AP LIT TERMS #1 – Quiz Friday, August 26
It is imperative that you know and understand the following terminology. It is not enough to
know the word and the definition. You must be able to identify and explain the function of the
following terms within all pieces of literature this year.
PART I: LITERARY ELEMENTS
1. Archetype – a character, action, or situation that is a prototype or pattern of human life generally; a
situation that occurs over and over again in literature, such as a quest, an initiation, or an attempt to
overcome evil
 Many myths are archetypes.
 Two common types of archetypes are setting and character.
2. Characters – people or animals who take part in the action of a literary work. Readers learn about
them from:
 what they say (dialogue),
 what they do (actions),
 what they think (interior monologue),
 what others say about them, and
 through the author’s direct statement.
a. protagonist – the character with whom readers identify
b. antagonist – the adversary of the protagonist
c. flat character – a character with a single, emphasized trait
d. round character – a complex, three-dimensional character
e. static character – a character that changes very little over the course of a narrative
f. dynamic character – a character that changes in response the actions through which he passes.
3. Conflict – the tension between opposing forces in a work of literature
 a person in opposition to another person
 a person opposing fate
 an internal battle involving contradictory forces within a character
 a person fighting against the forces of nature
 a person in opposition to some aspect of his or her society
4. Details – facts revealed by the author or speaker that support the attitude or tone in a piece of poetry
or prose
5. Diction – word choice intended to convey a certain effect
 Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you
look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is
"any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles, having a long, tapering,
cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions."
 Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or
the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist
together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or
danger.
6. Flashback – a scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event
7. Foreshadowing – the use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future action
8. Imagery – consists of the words or phrases a writer uses to represent persons, objects, actions,
feelings, and ideas descriptively by appealing to the senses
9. Mood – the atmosphere or predominant emotion in a literary work
10. Plot – the sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play or narrative poem.
a. Freytag’s Pyramid – diagram that describes the typical pattern of a dramatic or fictional work
 exposition – the author lays the groundwork for the reader by revealing the setting, the
relationship between characters, and the situation as it exists before the conflict begins
 inciting incident – interrupts the harmony and balance of the situation and one or more
characters come into conflict
 rising action – events that happen in the work which build towards the climax
 climax – an irreversible, pivotal point within the work
 falling action – the events which inevitably lead toward a revelation
 denouement – the unraveling of the problem set up by the inciting incident
11. Point of View – the perspective from which a narrative is told
12. Rhetorical Shift – a change or movement in a piece resulting from an epiphany, realization, or
insight gained by the speaker, a character, or the reader
13. Setting – the time and place in which events in a story, novel, play, or narrative poem take place
 It is NOT enough to know where the story takes place. A reader must understand the
FUNCTION of that particular setting within the story.
14. Structure – the framework or organization of a literary selection
 the structure of fiction is usually determined by plot and by chapter division
 the structure of drama depends upon its division into acts and scenes
 the structure of an essay depends upon the organization of ideas
 the structure of poetry is determined by its rhyme scheme and stanzaic form
15. Style – the writer’s characteristic manner of employing language
16. Suspense – the quality of a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that makes the reader or
audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events
17. Syntax – the arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence
18. Theme – the central message of a literary work
 Theme is NOT the same as a subject. A subject can be conveyed in a word or two; whereas, a
theme is usually expressed in a statement or sentence.
 A literary work can contain more than one theme.
 The reader must think about all the elements of the work and use them to make inferences, or
reasonable guesses, as to which themes seem to be implied.
19. Tone – the writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience, and it is conveyed
through the author’s choice of words and detail
 Tone can be serious, humorous, sarcastic, indignant, objective, etc.
PART II: LITERARY TECHNIQUES:
1. Allusion – a reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing
 Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre:
I lingered in the long passage to which this led, separating the front and back rooms of the
third story: narrow, low, and dim, with only one little window at the far end, and looking,
with its two rows of small black doors all shut, like a corridor in some Bluebeard’s castle.
(XI, 93)
The echoes of “Bluebeard” become obvious as the story of Rochester’s mad wife locked in the
attic unfolds.
2. Hyperbole – a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration used for either serious or
comic effect
 She is the most beautiful girl in the world. I will die if she does not accept my invitation to the dance.
3. Irony – occurs in three types
a. Verbal irony – occurs when a speaker or narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite
Ex: Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”:
The narrator, plotting the death of Fortunato, offers a toast to him: “And I to your long life.”
b. Situational irony – occurs when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally
expect – though often the twist is oddly appropriate
Ex: A deep sea diver drowning in a bathtub is ironic.
c. Dramatic irony – occurs when a character or speaker says or does something that has
different meaning from what he thinks it means, though the audience and other characters
understand the full implications of the speech or action
Ex. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
Juliet’s mother bids Juliet goodnight, not realizing that Juliet is preparing to kill herself:
“Good night. / Get thee to bed, and rest: for thou hast need.”
4. Motif – a term that describes a pattern or strand of imagery or symbolism in a work of literature
 In Romeo and Juliet, the story is filled with images of light, especially sun imagery. Juliet is often
referred to as the sun, eclipsing the moon.
5. Sarcasm – the use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually
insulting it.
6. Satire – refers to the use of humorous devices like irony, understatement, and exaggeration to
highlight a human folly or a societal problem
 The purpose of satire is to bring the flaw to the attention of the reader in order that it may be
addressed, remedied, or eradicated.
 In “Siren Song,” Margaret Atwood satirizes both the siren and the men who listen to her song.
The siren is miserable “squatting on the island…with these two feathery maniacs.” Yet she
reveals that this “boring song…works every time” in luring the hapless humans.
7. Symbolism – the use of any object, person, place, or action that both has a meaning in itself and that
stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, attitude, belief, or value.
a. universal symbol – a symbol that is common to all mankind
b. contextual symbol – symbol used in a particular way by an individual author
8. Understatement – (meiosis, litotes) the opposite of hyperbole
 It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is.
 “I could probably manage to survive on a salary of two million dollars per year.”