Literary Terms English Literature & Composition

Here are a list of literary terms you should be familiar with for AP 12 English.

Alliteration: two or more words in a group of words begin with the same sound (ie. Anne's awesome apples)
Allegory: symbolic narrative in verse or prose in which characters, setting, plot, etc. represent abstract ideas
Allusion: passing reference or indirect mention
Anastrophe:
Antagonist: opponent or enemy of main character (ie. Green Goblin in Spider-Man)
Antithesis: juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance
Apostrophe: address to an absent or imaginary person
Archetype: original model of universal symbols shared across cultures that have been part of human experience
Assonance: vowel rhyme or repetition of vowel sounds
Blank Verse: unrhymed verse
Chiasmus:
Conceit: extended metaphor
Connotation: an idea that is implied or suggested
Elements of plot: 

        Exposition: a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic

        Rising Action:
       Conflict: struggle between opposing forces, may be external (ie. physical fighting) or internal (ie. guilt)
       Climax: point in story where the conflict reaches its peak and is then resolved
       Falling Action:
       Resolution:
       Denouement: final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work
End-Stopped: a line with a pause at the end.  Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.

Enjambment: the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause

Essay Terms:
       Commentary:
       Concrete Detail:
       Thesis:
       Topic Sentence:
Fiction:

Foil: a character whose personality is completely opposite that of the main character and allows the main character's positive and negative traits to stand out

Foreshadowing: clues about something that will happen later in story

Free Verse: unrhymed verse without a consistent metrical pattern

Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration used for empahsis (ie. I almost died of boredom)
Iamb:
Imagery: language that portrays sensory experiences (ie. the flowers were iridescent with rainbow hues)
Irony: three types: 1) dramatic irony: when audience is aware of something characters aren't of 2) situational irony: something unexpected happens; plot twist 3) verbal irony: when the description of something is opposite of truth (ie. Tiny Tim is a hulking giant)

Litotes: understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)

Metaphor: comparison of two unalike things without "like" or "as" (ie. Karen was a ray of sunshine)
Meter: rhythm as given by division into parts of equal time
Metonymy: a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related
Onomatopoeia: use of words whose sounds imitate the sounds they describe (ie. hiss, murmur, growl, honk)
Paradox: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Personification: describing nonhuman things with human qualities (ie. the moon smiled down at her)
Poetic Foot: a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it.
Protagonist: main or central character of work (ie. Peter Parker in Spider-Man)
Simile: when two unalike things are compared with "like" or "as" (ie. Randy's voice is like melted chocolate)
Style Analysis Terms: 
         Tone: author's attitude toward the subject matter or toward the audience
         Diction:
         Detail:
         Organization:
         Point of View: perspective from which story is told 1) first person: narrator is a character who describes from his or her own perspective using "I" 2) third-person limited: narrator is not a character but can describe thoughts and experiences of one character only 3) third-person omniscient: narrator is not a character but knows the thoughts of every character
Syntax: the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences

Symbol: something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible

Synechdoche: a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part
Theme: story's main message or moral (ie. "Slow and steady wins the race")
Thesis: proposition stated or put forward to be proved
Volta: rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought