AP English Literature and Composition Lit Terms
Term
Rhetorical Terms
anadiplosis
Definition
ethos
A rhetorical device in which the last word or words of a line, phrase or clause are
repeated as the first word or words in an immediately successive line, phrase, or
clause.
Ex: I went to the beach. The beach with lots of sand. Sand that burns my feet.
A rhetorical device involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the
beginning of successive lines or sentences.
Ex: Tonight is our night. Tonight we defeat our foe. Tonight we eat like kings.
A rhetorical device in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a
person who is dead or absent, an imaginary or nonhuman entity, or a place or
concept.
Ex: O death, I will be thy plagues.
A rhetorical device in which certain words are reversed or repeated in reverse
order.
Ex: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your
country.
A rhetorical device involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the end of
successive lines or sentences.
Ex: I have a dream. You have a dream. We all have a dream.
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to character.
logos
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to logic.
pathos
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to emotion.
rhetoric
The art of persuasion through speaking and writing.
rhetorical question
A question used to evoke a response or thought but not intended to be actually
answered.
anaphora
apostrophe
chiasmus
epistrophe
Figurative Language
conceit
double entendre
euphemism
hyperbole
metaphor
metonymy
A figure of speech involving an elaborate and often surprising comparison between
two apparently dissimilar things, often in the form of an extended metaphor.
Ex: John Donne’s poem “The Flea,” which compares marriage and the
consummation thereof to a flea.
A figure of speech that has multiple interpretations or two different meanings or
that could be understood in two different ways.
The first meaning in a double entendre is usually straightforward while the second
meaning is usually ironic, risqué or inappropriate.
A figure of speech that uses an inoffensive expression in place of a blunt one that is
felt to be disagreeable or embarrassing.
A figure of speech employing deliberate, emphatic exaggeration.
Ex: She broke her nail and exclaimed this was the worst day of her life.
A figure of speech that associates two distinct things without using a connective
word (such as like or as) to link them together.
Ex: Jonathan is a tool.
A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly
and often physically associated with it.
Ex: “The White House” when referring to the President of the United States
personification
simile
synechdoche
synesthesia
understatement
Characters
antagonist
characterization
dialect
dialogue
flat character
A figure of speech in which figurative human characteristics are bestowed upon
anything nonhuman, from an abstract idea to a physical force to an inanimate
object to a living organism, usually for the intention of establishing some sort of
imagery.
Ex: The sun smiled down on her.
A figure of speech that associates two distinct things using the connective words
like or as.
Ex: Jeff’s mind is like a sponge.
A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole.
Ex: Hey, give me a hand over here.
A figure of speech in which one kind of sensory stimulus is used to describe the
experience of another.
Ex: heavy silence (tactile describing aural)
A figure of speech deliberately representing something as very much less in
magnitude or importance than it really is.
Ex: As the man’s car teetered upon the 100 foot cliff, he blandly stated that this
was a rather bad day.
The character pitted against the protagonist of a work. Often the villain, but not
always so.
Refers to the various means by which an author describes and develops the
characters in a literary work.
A way of speaking or using a language that is particular to a geographic region or
social group and that varies considerably from the predominant speech and usage
within the language.
Conversation between two or more characters.
monologue
A character that does not undergo any significant emotional, ideological or spiritual
transformation.
A character whose contrast with the protagonist serves to accentuate the
protagonist’s qualities or characteristics.
An extended narrative delivered uninterrupted and exclusively by one person.
protagonist
The main character in a work, often a hero but not exclusively so.
round character
A character that undergoes a significant emotional, ideological, or spiritual
transformation.
A monologue delivered by a character while alone that reveals inner thoughts,
emotions, or other information.
foil
soliloquy
Words
antonym
connotation
Words opposite in meaning.
Ex: “No” and “Yes”
A word or phrase that is not formal in nature, typically used in normal or familiar
conversation.
Ex: “gonna” instead of “going to”
Implied meaning of a word or words.
denotation
Literal meaning of a word or words.
diction
Word choice.
homonym
Words that sound or are spelled the same, but have different meanings.
Ex: there, their, they’re
colloquialism
oxymoron
portmanteau
pun
synonym
Sounds
alliteration
assonance
cacophony
consonance
euphony
iambic pentameter
meter
onomatopoeia
A rhetorical figure that juxtaposes two opposite or apparently contradictory words
to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox.
Ex: The living dead
A word coined by combining two other words, encompassing the original
meanings of both component parts.
Ex: “Slithy” for “lithe” and “slimy”
A play on words that capitalizes on a similarity in spelling and/or pronunciation
between words that have different meanings.
Ex: Why did Tigger look in the toilet? He wanted to find Pooh.
Words similar in meaning.
Ex: “Yes” and “Affirmative”
The repetition of sounds in a sequence of words.
Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Alliteration with vowel sounds.
Ex: I was fated for a day in the cave.
Harsh, unpleasant, or discordant sounds.
Alliteration with consonant sounds.
Ex: “blade” and “blood”
Pleasing, harmonious sounds.
A metrical foot in poetry that consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one
stressed syllable, ten syllables per line.
Ex: Downward/ to dark/ness, on/ extend/ed wings.
The regular rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.
Wording that seems to signify meaning through sound effects.
