AP Literature and Composition Terms

Allegory- coveys meaning other than literal. Caesura- denotes an audible pause that
Usually a story where almost every breaks up a line of verse. (slashs,
detail is symbolic in some way. periods, commas)
Ex. From the hag and hungry
Alliteration- repeating the same consonant goblin || that into rags would rend ye,
sound at the beginning of several words And the spirits that stand || by the naked
Ex. The small ship sails swiftly through man || in the Book of Moons, defend ye!
the seemingly shimmering waves.
Conceit- extended metaphor, usually an
Allusion- a reference to a well-known piece unusual comparison,
of literature, art, place, myth, or event Ex. wisdom to a carpet, love to a loom
Ex. Public speaking has always been her
Achilles’ heel Connotation- non-literal meaning associated
with a word (opposite of denotation)
Analogy- a comparison between two things.
Consonance- Repeating same consonant
Anaphora- emphasizing words by repeating sound (see assonance)
them at the beginnings of clauses
Ie. Mad world! Mad Kings! Mad Couplet- a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It
composition! usually consists of two lines that rhyme
and have the same meter
Aphorism- an original thought
spoken/written in a laconic and Denotation- literal meaning of a word
memorable form
Ie. Life is short, [the] art long, Diction- distinctive vocabulary of writer.
opportunity fleeting, experience Also the way you talk.
misleading, judgment difficult.
Epic- a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily
Apostrophe- directly speaking to an object containing details of heroic deeds and
or abstract concept events significant to a culture or nation
Ie. Death, why have you left me so
bereft? Epithet- a descriptive word or phrase
accompanying, or occurring in place of,
Archtype- an original model of a person or a name, and having entered common
ideal example upon which others are usage; “a glorified nickname”
copied, or patterned; a symbol Ex. Richard the Lionheart, Man of Steel
universally recognized by all.
Exposition- provides some background and
Assonance- repetition of the same vowel inform the readers about the plot,
sound. character, setting, and theme
Blank Verse- a type of poetry, distinguished
by having a regular meter, but no rhyme
Hyperbole- figure of speech in which things Oral Literature- literature passed down by
are greatly exaggerated being told or recited. Often a very big
Ex. I have a million things to do! (I’m part of culture.
busy)
Oxymoron- a term or phrase that has two
Iambic Pentameter- Stressed syllable contrasting terms.
followed by an unstressed syllable Ie. Jumbo shrimp, modern history,
(iambic), five times in a line deafening silence
(pentameter)
daDUMdaDUMdaDUMdaDUMdaDUM Parable- short story illuminating moral or
ex. And to this false plague are they now religious lessons. Similar to a fable,
transferred. except characters are humans, not
animals
Imagery- descriptive language that evokes
the senses Paradox- two opposing truths
Ex. “I can resist anything but
Inverted Sentence- subject comes after verb temptation,” “it was the best of times, it
Ex. Never will I ever. was the worst of times”

Kenning- a type of complex epithet common Parallelism- to give two or more parts of a
in Old English, figurative language in sentence in similar form
place of a more concrete single- Ex. "The inherent vice of capitalism is
word noun, usually hyphenated the unequal sharing of blessing; the inherent
Ex. whale-road, meaning "sea". virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of
miseries."

Metaphor- comparison without using “like”

Personification- ascribing human
or “as”
characteristics to an inanimate object or
abstract concept
Metonymy- calling something by the name
of a closely related thing/concept
Point of View- (narrative modes)
Ex. The pub was full of pigs. (pig=man)
encompasses not only who tells the
story, but also how the story is described
Mood- the emotional attitude the author
or expressed (using stream of
takes towards his or her subject
consciousness or unreliable narration).
Narrative- the recounting of a succession of
Quatrain- a stanza consisting of four lines
events
Rhetoric*- art of using language as a means
Octave- a verse form consisting of eight
to persuade. (argumentation)
lines of iambic pentameter (in English)
or of hendecasyllables (in Italian); first
Satire*- human or individual vices, or
part of a Petrarchan sonnet
shortcomings are ridiculed, ideally with
the intent of improvement. Often an
Onomatopoeia- word that described a sound.
attack on something strongly
Ex. Bam! Zoink, chug.
disapproved by the satirist
Scansion- a way to mark Irony:
the metrical patterns of a line of poetry; Verbal- disparity of expression and
n English poetry, they are based on the intention (sarcasm)
different stresses placed on each syllable Dramatic- Audience knows something
characters don’t
Sestet- the second division of an Situational- disparity of intention and
Italian sonnet, a stanza of six lines result

Simile- comparison using “like” or “as” Rhetoric Modes

Exposition- explain and analyze
Symbol- something that represents information (expository)
something else by association, Argumentation- prove validity by
resemblance, or convention. convincing reader (persuasion)
Description- recreation of an event
Syncope- Sounds may be removed from the Narration- relating a story
interior of a word as a rhetorical or
poetic device, whether for Satire
embellishment or for the sake of the Horatian- playfully criticizes some
meter. social vice through gentle, mild, and
Ex. O’er, hast’ning, heav’n light-hearted humour. It directs wit
and exaggeration, toward what it
Synecdoche- like metonymy. identifies as folly, rather than evil
Ex. Character might be described as a single Juvenalian- addresses social evil
body part (eyes) that represent the through scorn, outrage, and savage
character. ridicule. This form is often
pessimistic, characterized by irony,
Tone- the mood or feeling of a literary work, sarcasm, moral indignation and
as the author gives personal invective, with less emphasis
on humour

Sentence Structures:
Simple- one independent clause
Compound- more than one
independent clause
Complex- one independent and at least
one dependent
Compound-Complex- more than one
independent and at least one
dependent.

Voice:
Active Voice- subject is actor of the
verb
Passive Voice- subject is target of the
verb