Literary Terms for AP English IV
TERM / DEFINITION1. allegory, allegorical / A more or less symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a secondary meaning (or meanings) not explicitly set forth in the literal narrative.
2. alliteration / The repetition of the same sounds—usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables—in any sequence of neighboring words: ‘Landscape-lover, lord of language’ – Tennyson
3. allusion, allude / In literature, an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, thing, or a part of another text.
4. ambiguity, ambiguous / Use of words that allow alternative interpretations. In factual, explanatory prose, ambiguity is considered an error in reasoning or diction; in literary prose or poetry, it often functions to increase the richness and subtlety of language and to imbue it with a complexity that expands the literal meaning of the original statement.
5. anachronism, anachronistic / Neglect or falsification, intentional or not, of chronological relation. It is most frequently found in works of imagination that rest on a historical basis, in which appear details borrowed from a later age; e.g., a clock in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
6. analogy, analogous / A comparison of two different things, which are similar in some way.
7. anaphora / Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect. For everything there is a season, and a time / For every matter under heaven. . . .
8. anecdote, anecdotal / A usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident.
9. antecedent / That which goes before, especially with the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers. Do not always assume the literal definition; it could simply mean something that precedes.
10. antithesis / A statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced – i.e. “Man proposes, God disposes.”
11. aphorism, aphoristic / A concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance
12. apostrophe / A rhetorical device by which a speaker turns from the audience as a whole to address a single person or thing. For example, in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Mark Antony addresses the corpse of Caesar in the speech that begins: “O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,…”
13. archetype, archetypal / A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke strong responses.
14. assonance / In prosody, repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words with different end consonants, as in the phrase "quite like." In this sense, assonance is to be distinguished from regular rhyme, in which initial consonants differ but both vowel and end-consonant sounds are identical, as in the phrase "quite right." (“I arise from
dreams of thee / In the first sweet sleep of night”)
15. asyndeton / An expression in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions
16. bathos / Insincere or overly sentimental pathos
17. blank verse / unrhymed iambic pentameter
18. cacophony, cacophonous / Harsh or discordant sound; specifically, harshness in the sound of words or phrases. It is opposite in meaning from euphony. Also called dissonance.
19. chiasmus / A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed – i.e. “Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike”
20. clause / A group of words containing a subject and its verb that may or may not be a complete sentence.
21. cliché, clichéd / A trite expression or idea.
22. colloquial / Typical of or appropriate to the spoken language, informal, conversational; also vernacular.
23. conceit / An unusual and surprising comparison between two very different things, which is then extended throughout the length of the piece of literature.
24. concrete poetry / Poetry in which the poet's intent is conveyed by graphic patterns of letters, words, or symbols rather than by the meaning of words in conventional arrangement.
25. connotation, connotes / An association that a word calls to mind in addition to its dictionary meaning
26. consonance / Recurrence or repetition of identical or similar consonants; specifically, the correspondence of end or intermediate consonants unaccompanied by like correspondence of vowels at the ends of two or more syllables, words, or other units of composition. "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day"
27. convention / A practice or procedure widely observed in a group.
28. denotation, denotes / A word’s objective meaning, that to which the word refers, independent of other associations that the word calls to mind.
29. diction / Choice of words, especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. Any of the four generally accepted levels of diction--formal, informal, colloquial, or slang--may be correct in a particular context but incorrect in another or when mixed unintentionally. Most ideas have a number of alternate words that the writer can select to suit a particular purpose. "Children," "kids," "youngsters," "youths," and "brats," for example, all have different evocative values.
30. didactic / Also called didactical. Of literature or other art, intended to convey instruction and information. The word is often used to refer to texts that are overburdened with instructive or factual matter to the exclusion of graceful and pleasing detail so that they are pompously dull and erudite.
31. digression / Straying from the main subject.
32. elegy, elegiac / A song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation, especially for one who is dead.
33. ellipsis / The omission of one or more words that are understood but that must be supplied to make a construction semantically complete, as in "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be" from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
34. end-stopped / In poetry , marked by a grammatical pause at the end of a line, as in these lines from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism: A little learning is a dangerous thing; /
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
35. enjambment, enjambed / The continuation of the sense and grammatical constructions of a line on to the next verse or couplet.
36. epigram, epigramic / A short poem treating concisely, pointedly, and often satirically a single thought or event and often ending with a witticism or ingenious turn of thought. By extension the term is also applied to a terse, sage, or witty, often paradoxical saying, usually in the form of a generalization. -- What is an epigram? a dwarfish whole,
Its body brevity, and wit its soul. –Samuel Taylor Coleridge
37. epigraph / A quotation that appears at the beginning of a literary work that introduces a motif or theme that is developed in the work itself.
