lot | 40 | |
| 2135828635 | Denotation | The precise, literal meaning of a word, without emotional associations or overtones. | 41 | |
| 2135828636 | Determinism | Philosophy that suggests people's actions and all other events are determined by forces over which human beings have no control. | 42 | |
| 2135828637 | Dialect | The version of a language spoken by people of a particular region or social group. | 43 | |
| 2135828638 | Diatribe | Violently bitter verbal attack | 44 | |
| 2135828639 | Diction | The choice of words used in a literary work | 45 | |
| 2135828640 | Digression | A portion of a written work that interrupts or pauses the development of the theme or plot. | 46 | |
| 2135828641 | Epigraph | The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme | 47 | |
| 2135828642 | Existentialism | A philosophical movement that focuses on the individual human being's experience of, recognition of, and triumph over the meaninglessness of existence | 48 | |
| 2135828643 | Hedonism | The pursuit of pleasure above all | 49 | |
| 2135828644 | Inference | A conclusion the reader can draw based upon details presented by the author. | 50 | |
| 2135828645 | Invective | Direct denunciation or name calling | 51 | |
| 2135828646 | Irony | The difference between what reality and appearance | 52 | |
| 2135828647 | Dramatic irony | A situation in which the audience knows more About a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character's expectations | 53 | |
| 2135828648 | Situational irony | The contrast between what is intended or expected an what actually occurs | 54 | |
| 2135828649 | Verbal irony | A contrast between what is said and what is actually meant | 55 | |
| 2135828650 | Juxtaposition | The side by side comparison of two or more objects or ideals for the purpose of highlighting similarities or differences. | 56 | |
| 2135828651 | Malapropism | The comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound but different in meaning to make the character look ignorant or amusingly uneducated | 57 | |
| 2135828652 | Narrative pace | The speed at which an author tells a story; the movement from one point or section to another | 58 | |
| 2135828653 | Naturalism | Style of writing that's rejects idealized portrayals of life and attempts to complete accuracy, disinterested objectivity, and frankness in depicting life as a brutal struggle for survival. | 59 | |
| 2135828654 | Mood | The prevailing emotional attitude in a literary work ie regret, hopefulness, etc | 60 | |
| 2135828655 | Pantheism | The identification of God with the universe | 61 | |
| 2135828656 | Primitivism | The belief that nature provides a truer and more healthful model than culture; the noble savage | 62 | |
| 2135828657 | Realism | An author's use of accuracy in the portrayal of life or reality | 63 | |
| 2135828658 | Regionalism | The tendency in literature to focus on a specific geographical region or locality, recreating as accurately as possible its unique setting, speech, customs, manners, beliefs, and history | 64 | |
| 2135828659 | Romanticism | Literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. | 65 | |
| 2135828660 | Satire | Any form of literature that blends ironic humor with wit and criticism directed at a particular folly, vice, or stupidity. It seeks to correct, improve, or reform through ridicule | 66 | |
| 2135828661 | Stream-of-consciousness | A technique that allows the reader to see the continuous, chaotic flow or half-formed thoughts, memories, sense impressions, random associations, images, and feelings that represent a characters consciousness | 67 | |
| 2135828662 | Surrealism | Employs illogical, dreamlike images and events to suggest the unconscious | 68 | |
| 2135828663 | Tone | The reflection in a work of the authors attitude towards his or her subject | 69 | |
| 2135828664 | Transcendentalism | The American version of romanticism. There is something in human beings that transcended human nature | 70 | |
| 2135828665 | Unity | The quality of oneness in a literary work in which all parts are related by some principle or organization so that they form an organic whole | 71 | |
| 2135828666 | Voice | The sense that a written work conveys to a reader of the writer's attitude, personality, and character | 72 | |
| 2135828667 | Anticlimax | An effect that spoils a climax | 73 | |
| 2135828668 | Archetype | A pattern or model of an action, a character type, or an image that recurs consistently enough in literature and life to be considered universal | 74 | |
| 2135828669 | Characterization | The method by which an author creates the appearance and personality of imaginary persons. | 75 | |
| 2135828670 | Dystopia | An undesirable imaginary society. | 76 | |
| 2135828671 | Explication de texte | The detailed analysis, or close reading of a passage of verse or prose | 77 | |
| 2135828672 | Motif | A recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object or situation, that appears in various works or throughout the same work | 78 | |
| 2135828673 | Motivation | The psychological and moral impulses and external circumstances that causes a character to act, think, or feel a certain way | 79 | |
| 2135828674 | Narrative voice | The attitude, personality or character of the narrator as it is revealed through dialogue or descriptive an narrative commentary | 80 | |
| 2135828675 | Point of view | The vantage point, or stance, from which a story is told; sometimes called narrative perspective | 81 | |
| 2135828676 | First person | The story is told by one of its characters | 82 | |
