AP English Lit Literary Terms

Speaker

The person "telling" the poem; like a narrator; the speaker and the author are not (usually) the same person.

Occasion

An event or circumstance that prompted the speaker to speak; situation

Audience

The person or people to whom the speaker is speaking. Note that some poems contain no clear audience. In this case we assume the speaker is talking to herself (or reflecting).

Purpose

The point of the poem; what the speaker is trying to prove.

Subject

What the poem is about. Note that a poem may have multiple subjects.

Tone

Speaker's attitude toward the subject; this is key and often the focus of AP poetry essay prompts. Tone is also defined as the author's attitude toward the subject. For our class purpose we will usually focus on the speaker's tone. The speaker's tone and the author's tone may differ.

Form

The external pattern or shape of a poem; the physical layout; e.g. free verse, sonnet form, line length, etc. Often used interchangeably with "structure.

Structure

The internal organization of a poem's content; arrangement of ideas, perspective, images, thoughts. Often used interchangeably with "form.

Diction

Word choice

Syntax

Sentence structure

Ambiguity

vagueness or inexactness; in literature an ambiguous word or phrase has more than one possible meaning.

Enjambment

Run-on lines of poetry; the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Personification

Giving human qualities to something nonhuman

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory statement that, upon further investigation, contains some truth.

Oxymoron

Two apparently contradictory terms back to back.

Free Verse

Poetry that is free from regular rhythm or rhyme.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

Metaphor

A direct comparison not using "like" or "as

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to history, mythology, other literary, art, etc. in literature

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as

Figurative Imagery

Imagery not meant to be taken literally; metaphor, simile, symbol, etc. are all examples of figurative imagery

Connotation

A meaning that is implied by a word beyond its denotation; the feeling or feelings associated with a word.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds

Assonance

The repetition of vowels or vowel sounds

Consonance

The repetition of unrhymed final consonance sounds

Conceit

An elaborate and often surprising comparison between two different things

Internal rhyme

Rhyme between a word within a line and another word either at the end of the same line or within another line

Irony

A literary device in which words are used to express a contradiction between appearance and reality�usually the reality is the opposite of what it seems. There are several types of irony

Verbal Irony

The use of words to express something different from or opposite to its literal meaning. Sarcasm, overstatement (or hyperbole), and understatement are all examples of verbal irony

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows something that a character or characters do not know

Situational Irony

A contradiction between what we expect to happen and what actually happens

Gustatory (literal imagery)

taste

Olfactory (literal imagery)

smell

Visual (literal imagery)

sight

Tactile (literal imagery)

touch

Auditory (literal imagery)

sound

Kinesthetic (literal imagery)

movement

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates, suggest or resembles a sound

Extended metaphor

a metaphor that continues through multiple lines of a poem or multiple sentences in a paragraph (like a conceit)

Literal imagery

Imagery that relates to the five senses; imagery meant to be taken literally

Shakespearean Sonnet

14 lines
3 quatrains (abab cdcd efef rhyme scheme). The quatrains are usually separated by a hard stop (period, semicolon, colon), and they either present an argument or situation or develop a central idea.
1 rhyming couplet (gg). The couplet provides a solution to the argument, conclusion to the situation, or final statement about the central idea.
Written in iambic pentameter.
Foot

Quatrain

A stanza or poem of four lines; a four line division of a sonnet.

Couplet

Two successive lines of rhyming verse.

Iambic Pentameter

A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. An iamb is the most frequently used foot because it mimics normal speech. Also, it is the same rhythm as a heartbeat (da dum), making it even more significant and natural. In summary, a line of iambic pentameter contains 10 syllables and it is made up of five iambs. Each iamb has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Foot

A unit of meter consisting of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. An iamb is an example of a metrical foot. For example, the words exist, belong, predict, and away are all iambs. They have an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. In Romeo and Juliet, the famous line "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?" is written in iambic pentameter. So is this line from Macbeth: "So, thanks to all at once and to each one.

Petrarchan (Italian Sonnet)

14 lines
One octave (abbaabba rhyme scheme)
One sestet (cdecde or sometimes cdcdcd rhyme scheme)
The octave poses a question or dilemma and the sestet answers or resolves the question/dilemma.
Written in iambic pentameter

Octave

An eight line stanza or poem�frequently applied to the first eight lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Sestet

A six line stanza or poem�frequently applied to the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Apostrophe

When a speaker directly addresses something non-human like an object, an idea, or someone who doesn't exist as if it is a living person

Metonymy

A figure of speech where one thing is represented by another thing with which it is associated (e.g. Crown instead of king or queen)

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole (e.g. wheels for car)

Cacophony

A mixture of harsh, unpleasant, and discordant sounds

Euphony

A mixture of pleasing, harmonious sounds

Slant rhyme

A form of rhyme in which words contain similar sounds but do not rhyme perfectly (Also known as near rhyme or half rhyme)

Indirect Characterization

When a narrator describes or shows things that reveal the personality of a character (The personality or defining characteristics are not directly told, they are implied or shown; e.g. a narrator would show or describe an angry girl or a rude child).

Speech (indirect characterization)

What a character says and how she says it can reveal aspects of the personality of the character

Thoughts (indirect characterization)

What a character thinks can reveal aspects of the personality of the character

Effect (on others) (indirect characterization)

How others think about a character or what they say about her may reveal the personality of the character

Actions (indirect characterization)

What a character does can reveal aspects of the personality of the character

Looks (indirect characterization)

The appearance of a character can reveal aspects of the character's personality.

Detail

(Synonymous with literal imagery) This word is often used in AP Prose essay exam prompts

Point of View

Provides the reader with a perspective about the events of a work of fiction (first person omniscient, limited omniscient)

Motif

A unifying element in an artistic work (especially any recurrent element, image, symbol, etc.) (A motif can be almost anything-color, word, phrase, action, image, etc; A motif has symbolic meaning and often establishes theme in a literary work)

Antithesis

a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other (such as "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.")