AP Literature Poetry Terms List I

ALLEGORY

story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for otherpeople or events or for abstract ideas or qualities,

ALLEGORY

story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other

ALLITERATION

repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that areclose together, people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities,

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature,religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).,

ALLITERATION

repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that areclose together,

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature,religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to
something (usually from literature, etc.).,

AMBIGUITY

deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting,meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way- - this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and

ANALOGY

Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike, ASSONANCE the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together,

CHIASMUS

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part issyntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: "Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike." ,

CONCEIT,

an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor.,

COUPLET

two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.,

DICTION

a speaker or writer's choice of words.,

ELEGY

a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died. A Eulogy is great praise or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died.

EXPLICATION

act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

FABLE

a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

FARCE

a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.

FLASHBACK

a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

FREE VERSE

poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

HYPERBOLE

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times....

IMAGERY

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience.,

IRONY

a discrepancy between appearances and reality.,

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.,

SITUATIONAL IRONY

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.,

DRAMATIC IRONY

is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.,

LITOTES

is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne--- "...the wearers of petticoat and farthingale...stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if

LYRIC POEM

a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker.,

METAPHOR

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.,

IMPLIED METAPHOR

does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: "I like to see it lap the miles" is an implied metaphor in which the verb lap implies a comparison between "it" and some animal that "laps" up water.,

EXTENDED METAPHOR

is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer ants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).,

METONYMY

a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it. "We requested from the crown support for our petition." The crown is used to represent the monarch.,

MOOD

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected.

ONOMATOPOEIA

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. "Pop." "Zap.",

OXYMORON

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. "Jumbo shrimp." "Pretty ugly." "Bitter-sweet",

PARADOX

a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.,

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures.,

PERSONIFICATION

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.,

QUATRAIN

a poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit.,

REFRAIN

a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem.,

RHYTHM

a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.,

RHETORICAL QUESTION

a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer.,

SIMILE

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles.,

SOLILOQUY

a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage.,

SYNECDOCHE

a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. "If you don't drive properly, you will lose your wheels." The wheels represent the entire car.,

THEME

the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.,

TONE

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.,