The Glossary of Literary Terms for the AP English Literature and Composition Test
Terms : Hide Images
| 5816471172 | Aesthetic | Appealing to the senses; pertaining to beauty. |  | 0 |
| 5816471173 | Allegory | A story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself. |  | 1 |
| 5816471174 | Alliteration | The repetition of initial consonant sounds. |  | 2 |
| 5816471175 | Allusion | A reference to another work or famous figure. |  | 3 |
| 5816471176 | Analogy | A comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship. |  | 4 |
| 5816471177 | Anecdote | A Short narrative or story used to make a point or further explain a situation. |  | 5 |
| 5816471178 | Aside | A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage. |  | 6 |
| 5816471179 | Atmosphere | The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene |  | 7 |
| 5816471180 | Cadence | The beat or rhythm or poetry in a general sense. |  | 8 |
| 5816471181 | Catharsis | Drawn from Aristotle's writings on tragedy. Refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences during a play |  | 9 |
| 5816471182 | Colloquialism | A word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "school-book" English. |  | 10 |
| 5816471183 | Denotation | A word's literal meaning. |  | 11 |
| 5816471184 | Connotation | Everything other than the literal meaning that a word suggests or implies. |  | 12 |
| 5816471185 | Couplet | A pair of lines that end in rhyme |  | 13 |
| 5816471186 | Diction | The words an author chooses to use. |  | 14 |
| 5816471187 | Syntax | The ordering and structuring of words. |  | 15 |
| 5816471188 | Dramatic Monologue | When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience. |  | 16 |
| 5816471189 | Enjambment | The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause. |  | 17 |
| 5816471190 | Epic | A very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style; typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter. |  | 18 |
| 5816471191 | Euphemism | A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality. |  | 19 |
| 5816471192 | Foil | A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast. |  | 20 |
| 5816471193 | Foreshadowing | An event of statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later. |  | 21 |
| 5816471194 | Free verse | poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern |  | 22 |
| 5816471195 | Genre | A sub-category of literature. |  | 23 |
| 5816471196 | Hubris | The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall |  | 24 |
