Mrs. Amy Carter's AP Literature literary terms for 2013-2014
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| 7220655056 | Allegory | a story in which people, things, and events have another meaning | 0 | |
| 7220655057 | Alliteration | the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the brginning of words | 1 | |
| 7220655058 | Allusion | a reference in a work of literature to somethings outside of the work, especially to well known historical or literary event, person, or work | 2 | |
| 7220655059 | Ambiguity | multiple meanings a literary work may communicate, especially two meanings that are incompatible | 3 | |
| 7220655060 | Antecedent | that which goes before, especially the word, phrase, or clause to shich a pronoun refers | 4 | |
| 7220655061 | Apostrophe | a rhetorical device in which an absent or imaginary person or an abstraction is directly addressed as though present | 5 | |
| 7220655062 | Aphorism | A statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner. | 6 | |
| 7220655063 | Anaphora | a rhetorical device of repeating the same word or words at the start of two or more lines of poetry | 7 | |
| 7220655064 | Antagonist | the character in conflict with the protagonist: rival, opponent, or enemy | 8 | |
| 7220655065 | Anticlimax | a rhetorical device in which details of a lesser importance are placed where something greater is expected, or in which the importance of items in a series is decreased rather than increased | 9 | |
| 7220655066 | Antithesis | a rhetorical device contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, balancing one against the othernin strong opposition. The contrast is reinforced by the similar grammatical structure. | 10 | |
| 7220655067 | Archetype | A character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore. | 11 | |
| 7220655070 | Assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity | 12 | |
| 7220655071 | Asyndeton | Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words, speeds up flow of sentence. X, Y, Z as opposed to X, Y, and Z. | 13 | |
| 7220655074 | Ballad Meter | a four-line stanza rhymed abcd with four feet in lines one and three and three feet in lines two and four. Characterized by swift action and narrated in a direct style. | 14 | |
| 7220655075 | Blank Verse | Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter | 15 | |
| 7220655080 | Characterization | A method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits. | 16 | |
| 7220655081 | Chiasmus | A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed | 17 | |
| 7220655082 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb | 18 | |
| 7220655090 | Conflict | A struggle between opposing forces | 19 | |
| 7220655091 | Connotation | All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests (implied Meaning) | 20 | |
| 7220655093 | Couplet | A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem. | 21 | |
| 7220655094 | Dactyl | a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables | 22 | |
| 7220655095 | Denotation | Dictionary definition of a word | 23 | |
| 7220655099 | Diction | Choice of words | 24 | |
| 7220655102 | Dramatic Irony | (theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play | 25 | |
| 7220655103 | Dramatic Monologue | A type of poem in which a speaker addresses a silent listener. As readers, we overhear the speaker in a dramatic monologue. | 26 | |
| 7220655104 | Elegy | a mournful poem | 27 | |
| 7220655105 | Ellipsis | Indicated by a series of three periods, indicates that some material has been omitted from a given text. | 28 | |
| 7220655114 | Euphemism | An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant | 29 | |
| 7220655117 | Exposition | A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances. | 30 | |
| 7220655119 | Figurative Language | Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling. | 31 | |
| 7220655122 | Free Verse | Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme | 32 | |
| 7220655124 | Foreshadowing | A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader. | 33 | |
| 7220655126 | Frame Story | A story within a story | 34 | |
| 7220655128 | Heroic Couplet | a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentamenter and written in an elevated style | 35 | |
| 7220655129 | Hexameter | A line containing six feet | 36 | |
| 7220655130 | Hyperbole | extravagant exaggeration | 37 | |
| 7220655131 | Iamb | a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables | 38 | |
| 7220655132 | Imagery | Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) | 39 | |
| 7220655135 | Internal Rhyme | Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end | 40 | |
| 7220655136 | Irony | A contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. | 41 | |
| 7220655139 | Litotes | A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite | 42 | |
| 7220655141 | Lyric poetry | A collection of verses and choruses, making up a complete song, or a short and non-narrative poem. | 43 | |
| 7220655142 | Metaphor | A comparison that establishes a figurative identity between objects being compared. | 44 | |
| 7220655143 | Meter | A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry | 45 | |
| 7220655144 | Metonymy | A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it | 46 | |
| 7220655147 | Motif | (n.) a principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design - An object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work. | 47 | |
| 7220655148 | Mood | A literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions | 48 | |
| 7220655152 | Octave | 8 line stanza | 49 | |
| 7220655153 | Ode | A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject. | 50 | |
| 7220655155 | Onomatopoeia | A word that imitates the sound it represents. | 51 | |
| 7220655156 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. | 52 | |
| 7220655157 | Objective point of view | The writers tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action on dialogue. | 53 | |
| 7220655158 | Paradox | (logic) a self-contradiction | 54 | |
| 7220655159 | Parallelism | the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures | 55 | |
| 7220655160 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. | 56 | |
| 7220655161 | Pentameter | 5 feet per line | 57 | |
| 7220655163 | Personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | 58 | |
| 7220655164 | Point of View | The perspective form which a story is told | 59 | |
| 7220655165 | Polysyndeton | Deliberate use of many conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted. Hemingway and the Bible both use extensively. Ex. | 60 | |
| 7220655167 | Protagonist | Main character in a story | 61 | |
| 7220655172 | Resources of Language | This phrase refers to all the devices of composition available to a writer, such as diction, syntax, sentence structure, and figures of speech. The cumulative effect of a work is produced by the resources of language a writer chooses. | 62 | |
| 7220655173 | Rhetorical Question | A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer | 63 | |
| 7220655176 | Rhyme Scheme | A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem | 64 | |
| 7220655182 | Satire | A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals. | 65 | |
| 7220655184 | Setting | The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs. | 66 | |
| 7220655186 | Simile | A comparison using like or as | 67 | |
| 7220655187 | Situational Irony | An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected | 68 | |
| 7220655189 | Sonnet | : a lyric poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to certain definite patterns. It usually expresses a single, complete idea or thought with a reversal, twist, or change of direction in the concluding lines. | 69 | |
| 7220655190 | Spondee | A foot consisting of two stressed syllables | 70 | |
| 7220655191 | Stanza | A group of lines in a poem | 71 | |
| 7220655192 | Stereotype | A generalized belief about a group of people | 72 | |
| 7220655193 | Stream of Consciousness | Interior monologue | 73 | |
| 7220655194 | Structure | Arrangement of parts. | 74 | |
| 7220655197 | Symbolism | A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. | 75 | |
| 7220655198 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword). | 76 | |
| 7220655199 | Synesthesia | A technique adopted by writers to present ideas, characters, or places in such a manner that they appear to more than one's senses like hearing, seeing, smelling, etc., at a given time. | 77 | |
| 7220655202 | Tetrameter | 4 feet per line | 78 | |
| 7220655203 | Theme | Central idea of a work of literature | 79 | |
| 7220655205 | Tone | Attitudes and presuppositions of the author that are revealed by their linguistic choices (diction, syntax, rhetorical devices) | 80 | |
| 7220655207 | Trochee | A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable | 81 | |
| 7220655209 | Understatement | a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said | 82 | |
| 7220655212 | Verbal Irony | A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant | 83 | |
| 7220671141 | Analogy | A comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. | 84 | |
| 7220672402 | Anecdote | Defined as a short and interesting story or an amusing event often proposed to support or demonstrate some point and make readers or listeners laugh. | 85 | |
| 7220675528 | Colloquialism | A use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writin | 86 | |
| 7220680823 | Enjambment | A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line. | 87 | |
| 7220681789 | End-Stopped | the concluding parts of an event or occurrence | 88 | |
| 7220690571 | Omniscient Point of View | A method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story | 89 | |
| 7220694719 | Repetition | Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis | 90 | |
| 7220706593 | Modifier | Describes a word or make the meaning of the word more specific. | 91 | |
| 7220706802 | Subject complement | Adjective, noun, or pronoun that follows a linking verb. | 92 | |
| 7220707220 | subordinate clause | A clause, typically introduced by conjunction, that forms part of and is dependent on a main clause. | 93 | |
| 7220708242 | Syntax | Sentence structure | 94 | |
| 7220709184 | Villanelle | A 19 line form using only two rhymes and repeating two of the lines according to a set pattern | 95 | |
| 7220709632 | Terza Rima | A three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc. | 96 | |
| 7220709872 | Tercet | 3 Line stanza | 97 | |
| 7220710181 | Setset | 6 line stanza | 98 | |
| 7220710421 | Quatrain | 4 line stanza | 99 | |
| 7220711567 | Epistrophe | A stylistic devices that can be defined as the repetition of words at the end of the clauses or sentences. | 100 | |
| 7220712354 | Genre | Type of art, literature, or music characterized by a specific form, content, or style | 101 | |
| 7220713268 | Prose | A form of language that has no formal metric structure. | 102 | |
| 7220714103 | Ceasura | A distinct pause within a line or verse, often near the center. | 103 | |
| 7220714217 | Ciquain | A five line poem containing 22 syllables. | 104 | |
| 7220716809 | Consonance | Repetition of constant sound within two or more words in close proximity | 105 |
