Literary Terms for AP Literature

Literary Terms for AP Literature STRUCTURE ALLUSION: a direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion. The most common allusions are biblical or taken from Greek/Roman myths. ANTITHESIS: the opposition of contrast of ideas; the direct opposite (ie. love is the antithesis of hate) BALLAD: a narrative folk song. Subjects for ballads include killings, feuds, important historical events, and rebellion. A common stylistic element of the ballad is repetition. In addition to being entertaining, ballads can help us to understand a given culture by showing us what values or norms that culture deemed important. BLANK VERSE: broadly defined, any unrhymed verse but usually referring to unrhymed iambic pentameter. The most common English verse form, especially for extended poems, as it is considered the closest form to natural patterns of English speech. Most commonly seen in the following authors: William Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Frost. CAESURA: a pause in a line of poetry. I tis dictated by the natural speaking rhythm. Sometimes it coincides with the poet s punctuation, but occasionally it occurs where some pause in speech is inevitable. CLIMAX: the turning point in the plot of a story that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest; the point at which the reader understands how a conflict will be resolved COUPLET: a style of poetry defined as a complete thought written in two lines with rhyming ends. The most popular of the couplets is the heroic couplet. The heroic couplet consists of two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter, usually having a pause in the middle of each lne. One of William Shakespeare s trademarks was to end a sonnet with a couplet as in the poem Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day : So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long as lives this, and this gives life to thee. ELEGY: a formal poem that laments the death of a friend or public figure, or occasionally, a mediation on death itself ENJAMBMENT: a poetic statement that spans more than one line. Lines exhibiting enjambment do not end with grammatical breaks, and their sense is not complete without the following line(s): It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun 1

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquility. EPILOGUE: 1. the concluding section of a work 2. a speech that comes at the end of a play, often requesting the appreciation of the audience and kind reviews from critics, as in Puck s speech at the end of A Midsummer Night s Dream EXPOSITION: in drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to the beginning of the play FLASHBACK: a device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction. Various methods can be used, including memories, dream sequences, stories or narration by characters, or even authorial sovereignty (that is, the author might simply say, But back in Tom s youth ). Flashback is useful for exposition, to fill in the reader about a character or place, or about the background to a conflict. FORESHADOW: the technique of introduction into a narrative material that prepares the reader or audience for future events, actions, or revelations. Foreshadowing often involves the creation of mood or atmosphere that suggests an eventual outcome; the introduction of objects, facts, events, or characters that hint at or otherwise prefigure a developing situation or conflict; or the exposition of significant character traits allowing the reader or audience to anticipate the character s actions or fate. FREE VERSE: a poem which does not conform to any fixed meter or rhyme. Walt Whitman was the first poet to use free verse. JUXTAPOSITION: occurs when two images that are not otherwise commonly brought together appear side by side or are placed structurally close together; forces the reader to reconsider the meaning of the text through the contrasting images, ideas, or motifs: I must be cruel only to be kind (Hamlet) or in the following lines the pine trees are united and sharing companionship where the fox is alone: Pine limbs touch pine limbs under the blanket of snow - fox shivers alone. LYRIC: a short poetic composition that describes the thoughts of a single speaker. Most modern poetry is lyrical employing such common form as the ode and sonnet. MOTIF: a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil. A motif is important because it allows one to see main points and themes that the author is trying to express, in order that one might be able to interpret the work more accurately. NOVEL: fictional prose; see below for forms of the novel 2