| 2135828677 | Third person objective | The author limits him/herself to reporting what the characters say or do. They don't interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings | 83 | |
| 2135828678 | Third person omniscient | The author knows all an is free to tell us anything | 84 | |
| 2135828679 | Third person limited | The author limits him/herself to a complete knowledge of one character in he story and tells us only what that one character thinks, feels, sees, or hears | 85 | |
| 2135828680 | Reliability | The extent to which a narrator can be trusted or believed. The closer the narrator is to the story, the more his judgement will e influenced by the forces of the story | 86 | |
| 2135828681 | Stereotype | A character who represents a trait generally attributed to a social or racial group and lacks other individualizing traits | 87 | |
| 2135828682 | Subplot | A secondary series of events that are subordinate to the main story-a story within a story | 88 | |
| 2135828683 | Suspension of disbelief | The demand made of an audience to provide some details with their imagination and to accept the limitations of reality and staging; also the acceptance of incidents of a plot by a reader | 89 | |
| 2135828684 | Symbol | Anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it. Usually an idea conventionally associate with it | 90 | |
| 2135828685 | Theme | An abstract idea that emerges from literary a literary work's treatment if its subject matter, or a topic reoccurring in a number of literary works. Themes include love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc | 91 | |
| 2135828686 | Allusion | an indirect or passing reference to an event, person, place or artistic work that the author assumes the reader will understand | 92 | |
| 2135828687 | Anachronism | an event, object, custom, person or thing that is out of its natural order of time | 93 | |
| 2135828688 | Analogy | a comparison of similar things, often to explain something unfamiliar with something familiar | 94 | |
| 2135828689 | aphorism | A terse statement of principal or truth; a maxim | 95 | |
| 2135828690 | apostrophe | a rhetorical device in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person or inanimate object | 96 | |
| 2135828691 | Cliche | any expression that has been used so often it has lost its freshness | 97 | |
| 2135828692 | Epigram | any terse, witty, pointed saying expressing an idea in an amusing way | 98 | |
| 2135828693 | Euphemism | the substitution of a mild term for one more offensive or hurtful | 99 | |
| 2135828694 | Figurative language | language that contains figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, personification | 100 | |
| 2135828695 | Hyperbole | exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally | 101 | |
| 2135828696 | Kenning | "a metaphoric compound word or phrase used as a synonym for a common noun ""ring-bestower"" for king" | 102 | |
| 2135828697 | Litotes | a figure of speech by which an affirmation is made indirectly by saying its opposite, usually with meaning | 103 | |
| 2135828698 | Malapropism | the comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound, but quite different in meaning. | 104 | |
| 2135828699 | Metaphor | a thing, idea or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest a common quality | 105 | |
| 2135828700 | Extended Metaphor | an idea sustained throughout the work | 106 | |
| 2135828701 | Dead Metaphor | one that has been used so much it has lost its figurative meaning and is taken literally | 107 | |
| 2135828702 | Mixed Metaphor | a combination of two or more inconsistent metaphors in a single expression | 108 | |
| 2135828703 | Metonymy | figure of speech in which a representative term is used for a larger idea | 109 | |
| 2135828704 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words that seem to imitate the sounds they refer to | 110 | |
| 2135828705 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech in which two contradictory words or phrase are combined in a single expression | 111 | |
| 2135828706 | Proverb | a short saying that expresses some commonplace truth or bit of folk wisdom | 112 | |
| 2135828707 | Syllogism | "A form of logical reasoning, consisting of two premises and a conclusion All dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefor, all dogs have four legs" | 113 | |
| 2135828708 | Synaesthesia | The description of one kind of sensation in terms of another | 114 | |
| 2135828709 | Synecdoche | figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole | 115 | |
| 2135828710 | Tautology | "repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence They arrived one after another in succession" | 116 | |
| 2135828711 | Understatement | a type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less important than it actually is | 117 | |
| 2135828712 | Allegory | a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning | 118 | |
| 2135828713 | Anecdote | a bief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident | 119 | |
| 2135828714 | Comedy | a literary work written chiefly to amuse its audience | 120 | |
| 2135828715 | High Comedy | characterized by grace, elegance, and wit;intellectual comedy | 121 | |
| 2135828716 | Low comedy | crude, boisterous comedy; slapstick and crude jokes, physical comedy | 122 | |
| 2135828717 | Convention | an accepted or expected style or form | 123 | |
| 2135828718 | Courtly love | the emotion that a knight was expected to feel toward a noble lady | 124 | |
| 2135828719 | Didactic | any text whose main purpose is to teach or instruct | 125 | |