38. Epiphany, epiphanal / A moment of sudden revelation
39. euphemism, euphemistic / A figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness.
40. euphony, euphonious / Pleasing, harmonious, or sweet sound, the acoustic effect produced by words so formed and combined as to please the ear.
41. figurative language / Of language or writing, characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile) or elaborate expression, as opposed to literal language.
42. figure of speech / A form of expression used to convey meaning or heighten effect, often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener.
43. flashback / A section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time.
44. foil, foils / Literally, a “leaf” of bright metal placed under a jewel to increase its brilliance. The term is applied to any character who through contrast underscores the distinctive characteristics of another. Thus, Laertes, Fortinbras, and the Players—all of whom are willing and able to take action with less reason than Hamlet has—serve as foils to Hamlet.
45. Foot, feet / In poetry , the basic unit of verse meter consisting of any of various fixed combinations or groups of stressed and unstressed or long and short syllables. iamb, an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable re | port; trochee, a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable, dai | ly; anapest, two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, ser | e | nade; dactyl, a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, mer | ri | ly.
46. free verse / Poetry organized to the cadences of speech and image patterns rather than according to a regular metrical scheme. Its rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional prosodic units of metrical feet per line.
47. gerund / The “ing” form of a verb, i.e. running
48. grotesque / A decorative style in which animal, human, and vegetative forms are interwoven and deformed to the point of absurdity.
49. heroic couplet / A couplet of rhyming iambic pentameters often forming a distinct rhetorical as well as metrical unit. Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief; / Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief.
50. hyperbole, hyperbolic / A figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect
51. imagery, image, imagistic / Representation of objects, feelings, or ideas, either literally or through the use of figurative language; specifically, the often peculiarly individual concrete or figurative diction used by a writer in those portions of text where a particular effect (such as a special emotional appeal or a train of intellectual associations) is desired.
52. imperative / The mood of a verb that gives an order. “Eat your vegetables” uses an imperative verb.
53. inference, infer / Deriving a conclusion from facts or circumstances
54. irony, ironic / The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning (as when expressions of praise are used where blame is meant).
55. jargon / The special language of a profession or group. The term jargon usually has pejorative associations, with the implication that jargon is evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders. The writings of the lawyer and the literary critic are both susceptible to jargon.
56. Juxtaposition, juxtapose / To place side by side, especially for contrast and comparison.
57. litotes / A figure of speech by which conscious understatement is used to create emphasis by negation; examples are the expressions "not bad!" and "no mean feat."
58. malapropism / A mistaken substitution of one word for another, which sounds similar (The doctor wrote a subscription.)
59. metaphor / A figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in the ship plows the seas or in a volley of oaths). A metaphor is an implied comparison (as in a marble brow) in contrast to the explicit comparison of the simile (as in a brow white as marble).
60. meter / Systematically arranged and measured rhythm in verse
61. metonymy, metonymic / Figure of speech that consists of using the name of one thing for something else with which it is associated (as in "I spent the evening reading Shakespeare" or "lands belonging to the crown" or "demanding action by city hall").
62. monosyllabic, monosyllable / One syllable
63. narrative techniques / The methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts. Examples of the techniques would be point of view, manipulation of time, or interior monologue.
64. onomatopoeia, onomatopoeic / The naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz or hiss). The use of words whose sound suggests the sense.
65. oxymoron, oxymoronic / A word or group of words that is self-contradicting, as in bittersweet or plastic glass.
66. paradox, paradoxical / A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion. An apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought. The statement "Less is more" is an example.
67. parallel structure / in meaning: " a component of literary style in both prose and poetry, in which coordinate ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording. The repetition of sounds, meanings, and structures serves to order, emphasize, and point out relations. In its simplest form parallelism may consist of a pair of single words that are synonymous or have a slight variation ordain and establish" or "overtake and surpass." Another variety contains three or more parallel units as in "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man"
68. parody / A literary work in which the style of an author is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule.
69. pathos / An element in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion.
70. persona / In literature, the person who is understood to be speaking (or thinking or writing) a particular work. The
persona is almost invariably distinct from the author; it is the voice chosen by the author for a particular artistic purpose. The persona may be a character in the work in question or merely an unnamed narrator, but, insofar as the manner and style of expression in the work exhibit taste, prejudice, emotion, or other characteristics of a human personality, the work may be said to be in the voice of a persona