autobiographical: a novel that tells a nonfictional, autobiographical story but uses novelistic techniques such as fictionalized dialogue or anecdotes, to add color, immediacy, or thematic unity (ie I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) bildungsroman: a German term meaning formation novel, for a novel about a child or adolescent s development into maturity, with special focus on the protagonist s quest for identify (ie Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) epistolary: a novel written in the form of letters exchanged by characters in the story; this form was popular in the 1700s (ie The Color Purple) novel of manners: a novel that focuses on the social customs of a certain class of people, often with a sharp eye for irony. Jane Austen novels are a perfect example of this genre. social protest: a novel in which the author s aim is to tell a story that illuminates and draws attention to contemporary social problems with the goal of inciting change for the better (ie Grapes of Wrath, Uncle Tom s Cabin, Hard Times) OCTAVE: 1. generally, an 8-line stanza 2. more specifically, the first part (the first eight lines) of a Petrarchan sonnet. The octave, which follows the rhyme scheme abbaabba, precedes the sestet and may pose a question or a dilemma that the sestet answers and resolves. ODE: a relatively long, serious, and usually meditative lyric poem that treats a noble or otherwise elevated subject in a dignified and calm manner. Compositions of odes are rare in English today. Common authors of the ode: John Keats ( Ode to a Nightingale ) and W.H. Auden ( Ode to Gaea ) PASTORAL: a celebration of the simplistic, rustic life of shepherds and shepherdesses, usually written by an urban writer. Focus is on the natural world vs. the industrial. PETRARCHAN SONNET: a fourteen-line sonnet consisting of two parts: the octave and the sestet. The octave often poses a question or dilemma that the sestet answers or resolves. PARABLE: a short, realistic, but usually fictional story told to illustrate a moral or religious point or lesson. (ie The Prodigal Son or Lazarus) PROLOGUE: an introductory statement that precede or serves as the first part of a literary work. The prologue often provides information that sets the stage for the story that follows; it may establish the setting, introduce the characters, or indicate a theme. PROSE: one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. In prose the printer determines the length of the line; in poetry, the poet determines the length of the line. PROSE POETRY: prose poems are written in sentences, without line breaks characteristic of poetry, but are heavily marked by the use of poetic devices such as figurative language, imagery, repetition, and even rhyme. 3

QUATRAIN: a stanza containing four lines. The following rhyme schemes are common: abcb (the ballad stanza), abba, and abab. The quatrain is the most common stanza form in English language poetry. REFRAIN: a regularly recurring phrase or verse, especially at the end of each stanza or division of a poem or song RESOLUTION: the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled. SESTET: 1. generally speaking, any six-line poem or stanza 2. more specifically, the second part (the last six lines) of the Petrarchan sonnet. The sestet succeeds the octave, which may pose a question or dilemma which the sestet answers or resolves, and usually follows the rhyme scheme cdecde, although variations occur. SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET: a fourteen-line sonnet consisting of three quatrains with the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, followed by a couplet rhyming gg. SHIFT: a change or movement in a piece of literature resulting from a realization or insight gained by the speaker, character, or the reader SONNET: typically consists of fourteen lines (usually printed as a single stanza) and that typically follows one of several conventional rhyme schemes. Sonnets address a range of issues or themes, but love, the original subject of the sonnet, is perhaps still the most common. SPENSERIAN SONNET: follows the basic stanza form - three quatrains followed by a couplet - but links the quatrains together by its rhyme scheme: abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. Made famous by Edmund Spenser. STANZA: a major subdivision of a poem THEME: a fundamental or universal idea explored in a literary work. Themes are statements the author is making about life through his or her literary work (ie Power corrupts an individual s ability to act morally). TONE: the attitude of the author toward the reader, audience, or subject matter of a literary work. Tone is also sometimes equated with voice, particularly in the sense of creative authorial voice that pervades and underlies a literary work. To determine tone, pay close attention to the elements of voice - especially diction and imagery. SETTING IMAGERY: the sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory (taste). On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can 4

represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman s cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection. MOOD: the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work. Setting, tone, and events can affect the mood. SETTING: the environment in which the action of a fictional work takes place. Setting includes time period, the place, the historical milieu, as well as the social, political, and perhaps even spiritual realities. The setting is usually established primarily through description, though narration is used as well. Taking into consideration the time period in which the piece was written can reveal themes that were common in literary eras. STYLE The consideration of style has two purposes: 1. An evaluation of the sum of the choices the author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. Some authors styles are so idiosyncratic that we can quickly recognize works by the same author. 2. Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors. By means of such classification and comparison, we can see how an author s style reflects and helps to define a historical period, such as the Renaissance or the Victorian period, or a literary movement, such as the romantic, transcendental, or realist movements. We can analyze and describe an author s personal style and make judgements on how appropriate it is to the author s purpose. Styles can be called flowery, explicit, succinct, rambling, bombastic, commonplace, incisive, laconic, etc. CARICATURE: a verbal description, the purpose of which is to exaggerate or distort, for comic effect, a person s distinctive physical features or other characteristics COLLOQUIAL/COLLOQUIALISM: the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, colloquialisms give work a conversational, familiar tone. Colloquial expressions in writing include local or regional dialects (ie Soda is referred to as pop[ in the mid-west, lifts are elevators in England, etc.) DIALECT: a way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or a particular group DICTION: refers to the writer s word choice, especially with regard to correctness, clarity, or effectiveness. You should be able to describe an author s diction and understand the ways in which diction can complement the author s purpose. To understand diction, you need also to understand: connotation: the non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes. denotation: the dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color Example: the denotation of a knife would be a utensil used to cut; the connotation of a knife might be fear, violence, anger, foreboding etc.) 5

IRONY/IRONIC: the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true. Irony is often used to create poignancy or humor. In general, there are three major types of irony used in language: verbal irony: when the words literally state the opposite of the writer s (or speaker s) meaning situational irony: when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen dramatic irony: when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work PARADOX: a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. PUN: a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings; most commonly used to highlight irony and create humor Ex: Mercutio, after having just been stabbed, knows he is dying and says Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. (Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare) SATIRE: a work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Regardless of whether or not the work aims to reform human behavior, satire is best see as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing. It can be recognized by the many devices used effectively by the satirist: irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement, and sarcasm. The effects of satire are varied, depending on the writer s goal, but good satire, often humorous, is thought provoking and insightful about the human condition. SYNTAX: the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is similar to diction, but you can differentiate them by thinking of syntax as groups of words, while diction refers to the individual words. parallelism: also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, it refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of grammatical elements such as a prepositional or verbal phrase. The effects of parallelism are numerous, but frequently they act as an organizing force to attract the reader s attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm. periodic sentence: a complex sentence that is not syntactically complete until its very end; the opposite of a loose sentence, in which an independent clause is followed by one or more independent or dependent clauses. A periodic sentence includes at least one dependent clause and/or parallel construction (and often several of each) before the final independent clause, which completes the sentence and provides its grammatical close as well as its meaning. Periodic sentences are comparatively formal and often used to heighten suspense by deferring the main point until the last word. 6

CHARACTERIZATION ANTAGONIST: a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works against the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist doesn t necessarily have to be a person. It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living happily ever after. In fact, the antagonist could be a character of virtue in a literary work where the protagonist represents evil. ANTIHERO: a protagonist, particularly in a modern literary work, who does not exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero. Instead of being a grand and/or admirable figure - brave, honest, and magnanimous, for example - an antihero is all too ordinary and may even be petty or a criminal. Examples include: Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman, Bruce Wayne from Batman, Tony Soprano of The Sopranos, Jax Teller of Sons of Anarchy ARCHETYPE: a primordial image, character, or pattern of circumstances that recur throughout literature and consistently enough to be considered universal; light = knowledge; dark = ignorance; old man = wisdom/tradition etc. CHARACTERIZATION: the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character direct characterization: writer tells the reader directly what the character is like and/or what the character s motives are indirect characterization: traits are implied and reader must infer what a character is like using S.T.E.A.L. (speech, thoughts, effect on others, actions, looks) CONFLICT: the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story external conflict: can exist between two people (man v. man), between a person and nature (man v. nature), or a machine (man v. technology), or between a person and whole society (man v. society) internal conflict: involves opposing forces within a person s mind (man v. self) DIALOGUE: the conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. A dialogue occurs in most works of literature. For example, many ballads demonstrate a conversation between tow or more characters. Dialogue serves to move the action along in a work and it also helps to characterize the personality of the speakers, which vary depending on their nationalities, jobs, social classes, and educations. Dialogue varies in structure and tone depending on the people participating in the conversation and the mood that the author is trying to maintain in his or her writing. FOIL: a character who acts as a contrast to another character. For example in Shakespeare s Othello Iago and Othello are foils. HUBRIS: excessive pride that brings about the protagonist s downfall. It is the quintessential tragic flaw, causing the protagonist to ignore a warning from a god or other important figure, to violate a moral rule, or to try to transcend ordinary limits. An example would be Macbeth from Macbeth. 7

MOTIVATION: a circumstance or set of circumstances that prompts a character to act in a certain way or that determines the outcome of a situation or work PROTAGONIST: a protagonist is considered to be the main character or lead figure in a novel, play, story, or poem POINT OF VIEW NARRATOR: one who tells a story, the speaker or the voice of an oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is not usually the same person as the author. The narrator is one of three types of characters in a given work: a participant (protagonist or participant in any action that may take place in the story); an observer (someone who is indirectly involved in the action of the story); or a nonparticipant (one who is not at all involved in any action of the story). The narrator is the direct window into a piece of work. The narrator may demonstrate bias when presenting a piece of work, depending on the type of character the narrator plays in the story. POINT OF VIEW: in literature, the perspective form which a story is told. There are two general divisions of point of view, and many subdivisions within those: first person narrator: tells the story with the first person pronoun I and is a character in the story. This narrator can be the protagonist, a secondary character, or an observing character. third person narrator: relates the events with the third person pronouns he, she, and it. There are two main subdivisions to be aware of: third person omniscient in which the narrator, with godlike knowledge, presents the thoughts and actions of any or all characters third person limited omniscient in which the narrator presents the feelings and thoughts of only one character, presenting only the actions of all the remaining characters In addition, be aware that the term point of view carries an additional meaning. When you are asked to analyze the author s point of view, the appropriate point for you to address is the author s attitude. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: a form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order; thoughts are often unfinished. UNRELIABLE NARRATOR: is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators, but third-person narrators can also be unreliable. The nature of the narrator is sometimes immediately clear. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to his unreliability. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story s end. This twist ending forces the reader to reconsider his or her point of view and 8

experience of the story. In some cases, the narrator s unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving the reader to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted, for example, the narrators in Poe s The Black Cat or The Tell Tale Heart. COMPARISON ALLEGORY: using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. In some allegories, for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or freedom. The allegorical meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence. ( The Terrible Things ) FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid hyperbole: uses deliberate exaggeration or overstatement; often have comic effect, however, a serious effect is also possible; often produces irony; the opposite of hyperbole is understatement metaphor: implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other suggestion some similarity. Metaphorical language makes writing more vivid, imaginative, thought provoking, and meaningful. direct metaphor: expressly identifies the metaphor (The child is a mouse.) implied metaphor: the metaphor is implied (Last night, I plowed through a book.) mixed metaphor: multiple and very different - sometimes incongruous - metaphors are used The fascist octopus has sung its swan song. extended metaphor: a metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work onomatopoeia - a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of the words. Simple examples include such words as buzz, hiss, hum, crack, whinny, and murmur. If you note examples of this in an essay passage, note the effect. personification: the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. Personification is used to make these abstractions, animals, or objects appear more vivid to the reader. simile: compares two distinct things by using word such as like or as to link them understatement: the ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. Understatement is the opposite of hyperbole. OXYMORON: a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. Simple examples include jumbo shrimp and cruel kindness SYMBOL / SYMBOLISM: generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Usually a symbol is something concrete - such as an object, action, character, or scene - that represents something more abstract. However, symbols and symbolism can be much more complex. One system classifies symbols into three categories: 9

natural symbols: objects and occurrences from nature to symbolize ideas commonly associated with them (dawn symbolizing hope or a new beginning, a rose symbolizing love, a tree symbolizing knowledge) conventional symbols: those that have been invested with meaning by a group (religious symbols such as crosses or Star of David; national symbols such as a flag or an eagle; or group symbols such as a skull and crossbones for pirates or the scale of justice of lawyers) literary symbols: sometimes also conventional in the sense that they are found in a variety of works and are more generally recognized. However, a work s symbols may be more complicated, as is the jungle in Heart of Darkness WIT: in modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. A witty statement is humorous, while suggestion the speaker s verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. Wit usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement. 10