Literary Terms for English IV AP
The following are terms that are either new or will continue to be taught and developed throughout the
year. An assessment over these terms will be given on September 14.
1. ad hominem – an argument made that a. appeals to a person’s feelings or prejudices rather than
intellect or b. is marked by an attack on an opponent’s character rather than his contentions/arguments
2. anachronism – something out of its normal time ex. In Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare is guilty
of anachronism when he allows Hector learned reference to Aristotle.
3. anaphora – repetition when it is specifically used at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or
sentences ex. “I felt shame . . .” Dick Gregory’s “Shame”
4. antithesis – involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings, generally for the
purpose of contrast 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 . . .” –Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
5. aphorism – a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words ex. “Life is short, art
is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.” –Hippocrates, Aphorisms
6. asyndeton – a condensed form of expression in which a series is presented without conjunctions ex.
Caesar’s “Veni, vidi, vici.”
7. catharsis – a moral and spiritual cleansing; an emphatic identification with others (ex. Watching a
protagonist overcome great odds to survive can create catharsis; confession purges the soul.)
8. climax – when a writer arranges ideas in order of importance ex. I spent the day cleaning the house,
reading poetry, and putting my life in order.
9. deus ex machina – a person or thing that suddenly appears, providing a solution to a difficult
problem. The person or thing is lowered to the stage by means of a crane in classic drama.
10. ellipsis – the omission of one or more words that is/are understood ex. The land’s sharp features
seemed to be / The century’s corpse outleant, / His crypt the cloudy canopy, / The wind his deathlament. – Thomas Hardy, “The Darkling Thrush”
11. epitaph - an inscription used to mark burial places ex. One of the most famous inscriptions is that
marking Shakespeare’s burial place:
Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust encloased here;
Bleste be ye man y spares thes stones,
And curst be he y moves my bones, 12. epithet – a word or phrase used in place of a person’s name; it is characteristic of that person:
Alexander the Great, Material Girl, Ms. Know-It-All
13. homily – a form of oral religious instruction given by a minister to a church congregation (It usually
gives practical moral counsel rather than discussion of doctrine.)
Literary Terms for English IV AP
14. hubris – derived from the Greek word hybris, means “excessive pride.” In Greek tragedy, hubris is
often viewed as the flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero.
15. imperative –a command or order
16. interrogative – a question, query
17. inversion – a change in the normal word order ex. Instead of “ I have never seen such a mess,” one
might write “Never have I seen such a mess.”
18. juxtaposition – a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or
phrases are placed next to one another
19. litotes – (opposite of hyperbole) a great understatement ex. To say “She was not unmindful” when
one means that “She gave careful attention.” In Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” the heroic speaker resorts to
litotes several times: “little profits,” for profits not at all,” “not least” for “great,” “not to fail” for
“succeed splendidly,” and “not unbecoming” for “thoroughly appropriate.”
20. loose sentence – follows the basic subject, verb, complement pattern ex. A car hit him, just as he bent
over to tie his shoelace.
21. malapropism – a type of pun that results when two words become jumbled in the speaker’s mind ex.
In Sheridan’s comedy, The Rivals, the characters, Mrs. Malaprop, is constantly mixing up her words,
as when she says “as headstrong as an allegory [she means alligator] on the banks of the Nile.”
22. maxim – (similar to an aphorism) an adage, a concise statement, usually drawn from experience, and
inculcating some practical advise ex. Hoyle’s “When in doubt, win the trick” is a maxim in bridge.
23. metonymy – a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another
closely associated with it ex. We commonly speak of the monarch as “the crown.” Blood, sweat, and
tears” represent “hard work.”
24. monologue – a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem in which he/she has listeners who do
not speak
25. non sequiturs – an inference that does not follow from the premise ex. She is thin; therefore, she is
hungry.
26. paradox – a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but that expresses the truth ex. “For when I
am weak, then I am strong.” -2 Corinthians and “The coach considered this a good loss.”
27. parallelism – the repetition of grammatical structure
ex. The Heavens declare the glory of God; (S V DO)
And the firmament sheweth his handiwork. (S V DO)
Literary Terms for English IV AP
28. parenthesis – the insertion of words, phrases, or a sentence that is not syntactically related to the rest
of the sentence (Its is set off by dashes or parentheses.) ex. He said that it was going to rain – I could
hardly disagree – before the game was over.
29. periodic sentence – (opposite of a loose sentence) a sentence withholding its main idea until the end
ex. Just as he bent over to tie his shoelace, a car hit him (main idea).
30. polysyndeton – (opposite of asyndeton) the use of more conjunctions than is normal ex. Milton’s
Satan “pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.”
31. rhetorical shift – a change from one tone, attitude, etc . . . Look for key words like but, however,
even though, although, yet, etc.
32. sarcasm - A type of verbal irony in which, under the guise of praise, a caustic and bitter expression
of strong and personal disapproval is given. Sarcasm is personal, jeering, and intended to hurt
33. soliloquy – a speech delivered by a character when he or she is alone on stage
34. syllogism – a formula for presenting an argument logically . . . It affords a method of demonstrating
logic through analysis. It consists of 3 divisions: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
Ex. Maj. – All libraries should serve the people.
Min. – This is a public library.
Conc. – Therefore, this library should serve the people.
35. synecdoche – a form of metaphor in which a part of something is used to stand for the whole thing
ex. “threads” for “clothing” and “wheels” for “a car”
36. syntax – the physical arrangement of words in a sentence
37. tone – the writer’s attitude toward his/her audience and subject
38. understatement – (see litotes) saying less than is actually meant, generally in an ironic way ex.
