AP Literature & Composition Terms

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

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

a fictional tale explaining heroes, gods, nature

Sentence construction repeating three equal grammatical constructions

Sentence that issues a command

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

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

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

A tragic flaw or error in judgement

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

A 3 line stanza in poetry

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

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

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

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

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

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

Imagery appealing to the audience's sense of smell

Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.

Vivid description that appeals to reader's five senses.

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

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

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

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning of a word.

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

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

A witty saying, usually at the end of a poem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Describing something out of its place in time/history

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

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

An 8 line stanza (in a poem)

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

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

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

A less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

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

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Two stressed syllables (child/hood)

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

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

Pause for effect in the middle of a poetry line

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

A description involving a “crossing of the senses.”

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Long speech denouncing someone/thing; religious story or lecture

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

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

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

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

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

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

A comparison including extreme exaggeration

A quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds

a short story to prove a point with a moral basis

Poem written in a song-like stanza form

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

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

A character providing contrast of another character's qualities

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

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A poem usually personal of grief or mourning

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

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

Written/oral composition presenting discourse of only one speaker

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

Pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter.

Meter having two unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllable

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

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

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

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human

A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word

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

A brief quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter

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

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

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