AP Literature & Composition Terms

A poem usually personal of grief or mourning

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

The central idea or message of a work. May be directly stated in nonfiction works; not fiction.

Sentence construction repeating three equal grammatical constructions

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.

A description involving a “crossing of the senses.”

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Two stressed syllables (child/hood)

Commonly recurring literary devices, motifs or clichés in creative works. (star-crossed lovers)

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.

Poetic line with 4 metrical feet (8 or 12 syllables in line)

A brief quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter

Story in which characters, things, and events symbolically represent qualities or concepts.

Humorous, frequently risqué, verse of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba

Idea deliberately suggested through brief attention, with most significant points omitted.

A poetic line created with one stressed and unstressed syllable (witches)

A recurring idea, symbol, theme in a piece of literature.

The ironic minimizing of fact, this presents something as less significant than it is.

Imagery appealing to the audience's sense of smell

When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly – they are merely similar

A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story

Making an implied comparison, not using “like,” as,” or other such words.

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Long speech made by character alone on stage revealing innermost thoughts/feelings

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb, and can stand alone as a sentence.

A tragic flaw or error in judgement

a fictional tale explaining heroes, gods, nature

Figure of speech where part of something stands for the whole: wheels to refer to an automobile

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.

Poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain, fixed verse form

Addressing someone/thing, usually not present or unable to respond

Vivid description that appeals to reader's five senses.

Example: She didn’t love often, but when she loved, she loved ferociously.

Statement delivered by actor that other actors probably don't hear

Adjective/descriptive phrase expressing a characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.

The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

A brief recounting of a relevant episode as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.

Long speech denouncing someone/thing; religious story or lecture

A very typical example of a certain person or thing, acting as a symbol/motif in literature.

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Sentence that issues a command

An extended metaphor two unlike things being consistently compared throughout a text

Term describing prose or poetry teaching a lesson, moral or provides a model of behavior

Writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, and organization.

Same words are used twice in succession, but the 2nd time, the order of the words is reversed.

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

Main group of poetry, includes all brief poems that express a single element, uses imagery

a short story to prove a point with a moral basis

Expression of an idea which gives more than one meaning, leaves uncertainty.

A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions.

Poem written in a song-like stanza form

Meter having two unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllable

Reference to something outside of the text with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

Saying certain syllables in a line of poetry with more emphasis/volume/length

Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.

A poetic line with 3 metrical feet (6 or 9 syllables)

A quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds

Pause for effect in the middle of a poetry line

A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word

Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox

A 3 line stanza in poetry

A comparison including extreme exaggeration

A witty saying, usually at the end of a poem

Cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause.

When the audience of a drama, movie, story knows something that the character doesn't.

Involving circumstances in which actions have an opposite effect from what was intended.

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction/syntax).

Describing something out of its place in time/history

Written/oral composition presenting discourse of only one speaker

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning of a word.

Aristotle's word for pity & fear the audience experiences when tragic hero falls

Literary work having to do with shepherds and rustic, rural settings (nature)

Pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter.

A concrete object, actions, character...representing abstract ideas or emotions.

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.

An 8 line stanza (in a poem)

A conclusion or reply that doesn't follow logically from the previous statement.

Character of the 1st-person narrator in verse/prose narratives

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work or person for humorous purposes.

A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into 2 quatrains and a couplet.

A character providing contrast of another character's qualities

Question not asked for information but for effect.

A less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

Writer begins with subordinate elements and ends w/ the main clause, main idea appears at end.

Substituting a word naming an object for another word associated with it. (White House)

When the writer begins with an independent clause, then adds subordinate elements.

When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within the same single line.

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.

The attachment of a human emotion or quality to nature or inanimate objects.

3 syllable foot consisting of an stressed syllable followed by unstressed.

Combination of harsh unpleasant sounds which create effect of discordance.