| 2135828720 | Dirge | a funeral song of lamentation | 126 | |
| 2135828721 | Discourse | spoken or written language | 127 | |
| 2135828722 | Argument | discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion | 128 | |
| 2135828723 | description | the picturing in words of people, places, and activities through detailed observations of color, sound, smell, touch, and motion | 129 | |
| 2135828724 | Exposition | the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject | 130 | |
| 2135828725 | Narration | the process of relation a sequence of events or another term for narrative | 131 | |
| 2135828726 | Rhetoric | the art of persuasion in speaking or writing | 132 | |
| 2135828727 | Epistolary | a novel written in the form of correspondence between characters | 133 | |
| 2135828728 | Eulogy | a formal composition or speech in high praise of someone | 134 | |
| 2135828729 | Fable | a brief tale that conveys a moral lesson, usually by giving human speech and manners to animals and inanimate things | 135 | |
| 2135828730 | Farce | A type of drama related to comedy but emphasizing improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical action, and coarse wit over characterization or articulated plot | 136 | |
| 2135828731 | Gothic | a type of novel characterized by mystery, horror, and the supernatural, often with haunted castles, secret passageways, grisly visions, and all of the paraphernalia of the tale of terror | 137 | |
| 2135828732 | Historical Novel | attempts to re-create an historically significant personage or series of events | 138 | |
| 2135828733 | Homily | religious sermon or discourse | 139 | |
| 2135828734 | Melodrama | drama that pits unbelievably good characters against a despicably evil character. | 140 | |
| 2135828735 | Memoir | an account of a single period in a writer's life, often one that coincides with important historical events | 141 | |
| 2135828736 | Metaphysical poetry | intricate 17th century English poetry employing wit and unexpected images | 142 | |
| 2135828737 | Myth | an anonymous narrative, originating in the primitive folklore of a race or nation, that explains natural phenomena, or recounts the deeds of heroes, passed on through oral tradition. | 143 | |
| 2135828738 | Novella | a short novel | 144 | |
| 2135828739 | Paean | a song of triumph or thanksgiving | 145 | |
| 2135828740 | Parable | a brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some lesson or moral | 146 | |
| 2135828741 | Parody | a composition that ridicules another composition by imitating and exaggerating aspects of its content | 147 | |
| 2135828742 | Pedantic | writing that borders on lecturing | 148 | |
| 2135828743 | Prose | in the broadest sense, all forms of ordinary writing and speech lacking the sustained and regular rhythmic patterns found in poetry. I resembles closely everyday speech | 149 | |
| 2135828744 | Psychological Novel | novel that focuses on the interior lives of its characters, their mental states and emotions, and their psychological motivations of their actions than on the actions themselves | 150 | |
| 2135828745 | Anaphora | the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses | 151 | |
| 2135828746 | Anastrophe | a rhetorical term for the inversion of the normal order of the parts in a sentence | 152 | |
| 2135828747 | Antecendent | the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers | 153 | |
| 2135828748 | Antithesis | a figure of speech in which opposing or contrasting ideas are balanced against each other using grammatically parallel syntax | 154 | |
| 2135828749 | Asyndenton | conjunctions are omitted, producing a fast-paced and rapid prose | 155 | |
| 2135828750 | Chiasmus | grammatical structure in which the first clause or phrase is reversed in the second, sometimes repeating the same words | 156 | |
| 2135828751 | Clause | a group of words containing a subject and verb that may or may not be a complete sentence | 157 | |
| 2135828752 | Gerund | a noun formed from a verb (living) | 158 | |
| 2135828753 | Inversion | reversing the normal order of sentence parts for poetic effect | 159 | |
| 2135828754 | Loose Sentences | modifiers follow the SVC pattern allowing the strength of the sentence to come first | 160 | |
| 2135828755 | Paradox | a statement or expression so surprisingly self-contradictory as to provoke us into seeking another sense in which it would be true | 161 | |
| 2135828756 | Parallelism | expressing similar or related ideas in similar grammatical structure | 162 | |
| 2135828757 | Periodic sentences | the main idea comes last in the sentence leaving the reader with a more powerful last impression. | 163 | |
| 2135828758 | Polysyndenton | the opposite of asyndenton. The use of many conjunctions has a slowing effect | 164 | |
| 2135828759 | Ad Hominem | attacking the arguer rather than the argument or issue | 165 | |
| 2135828760 | Antithesis | The Statement of the opposing viewpoint | 166 | |
| 2135828761 | Ethos | appeal to the credentials of the person speaking;character, goodwill, trustworthiness, intelligence, etc | 167 | |
| 2135828762 | Induction | the process of moving from a given series of specifics to a generalization | 168 | |
| 2135828763 | Logos | appeal to logic | 169 | |
| 2135828764 | Pathos | appeal to emotion | 170 | |
| 2135828765 | Rhetoric | the entire process of effective written communication | 171 | |
| 2135828766 | Rhetorical Shift | a change or movement in a piece from one point, idea, concept, etc, to another; signaled by words such as but, then, however | 172 | |
| 2135828767 | Thesis | The main idea of a piece of writing | 173 |
