These are the essential terms for AP success
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| 13763997201 | diction | a speaker or writer's choice of words (formal, informal, colloquial, full of slang, poetic, ornate, plain, abstract, concrete, etc.); diction has a powerful effect on tone | 0 | |
| 13763997274 | synesthesia | the use of one sense to convey the experience of another | 1 | |
| 13763997275 | villanelle | a nineteen-line lyric poem that relies heavily on repetition | 2 | |
| 13763997276 | English sonnet | rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG three quatrains and a couplet; Shakespeare | 3 | |
| 13763997277 | Italian sonnet | rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA CDCDCD octave and sestet; Petrarch | 4 | |
| 13763997278 | stanza | a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem | 5 | |
| 13763997279 | phonetic intensives | letter or letter blends that are connected with meaning | 6 | |
| 13763997202 | syntax | sentence structure | 7 | |
| 13763997203 | tone | attitudes and presuppositions of the author that are revealed by their linguistic choices (diction, syntax, rhetorical devices) | 8 | |
| 13763997280 | prose poem | a selection of prose that, because of its language or content, is poetic in nature | 9 | |
| 13763997281 | blank verse | unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter | 10 | |
| 13763997282 | free verse | poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter. | 11 | |
| 13763997283 | rhythm | pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables | 12 | |
| 13763997284 | approximate rhyme | words that sound similar but are not an exact rhyme; slant rhyme | 13 | |
| 13763997285 | male rhyme | one syllable rhyme | 14 | |
| 13763997286 | feminine rhyme | multi-syllable rhyme | 15 | |
| 13763997287 | verbal irony | what is said is the opposite of what is meant; sarcasm | 16 | |
| 13763997288 | situational irony | an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected | 17 | |
| 13763997289 | dramatic irony | the contrast between what a character expects and what the audience knows is true | 18 | |
| 13763997204 | figurative language | a form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. | 19 | |
| 13763997205 | detail | an individual feature, fact, description significant to the story | 20 | |
| 13763997206 | pacing | the movement of plot action | 21 | |
| 13763997207 | shift | a change in tone, topic or form, et | 22 | |
| 13763997208 | connotation | an implied meaning of a word being opposite of denotation. | 23 | |
| 13763997209 | theme | central idea of a work of literature | 24 | |
| 13763997210 | allegory | a story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself. | 25 | |
| 13763997211 | allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art | 26 | |
| 13763997212 | alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds. | 27 | |
| 13763997213 | ambiguity | an element of uncertainty in a text, in which something can be interpreted in a number of different ways | 28 | |
| 13763997214 | antagonist | a character or force in conflict with the main character | 29 | |
| 13763997215 | apostrophe | a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. | 30 | |
| 13763997216 | analogy | a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way | 31 | |
| 13763997217 | anecdote | a short account of an interesting or humorous incident | 32 | |
| 13763997218 | aside | a dramatic convention by which an actor directly addresses the audience but it is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on the stage. | 33 | |
| 13763997219 | assonance | repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity | 34 | |
| 13763997220 | atmosphere | a distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing; mood | 35 | |
| 13763997221 | attitude | a speaker's, author's, or character's disposition toward or opinion of a subject. | 36 | |
| 13763997222 | Bildungsroman | a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education | 37 | |
| 13763997223 | cacophony | a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds | 38 | |
| 13763997224 | caesura | a natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line | 39 | |
| 13763997225 | characterization | the methods used to present the personality of a character in a work of literature and to make that character more believable. | 40 | |
| 13763997226 | climax | most exciting moment of the story; turning point | 41 | |
| 13763997227 | colloquialism | a word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing | 42 | |
| 13763997228 | conceit | a fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. | 43 | |
| 13763997229 | conflict | struggle between opposing forces | 44 | |
| 13763997230 | consonance | repetition of consonant sounds | 45 | |
| 13763997290 | denotation | the literal meaning of a word | 46 | |
| 13763997231 | enjambment | a run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next. | 47 | |
| 13763997232 | epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight | 48 | |
| 13763997233 | euphony | pleasant, harmonious sound | 49 | |
| 13763997234 | flashback | a method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events | 50 | |
| 13763997235 | foil | a character who acts as a contrast to another character | 51 | |
| 13763997236 | foreshadowing | clues in a story that suggest later events | 52 | |
| 13763997237 | genre | a literary type or form | 53 | |
| 13763997238 | hyperbole | a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effects. | 54 | |
| 13763997291 | imagery | visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. | 55 | |
| 13763997239 | irony | a contrast between expectation and reality | 56 | |
| 13763997240 | juxtaposition | placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts | 57 | |
| 13763997241 | litotes | a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. | 58 | |
| 13763997242 | metaphor | a figure of speech in which a comparison is implied but not stated, such as "This winter is a bear." | 59 | |
| 13763997243 | metonymy | a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty"). | 60 | |
| 13763997244 | mood | feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader | 61 | |
| 13763997245 | motif | a recurring theme, subject or idea | 62 | |
| 13763997246 | objective | based on real facts and not influenced by personal beliefs or feelings | 63 | |
| 13763997247 | onomatopoeia | a word that imitates the sound it represents | 64 | |
| 13763997248 | omniscient | third person point of view where everything is revealed to the reader, such as character thoughts and feelings | 65 | |
| 13763997249 | oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase | 66 | |
| 13763997250 | parallelism | phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other | 67 | |
| 13763997251 | parody | a piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule | 68 | |
| 13763997252 | paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth | 69 | |
| 13763997253 | personification | a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | 70 | |
| 13763997254 | plot elements | the sequence of events in a story: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution | 71 | |
| 13763997292 | precis | a brief summary of a book, article, speech, or other text | 72 | |
| 13763997255 | point of view | first person: speaker refers to himself (usually a character); second person: You are the character; third person: narrator is not referring to humor herself; Omniscient: all knowing(can see all characters and their thoughts/ feelings); Limited: can see multiple characters, but not thoughts; Close: focuses on one character | 73 | |
| 13763997256 | protagonist | main character in fiction or drama | 74 | |
| 13763997257 | reliability | a quality of some fictional narrators whose word the reader can trust. | 75 | |
| 13763997258 | repetition | repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis | 76 | |
| 13763997259 | sarcasm | a type of verbal irony in which, under the guise of praise, a caustic and bitter expression of strong and personal disapproval is given | 77 | |
| 13763997260 | satire | a literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies. | 78 | |
| 13763997261 | scansion | the process of marking lines of poetry to show the type of feet and the number of feet they contain | 79 | |
| 13763997262 | setting | the context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs | 80 | |
| 13763997263 | simile | a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as" | 81 | |
| 13763997264 | stereotype | a distorted, exaggerated, or oversimplified image applied to a category of people | 82 | |
| 13763997265 | subjective | based on personal feelings | 83 | |
| 13763997266 | symbol | an object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself | 84 | |
| 13763997267 | synaesthesia | a pairing of two or more of the senses (Ex: a "blue note") | 85 | |
| 13763997268 | synecdoche | 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) | 86 | |
| 13763997269 | style | manner of expressing ideas, especially in writing, art, or music | 87 | |
| 13763997270 | volta | the turning point in a sonnet; indicating a shift in tone or attitude of the speaker | 88 | |
| 13763997271 | understatement | a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means; the opposite of exaggeration | 89 | |
| 13763997272 | versimilitude | similarity to reality; the appearance of truth; looking like the real thing | 90 | |
| 13763997293 | vernacular | the distinctive form of speech or words spoken given to a particular region | 91 |