When someone says “pretty fair” but means “splendid”
Poetic Terms Used in English IV AP
39. Ballad - A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, characterized by swift action and narrated in a
direct style. The Anonymous medieval ballad, "Barbara Allan," exemplifies the genre.
40. Blank verse - A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's sonnets,
Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and Robert Frost's meditative poems such as "Birches" include
many lines of blank verse. Here are the opening blank verse lines of "Birches": When I see birches
bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy's been
swinging them.
Literary Terms for English IV AP
41. Caesura - A strong pause within a line of verse. The following stanza from Hardy's "The Man He
Killed" contains caesuras in the middle two lines:
He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand-like--just as I-Was out of work-had sold his traps-No other reason why.
42. Closed form - A type of form or structure in poetry characterized by regularity and consistency in
such elements as rhyme, line length, and metrical pattern. Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy
Evening" provides one of many examples. A single stanza illustrates some of the features of closed
form:
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
43. Convention - A customary feature of a literary work, such as the use of a chorus in Greek tragedy,
the inclusion of an explicit moral in a fable, or the use of a particular rhyme scheme in a villanelle.
Literary conventions are defining features of particular literary genres, such as novel, short story,
ballad, sonnet, and play.
44. Couplet - A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.
Shakespeare's sonnets end in rhymed couplets, as in "For thy sweet love remembered such wealth
brings / That then I scorn to change my state with kings."
45. Elegy - A lyric poem that laments the dead. Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" is elegiac in
tone. A more explicitly identified elegy is W.H. Auden's "In Memory of William Butler Yeats" and
his "Funeral Blues."
46. Elision - The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry.
Alexander uses elision in "Sound and Sense": "Flies o'er th' unbending corn...." (Also known as
contraction)
47. Enjambment - A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one
line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an end-stopped line in which the grammatical and
logical sense is completed within the line. In the opening lines of Robert Browning's "My Last
Duchess," for example, the first line is end-stopped and the second enjambed:
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now....
48. Epic - A long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero. Epics typically chronicle the
origins of a civilization and embody its central values. Examples from western literature include
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost.
Literary Terms for English IV AP
49. Foot - A metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, an iamb or iambic
foot is represented by ˘', that is, an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. Frost's line
"Whose woods these are I think I know" contains four iambs, and is thus an iambic foot.
50. Free verse - Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being
bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and identifiable meter
and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad. Modern and contemporary poets of the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries often employ free verse. Williams' "This Is Just to Say" is one of
many examples.
51. Iamb - An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in to-DAY. See Foot.
52. Lyric poem - A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling.
Most of the poems in this book are lyrics. The anonymous "Western Wind" epitomizes the genre:
Western wind, when will thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!
53. Meter - The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems. See Foot and Iamb.
54. Narrative poem - A poem that tells a story. See Ballad.
55. Octave - An eight-line unit, which may constitute a stanza; or a section of a poem, as in the octave of
a sonnet.
56. Ode - A long, stately poem in stanzas of varied length, meter, and form. Usually a serious poem on
an exalted subject, such as Horace's "Eheu fugaces," but sometimes a more lighthearted work, such as
Neruda's "Ode to My Socks."
57. Open form - A type of structure or form in poetry characterized by freedom from regularity and
consistency in such elements as rhyme, line length, metrical pattern, and overall poetic structure. E.E.
Cummings's "[Buffalo Bill's]" is one example. See also Free verse.
58. Quatrain - A four-line stanza in a poem, the first four lines and the second four lines in a Petrarchan
sonnet. A Shakespearean sonnet contains three quatrains followed by a couplet.
59. Rhyme - The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. The following
stanza of "Richard Cory" employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first and the
fourth with the second:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown
Clean favored and imperially slim.
Literary Terms for English IV AP
60. Rhythm - The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. In the following lines from "Same in
Blues" by Langston Hughes, the accented words and syllables are underlined:
I said to my baby,
Baby take it slow....
Lulu said to Leonard
I want a diamond ring
61. Sestet - A six-line unit of verse constituting a stanza or section of a poem; the last six lines of an
Italian sonnet. Examples: Petrarch's "If it is not love, then what is it that I feel," and Frost's "Design."
62. Sonnet - A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean or English sonnet is
arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The Petrarchan or Italian
sonnet divides into two parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, rhyming abba abba cde cde or
abba abba cd cd cd.
63. Stanza - A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form--either with similar or
identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another. The stanzas of
Gertrude Schnackenberg's "Signs" are regular; those of Rita Dove's "Canary" are irregular.
64. Tercet - A three-line stanza, as the stanzas in Frost's "Acquainted With the Night" and Shelley's "Ode
to the West Wind." The three-line stanzas or sections that together constitute the sestet of a
Petrarchan or Italian sonnet.
The following are literary terms presumably known by students entering
English IV AP.
They will be used and applied on a regular basis.
allegory
alliteration
allusion
analogy
apostrophe
archetype
assonance
connotation
consonance
controlling image
denotation
description
details
dialect
dialogue
diction
direct characterization
dramatic irony
epiphany
euphemism
extended metaphor
first-person narrator
figurative language
flashback
foreshadowing
hyperbole
image
imagery
indirect characterization
irony
irony of situation
language
literal language
metaphor
mood
motif
motivation
narrator
omniscient narrator
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
personification
point of view
pun
repetition
sensory language
setting
simile
style
suspense
symbol
theme third person
narrator
verbal irony