A list of terms you need for studying AP literature
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| A story in which each aspect has a symbolic meaning outside the story itself. | ||
| A reference in a literary work to another work or famous figure. | ||
| The character or force who works against the main character | ||
| A defense of one's position | ||
| A poem directly addressing a person or thing, often absent. | ||
| a poem addressing the dawn | ||
| A "coming of age" novel | ||
| An unpleasant sound | ||
| the emotions associated with a word | ||
| the repetition of consonant sounds within words (not beginning). | ||
| A pair of lines that end in rhyme | ||
| A startling or unusual metaphor. | ||
| crude, simplistic verse. | ||
| a type of poem that meditates on death or mortality. | ||
| a novel written as a series of letters | ||
| a "dirty story", such as Chaucer's The Miller's Tale | ||
| a secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast | ||
| The basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry. Formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed. | ||
| poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern | ||
| a "type" or kind of literature | ||
| a novel that is characterized by gloomy castles, the supernatural, etc. | ||
| Satire that pokes fun in a gentle or comical way | ||
| exaggeration or deliberate overstatement | ||
| Latin term for "in the midst of things." One of the conventions of the epic, denoting that the action begins in the middle of the story. | ||
| Satire that is bitter or biting | ||
| the deliberate positioning of two elements (words, ideas, etc.) in order to emphasize the relationship between the two | ||
| Writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character's head. Tighter than stream of consciousness | ||
| A type of poetry that deals with a poet's interpretations of and feelings about the world. | ||
| A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable. | ||
| A direct comparison between two things. ("my love is a red, red rose") | ||
| A short novel | ||
| The term given for an unnatural obsession with one's mother by her son. | ||
| The term given for an unnatural obsession with one's father by his daughter. | ||
| Words that sound like what they mean. "boom", "splat", "arrgh", etc. | ||
| A phrase composed of opopsition; a contradition | ||
| A seeming contradition | ||
| The work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness. | ||
| The main character in a work of fiction | ||
| a "false" (or pen) name | ||
| A poem set in the countryside or even more specifically, one about shepherds. | ||
| A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem | ||
| A poem of praise. | ||
| a poem that treats a trivial subject in a lotfy way and pokes fun at the conventions of heroic poetry | ||
| a 19 line poem with 6 stanzas; stanzas 1-5 have 3 lines each, stanza 6 has 4 lines (aba, aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa) | ||
| a lyric poem with a silent but identifiable listener in which the speaker tells about a dramatic moment in his life, and in doing so, reveals character. | ||
| a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry | ||
| Consists of two successive rhyming lines that contain a complete thought | ||
| specific type of narrative poem based on the ancient custom of telling stories in songs. | ||
| a pause in a line of poetry | ||
| a long narrative poem told in high, formal language. contains a hero and events important to a specific group. | ||
| a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme | ||
| understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole or the whole for the part |
