AP Literature Terms

Villanelle

A French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but consisting of 19 lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes

Bildungsroman

A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal. *Don Quixote*, in which the title character searches for the so-called impossible dream is one example, as is James Joyce's *A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man*, the story of Stephen Daedalus's struggles to find a place and purpose in life.

Annotation

A brief explanation, summary, or evaluation of a text or work of literature

Antagonist

A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist produces tension or conflict

Title character

A character whose name appears in the title of the novel or play; also known as the eponymous character

Catharsis

A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror of a dramatic tragedy

Analogy

A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things

Verbal irony

A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words

Simile

A figurative comparison using the words like or as

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part

Personification

A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics

Tragedy

A form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish

Narrative

A form of verse or prose that tells a story

Quatrain

A four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem

Caricature

A grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things

Stanza

A group of two or more lines in poetry combined according to subject matter, rhyme, or some other plan

Classic

A highly regarded work of literature or other art form that has withstood the test of time

Pun

A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meaning

Bibliography

A list of works cited or otherwise relevant to a subject or other work

Satire

A literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change

Ode

A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject

Omniscient narrator

A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story

Novel of manners

A novel focusing on and describing the social customs and habits of a particular social group

Caesura

A pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often (but not always) marked by punctuation

Anachronism

A person, scene, event or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set. The author's statement that thousands of people witnessed the Kennedy assassination on their smartphones is an ___________. After all, smartphones were invented many decades after the President's murder.

Bard

A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment

Sonnet

A popular form of verse consisting of 14 lines and a prescribed rhyme scheme

Allusion

A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea. For example: The speaker at a graduation made three *____________* to Twitter and two to Instagram

apostrophe

A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not present. An example, "Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!"

Antithesis

A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences, as in the following: "They promised freedom but provided slavery." "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Adage

A saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language

Periodic sentence

A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end

Sarcasm

A sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt

Aphorism

A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.

Ballad

A simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited. Popular _______ include Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Keats's "La Belle Dame sans Merci," and Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."

Non sequitur

A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before

Paradox

A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true

Parable

A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived

Allegory

A story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning. In works such as Spenser's *The Fairie Queen* and Bunyon's *Pilgrim's Progress*, the story and characters represent values beyond themselves.

Stream of consciousness

A style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind

Subplot

A subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play, usually connected to the main plot

Verse

A synonym for poetry also a group of lines in a song or poem; also a single line of poetry

Sentiment

A synonym for view or feeling, also a refined and tender emotion in literature

Oxymoron

A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect

Naturalism

A term often used as a synonym for realism; also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic

Sentimental

A term that describes characters' excessive emotional response to experience; also nauseatingly nostalgic and mawkish

Ambiguity

A vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretation

Pentameter

A verse with five poetic feet per line

Paraphrase

A version of a text put into simpler, everyday words

Novella

A work of fiction of roughly 20,000-50,000 world: longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel

Pastoral

A work of literature dealing with rural life

Burlesque

A work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque imitation

Pseudonym

Also called pen name; a false name or alias used by writers

Abstract

An abbreviated synopsis of a longer work of scholarship or research

Archetype

An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form. An archetype of a villain is personified by Iago, the diabolical deceiver in Shakespeare's *Othello*. Another is Claggart, the Master-at-Arms whose dishonesty causes the death of the title character in Melville's story, *Billy Budd*.

Ottava Rima

An eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem

Picaresque novel

An episodic novel about a rogue-like wanderer who lives off his wits

Romance

An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places

Parody

An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject

Classical/Classicism

Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and restraint

Pathetic fallacy

Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects

Roman à clef

French for a novel in which historical events and actual people appear under the guise of fiction

Cacophony

Grating, inharmonious sounds

Apollonian

In contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior

Bombast

Inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects

Rhetorical stance

Language that conveys a speaker's attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject

Carpe Diem

Literally, "seize the day"; enjoy life while you can, a common theme in literature

Pulp fiction

Novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots

Blank Verse

Poetry written in iambic pentameter, the primary meter used in English poetry and the works of Shakespeare and Milton. It is "blank" because the lines generally do not rhyme.

Verisimilitude

Similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is

Pathos

That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow

Old English

The Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approximately 450-1150 AD

Scan

The act of determining the meter of a poetic line

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject being written about the tone is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work

Realism

The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect

Trope

The generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor

Prosody

The grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry

Climax

The high point, or turning point, of a story or play. The ______ of Arthur Miller's drama *The Crucible* occurs when John Proctor heroically chooses to die rather than betray his principles by accusing innocent people of witchcraft.

Subtext

The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature

Plot

The interrelationship among the events in a story

Rhetoric

The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience

Protagonist

The main character in a work of literature

Theme

The main idea or meaning, often an abstract idea upon which a work of literature is built

Style

The manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes ideas, forms sentences, and creates a structure to convey ideas

Syntax

The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular syntax, or pattern of words

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of rhymes within a given poem

Rhythm

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry

Wit

The quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that surprise and delight by their unexpectedness; the power to comment subtly and pointedly on the foibles of the passing scene

Voice

The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker

Point of view

The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to the story or subject matter of a poem

Alliteration

The repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines of poetry or prose. Writers use ____________ for ornament or for emphasis, as in words such as *flim-flam* and *tittle-tattle*. Also used in epithets (*fickle fortune*, *sunless sea*), phrases (*bed and board*), and slogans (*Look before you leap*). ____________ generally enhances the aesthetic quality of a prose passage or poem, as in these lines from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner": *The white foam flew/ The furrow follows free.*

Rhyme

The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry

Assonance

The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose. Note the _________ in "*Meet Pete Green; he's as mad as a hatter.*"

Persona

The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader, a viewer, or the world at large

Versification

The structural form of a line or verse as revealed by the number of feet it contains

Setting

The total environment for the action in a novel or play

Bathos

The use of insincere or overdone sentimentality

Symbolism

The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object

Onomatopoeia

The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning

Canon

The works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied