AP Literature & Composition Terms

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

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

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Describing something out of its place in time/history

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long speech denouncing someone/thing; religious story or lecture

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning of a word.

A brief quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter

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

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

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

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

Written/oral composition presenting discourse of only one speaker

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

Vivid description that appeals to reader's five senses.

A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word

Imagery appealing to the audience's sense of smell

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

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

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

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

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Sentence that issues a command

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox

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

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

An 8 line stanza (in a poem)

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

A description involving a “crossing of the senses.”

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

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human

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

Combination of harsh unpleasant sounds which create effect of discordance.

Poem written in a song-like stanza form

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

Pause for effect in the middle of a poetry line

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

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

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

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

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

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

A character providing contrast of another character's qualities

A comparison including extreme exaggeration

Two stressed syllables (child/hood)

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

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

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

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

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

A quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds

Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.

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

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

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

A poem usually personal of grief or mourning

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Meter having two unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllable

a fictional tale explaining heroes, gods, nature

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Sentence construction repeating three equal grammatical constructions

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

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

A 3 line stanza in poetry

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

A witty saying, usually at the end of a poem

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

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

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

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

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

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

A less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

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

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

A tragic flaw or error in judgement

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

Pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter.