AP Literary Terms

1. ad-hominem—an argument or reaction directed against a person rather than the position they
are maintaining.
2. aestheticism—an intellectual and art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values
more than social-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts. This meant that art
from this particular movement focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning
3. allegory— a literary work in which characters, objects or actions represent abstractions, fictional
or non-fictional figures and/or events
4. alliteration—the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words
5. allusion—reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author
assumes the reader will recognize
6. analogy—a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way
7. anaphora—the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or
sentences
8. anecdote—a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event
9. antithesis—a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced
10. aphorism—a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often
using rhyme or balance
11. apostrophe— a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary
person, or some abstraction
12. archetype—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 a response
13. argument—a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work
14. assonance—when two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, start
with different consonant sounds.
15. bathos—insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity
16. chiasmus—a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is
structurally reversed (“Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary”)
17. cliché—an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off
18. climax—the point of highest interest in a literary work
19. colloquialism—informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing
20. conduplication— when an important word is taken from anywhere in one sentence or phrase
and repeats it at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase.
21. connotation—the implied or associative meaning of a word
22. consonance—repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase.
This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in “pitter, patter.”
23. declarative sentence—a sentence that makes a statement or declaration
24. denotation—the literal meaning of a word
25. dialect—a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or
pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region
26. dialogue—conversation between two or more people
27. diction—the word choices made by a writer
28. didactic—having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing
29. dilemma—a situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or
equally unattractive alternatives
30. doggerel—poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or
comic effect. Appearing since ancient times in the literatures of many cultures, it is characteristic
of nursery rhymes and children's song
31. double-entendre— a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué
or indecent.
32. enjambment— incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning runs over from one poetic
line to the next, without terminal punctuation. Lines without enjambment are end-stopped.
33. epigram—a brief, pithy and witty statement
34. epiphany—a moment of sudden revelation or insight
35. ethos—the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or
character.
36. eulogy—a formal speech praising a person who has died
37. euphemism—an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant
38. exclamatory sentence—a sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an
exclamation mark
39. fable—a brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters
40. fantasy—a story that concerns an unreal world or contains unreal characters; a fantasy
may be merely whimsical, or it may present a serious point
41. figurative language—language employing one or more figures of speech (simile, metaphor,
imagery, etc.)
42. flashback—the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative
43. flat, static character—a character who embodies a single quality and who does not develop in
the course of a story
44. foreshadowing—the presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared for
what is to come later in the work
45. frame device—a story within a story. An example is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in which the
primary tales are told within the “frame story” of the pilgrimage to Canterbury
46. genre—a major category or type of literature
47. hyperbole—intentional exaggeration to create an effect
48. idiom—an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal
meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect
49. imagery—the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the senses
50. inductive reasoning—deriving general principles from particular facts or instances
(“Every cat I have ever seen has four legs; cats are four-legged animals).
51. inference—a conclusion one draws (infers) based on premises or evidence
52. irony—the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity
between what is expected and what actually occurs
53. juxtaposition—placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast
54. limited narrator—a narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a single
character and restricts information to what is seen, heard, thought, or felt by that one character
55. litotes—a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite
(describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, “It was not a pretty picture.”)
56. logos— the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason
57. malapropism—the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds
similar (“The doctor wrote a subscription”).
58. metafiction—a form of literature that emphasizes its own constructedness in a way that
continually reminds the reader to be aware that he or she is reading or viewing a fictional work.
Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, storytelling, and directly or indirectly draw
attention to their status as artefacts
59. metaphor—a direct comparison of two different things
60. metonymy—substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated
with it (“The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting]”)
61. mood—the emotional atmosphere of a work
62. motif—a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works
63. motivation—a character’s incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that which
impels a character to act
64. narrative—a story or narrated account
65. narrator—the one who tells the story; may be first- or third-person, limited or omniscient
66. non sequitur—an inference that does not follow logically from the premises (literally, “does not
follow”).
67. omniscient narrator—a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner
thoughts and feelings of the characters
68. onomatopoeia—a word formed from the imitation of natural sounds
69. oxymoron—an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined
70. palindrome— a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of characters which reads the same
backward as forward, such as madam or racecar
71. parable—a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson
72. paradox—an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth
73. parallelism—the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms
74. paraphrase—a restatement of a text in a different form or in different words, often for
the purpose of clarity
75. parody— a humorous imitation of a serious work
76. pathos— the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions
77. personification—endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or
characteristics
78. plot—the action of a narrative or drama
79. point of view—the vantage point from which a story is told
80. polysyndeton—a literary technique in which conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or) are used repeatedly
in quick succession, often with no commas, even when the conjunctions could be removed.
81. pun—a play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different
meanings
82. resolution/denouement—the falling action of a narrative; the events following the climax
83. rhetoric—the art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasive manner
84. round/dynamic character—a character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops
or changes in the course of a work
85. satire—the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions
86. setting—the time, place, and environment in which action takes place
87. simile—a comparison of two things using “like,” “as,” or other specifically comparative words.
88. solecism—nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules
89. style—the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work
90. syllepsis/zeugma—a construction in which one word is used in two different senses (“After he
threw the ball, he threw a fit.”)
91. syllogism—a three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise
and a minor premise (“All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal”).
92. symbol—an object that is used to represent something else
93. synecdoche—using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example, referring to
a car simply as “wheels”)
94. tautology—needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding (“widow woman,” “free
gift”)
95. theme—a central idea of a work
96. thesis—the primary position taken by a writer or speaker
97. tone—the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience
98. tragedy—a work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a
significant struggle and which ends in ruin or destruction.
99. understatement—the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it
actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis.
100. vernacular—the everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard
usage