Ex: “Moo”; “Purr”; “Quack”
Syntax
asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions in syntactic structure, often a stylistic choice.
parallelism
Sentences, clauses, or phrases with repetitive syntactic or grammatical structure.
polysyndeton
The repetition of conjunctions (such as and) in syntactic structure, often a stylistic
choice.
Sentence structure.
syntax
Poetry
ballad
blank verse
confessional poem
couplet
end rhyme
enjambment
free verse
A poem that recounts a story in the form of a song. Traditionally, ballads relate
popular and often tragic stories in simple language.
Any unrhymed verse, but usually referring to unrhymed iambic pentameter.
A contemporary poetic mode in which poets discuss matters relating to their
private lives.
Two successive lines of rhyming verse.
Ex: No weekends for the gods now. Wars/flicker, earth licks its open sores
Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines of verse.
Ex: See “couplet”
A line in a poem that does not end with grammatical breaks and their sense is not
complete without the following line.
Ex: you are unique/at last. Alas/it is a boring song/but it works every time.
Poetry that lacks a regular meter, does not rhyme, and uses irregular line lengths.
heroic couplet
A pair of rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter.
internal rhyme
quatrain
Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.
Ex: Their graves are green, they may be seen.
A relatively long, serious, and usually meditative poem that treats a noble or
otherwise elevated subject in a dignified and calm manner.
A poem consisting of fourteen lines. This kind of sonnet consists of two segments:
the first eight lines in an abbaabba rhyme pattern and the last six lines in a cdecde
rhyme pattern. Usually in iambic pentameter.
A brief, rhythmic composition blending prose and verse. These poems are written
in sentences, without the line breaks characteristic of poetry, but are heavily
marked by the use of poetic devices.
A stanza containing four lines.
refrain
A phrase, line, or lines that recur throughout a poem or song.
Shakespearean/English
sonnet
slant rhyme
A poem consisting of fourteen lines. This kind of sonnet consists of three quatrains
and a couplet(rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg). Usually in iambic pentameter.
Refers to words that almost rhyme or visually appear to rhyme.
Ex: “said” and “paid”
The persona “narrating” a poem.
A grouped set of lines in a poem, usually physically separated from other such
clusters by a blank line.
A group of three lines of verse.
ode
Petrarchan/Italian
sonnet
prose poem
speaker
stanza
tercet
Story Structure
exposition
foreshadowing
motif
point of view
point of view(1st person)
point of view(2nd person)
point of view(3rd person
objective)
point of view(3rd person
limited)
point of view(3rd person
omniscient)
setting
The weaving into the plot of essential prior matters, such as past events. Helps to
develop context.
The technique of introducing material that prepares the reader for future events,
actions, or revelations.
A recurrent, unifying element in a work, such as an image, symbol, character type,
action, idea, object, or phrase.
The vantage point from which a narrative is told.
When the vantage point is from a character who refers to himself or herself as “I.”
Ex: I ran through the field of daisies.
When the vantage point is from the perspective of “you.”
Ex: You ran through the field of daisies.
When the narrator is an observer who relates the story using third-person pronouns
such as “he,” “she,” and “it.” No character thoughts are explicitly expressed from
this vantage point.
Ex: He ran through the field of daisies.
When the narrator is an observer who relates the story using third-person pronouns
such as “he,” “she,” and “it.” Only a single character’s thoughts are explicitly
expressed from this vantage point.
Ex: He ran through the field of daisies, his heart filled with joy.
When the narrator is an observer who relates the story using third-person pronouns
such as “he,” “she,” and “it.” Many or all characters’ thoughts are explicitly
expressed through this all-knowing vantage point.
Ex: He ran through the field of daisies, his heart filled with joy. The squirrels and
chipmunks watching him also felt a similar exuberance.
The combination of place, historical time, and social milieu that provides the
general background for the characters and plot of a work.
theme
Misc. Literary Terms
allusion
The statement(s), express or implied, that a work seems to be making about its
subject. Generally, the main idea or message in a work.
An indirect reference, often to a person, event, statement, theme, or work.
ambiguity
Lack of clarity or uncertainty in meaning. A word, phrase, statement, or passage is
ambiguous when it can be understood or interpreted in more than one way.
anachronism
Something outside of its proper historical time period.
analogy
Essentially, when a comparison is being made to clarify understanding.
anthropomorphism
microcosm
When nonhuman living organisms, inanimate objects or abstract concepts are given
literal human traits or characteristics.
Ex: Disney’s The Lion King
Images, figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that are universally
shared by people across cultures and time.
Refers to the corpus of images used in text and the language used to convey a
visual picture.
A contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality.
Irony can be verbal or structural.
Two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect which often
reveals an existing dichotomy.
Ex: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, etc…”
When something large is represented by something smaller; a kind of symbolism.
mood
The prevailing emotion(s) of a work.
objectivity
Associated with external reality, and thus with empirical fact and absolute truth.
paradox
style
A statement that seems self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface but that,
upon closer examination, may express an underlying truth.
The way in which a literary work is written.
subjectivity
Associated with the internal mind, and thus with bias and relative truth.
symbolism
When something stands for or suggests something larger and more complex --often an idea or a range of interrelated ideas, attitudes, and practices.
tone
The attitude of the author toward the reader, audience, or subject matter.
archetype
imagery
irony
juxtaposition