AP English Literature and Composition

• Allegory


  story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities.
• Alliteration


  repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.
• Allusion


  reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture.
• Ambiguity


  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 detracts from the work.
• Analogy


  Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike, usually to help someone understand something difficult
• Anecdote


  A brief personal story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual.
• Antithesis


  Words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure.
• Anthropomorphism


  wholely attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object, so much so that it becomes a stand in for a person (think Bugs Bunny or Zootopia)
• Aphorism


  Brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.
• Apostrophe


  A speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object
• 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 is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: "Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike." In prose this is called antimetabole.
• Cliche


  A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.
• Colloquialism


  A word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations.
• Conceit


  An elaborate extended metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different.
• 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.
• Fable


  A very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson (often with animals as characters)
• Farce


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


  Writing that is not meant literally. 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.
• Foreshadowing


  The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.
• 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 sensation.
• Irony


  A discrepancy between appearances and reality. Often when the opposite thing happens that you would expect.
• Irony- Verbal


  occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.
• Irony- Situational


  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.
• Irony- Dramatic


  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.
• Juxtaposition


  poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: "The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough." Juxtaposition is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. Martin Luther King: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
• 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.
• Metaphor- Implied


  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.
• Metaphor- Extended


  a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).
• Metaphor- Dead


  a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: "The head of the house", "the seat of the government", "a knotty problem" are all dead metaphors.
• Metaphor- Mixed


  a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. "The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas."
• 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
• Motif


  A recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme.
• Motivation


  The reasons for a character's behavior.