The Glossary of Literary Terms for the AP English Literature and
Composition Exam
Name______________
1. Abstract – An abstract style in writing is typically complex, discusses
intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to
support the points.
2. Academic – As an adjective describing style, this word means dry and
theoretical writing. When a piece of writing seems to be sucking all
the life out of its subject with analysis, the writing is academic.
3. Accent – In poetry, “accent” refers to the stressed portion of a word.
4. Aesthetic, Aesthetics – Aesthetic can be used as an adjective
meaning “appealing to the senses.” Aesthetic judgment is a phrase
synonymous with artistic judgment. As a noun, an aesthetic is a
coherent sense of taste. The kid whose room is painted black, who
sleeps in a coffin, and listens to only funeral music has an aesthetic.
The kid whose room is filled with pictures of kittens and daisies but
sleeps in a coffin and listens to polka music has a confused aesthetic.
The plural noun, aesthetics, is the study of beauty. Questions like
what is beauty? Or, Is the beautiful always good? Fall into the
category of aesthetics.
5. Ad Misericordiam – Logical fallacy that appeals to pity. Ex:
Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going
too fast because I was just on my way to the hospital to see my wife
who is in serious condition to tell her I just lost my job and the car
will be repossessed.
6. Ad Vericundiam – logical fallacy appealing to authority outside the
field of study. Ex: The United States policy toward mainland China
was surely mistaken because Shirley McLaine, the well known actress,
said, at the time, she had grave misgivings about it.
7. Allegory – An allegory is a story in which each aspect of the story
has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself. Many fables have an
allegorical quality. For example, Aesop’s “The Ant and the
Grasshopper” isn’t merely the story of a hardworking ant and a
carefree grasshopper, but it is also about different approaches
toliving – the thrifty and the devil-may-care. It can also be read as a
story about the seasons of summer and winter, which represent a
time of prosperity and a time of hardship, or even as representing
youth and age.
8. Alliteration – The repetition of initial consonant sounds is called
alliteration. In other words, consonant clusters coming closely
cramped and compressed – no coincidence.
9. Allusion – A reference to another work or famous figure. Allusions
can be topical or popular. Topical allusions refer to current events.
Popular allusions refer to something from popular culture, such as a
TV show or hit movie.
10. Anachronism – The word is derived from Greek and means “misplaced
in time”. If the actor playing Brutus in a production of Julius Caesar
forgets to take off his wristwatch, the effect will be anachronistic.
11. Analogy – An analogy is a comparison. Usually analogies involve two or
more symbolic parts and are employed to clarify an action or
relationship. Just as the mother eagle shelters her young from the
storm by spreading her great wing above their heads, so does Acme
Insurers of America spread an umbrella of coverage to protect its
policyholders from the storms of life.
12. Anecdote – A short narrative, usually about a personal experience.
13. Antecedent – The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a
pronoun refers to. In The principal asked the children where they
were going; they is the pronoun and children is the antecedent.
14. Anthropomorphism – In literature, when inanimate objects, animals,
or natural phenomena are given human characteristics, behavior, or
motivation. It is often confused with personification, but
personification requires that the nonhuman quality or thing take on
human shape. Ex: In the forest, the darkness waited for me, I could
hear its patient breathing.
15. Anticlimax—Occurs when an action produces far smaller results than
one had been led to expect. Anticlimax is frequently comic. Ex: Sir,
your smile, manner, and despicable arrogance have long been a source
of disgust to me, but I have overlooked it until now. However, it has
come to my attention that you have fallen so disgracefully deep into
that mire of filth which is your mind as to attempt to besmirch my
wife’s honor and good name. Sir, I challenge you to a game of
badminton!
16. Antihero – A protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak,
cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities.
17. Aphorism – A short and usually witty saying. Ex: Mark Twain once said,
“ ‘Classic?” A book which people praise and don’t read.”
18. Apostrophe – A figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly
to something that is nonhuman.
19. Archaism – The use of deliberately old-fashioned language. Authors
sometimes use archaisms to create a feeling of antiquity. Tourist
traps use archaisms with a vengeance, as in, Ye Olde Candle Shoppe.
20. Archetype – a theme, motif, symbol, or stock character that holds a
familiar and fixed place in a culture’s consciousness.
21. Aside – A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to
the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action
on stage.
22. Aspect – A trait or characteristic.
23. Assonance – The repeated use of vowels as in “Old King Cole was a
merry old soul.”
24. Attitude – The author’s mood, feelings, or thoughts toward his/her
subject.
25. Atmosphere – The emotional tone or background that surrounds a
scene.
26. Ballad – A long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and
rhyme. Typically has a naïve folksy quality distinguishing it from epic
poetry.
27. Bathos, Pathos – When the writing of a scene evokes feelings of
dignified pity and sympathy, pathos is at work. When writing strains
for grandeur it can’t support and tries to jerk tears from every little
hiccup, that’s bathos.
28. Begging the Question – Begging the Question is a fallacy in which the
premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly)
assume that the conclusion is true. This sort of "circular reasoning" typically has
the following form. Premises in which the truth of the conclusion is claimed or
the truth of the conclusion is assumed (either directly or indirectly). Claim C (the
conclusion) is true. This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because simply
assuming that the conclusion is true (directly or indirectly) in the premises does
not constitute evidence for that conclusion. Obviously, simply assuming a claim
is true does not serve as evidence for that claim. This is especially clear in
particularly blatant cases: "X is true. The evidence for this claim is that X is
true." Ex:Bill wants Jill to believe in God because it is in the Bible, which he
claims was written by God. Also known as Catch-22.
29. Black humor – This is the use of disturbing themes in comedy. Ex:
In Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the two hobos, Didi and Gogo,
comically debate over which should commit suicide first, and whether
the branches of the tree will support their weight.
30. Bombast – This is pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.
When one tries to be eloquent by using the largest, most uncommon
words, one falls into bombast.
31. Burlesque – A broad parody, one that takes a style or form, such as
tragic drama, and exaggerates it into ridiculousness. A parody
usually takes on a specific work. For the purposes of the AP exam,
you can think of parody and burlesque as interchangeable.
32. Cacophony – In poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds.
33. Cadence—The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense.
34. Caricature – A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a
facet of a personality.
35. Carpe Diem—a theme that emphasizes that life is short, time is
fleeting, and that one should make the most of pleasant pleasures.
36. Catharsis – This is a term drawn from Aristotle’s writings on tragedy.
It refers to the “cleansing” of emotion an audience member
experiences having lived vicariously through the experiences
presented on stage.
37. Chiasmus—Two phrases in which the syntax is the same but the
order of words is reversed.
38. Chorus – In drama, a group of citizens who stand outside the action
on stage and comment on it.
39. Classic—What a troublesome word! Don’t confuse classic with
classical. Classic can mean typical, as in Oh, that was a classic
blunder! It can also mean an accepted masterpiece, for example,
Death of a Salesman. But classical refers to the arts of ancient
Greece and Rome and the qualities of those arts.
40. Clause – A grammatical unit containing both a subject and a verb. Can
be independent or dependent.
41. Coinage (neologism) –A new word, usually one invented on the spot.
People’s names often become grist for coinages, as in, “Oh, man, you
just pulled a major Wilson.´ The technical term is neologism.
42. Colloquialism—This is a word or phrase used in everyday
conversational English that isn’t part of accepted “schoolbook”
English. For example, I’m toasted. And now I’ve got this wicked
headache.
43. Conceit, Controlling image—In poetry, a startling or unusual
metaphor developed and expanded upon over several lines. When the
image dominates and shapes the entire work, it is called a controlling
image.
44. Connotation, Denotation—The denotation of a word is its literal
meaning. The connotations are everything else the word suggests or
implies. For example, in the phrase the dark forest; dark denotes a
relative lack of light. The connotation is of danger, or perhaps
mystery or quiet; we’d need to know more information to be sure, and
if we did know with complete certainty that wouldn’t be connotation,
but denotation. In many cases connotation eventually so overwhelms
a word that it takes over the denotation. For example, livid is
supposed to denote a dark purple-red color like that of a bruise, but
it has been used so often in the context of extreme anger that many
people have come to use livid as a synonym for rage, rather than
connotative description of it.
45. Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds within words . Ex: A
flock of sick, black-checkered ducks.
46. Couplet – A pair of lines that end in rhyme. Ex: But at my back I
always hear/ Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.
47. Decorum – In order to observe this, a character’s speech must be
styled according to her social station, and in accordance with the
occasion. A bum should speak like a bum about bumly things, while a
princess should speak only about higher topics and in a delicate
manner. In Neoclassical and Victorian literature the authors
observed decorum, meaning they did not write about the indecorous.
The bum wouldn’t even appear in this genre of literature.
48. Deductive reasoning – Reasoning that results from general evidence
to a particular truth or conclusion.
49. Dialect – Writing that is constructed to convey the speech patterns
of a particular region.
50. Diction, syntax – The author’s choice of words. Whether to use
wept or cried is a question of diction. Syntax refers to the ordering
and structuring of words. Whether to say, “The pizza was mothered
in cheese and pepperoni. I devoured it greedily, or Greedily, I
devoured the cheese and pepperoni smothered pizza, is a question of
syntax.
51. Didactic—Any work of literature which sets out to instruct.
52. Dirge—A song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, and
melancholy.
53. Division – Logical fallacy of applying group characteristics to an
individual. Ex: Bill lives in a large apartment building so his apartment
must be large.
54. Doggerel – Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme.
Limericks are an example.
55. Dramatic irony – When the audience knows something that the
characters in a drama do not.
56. Dramatic monologue – When a single speaker in literature says
something to a silent audience.
57. Dystopia – Vision of a society that is in a state in which the
conditions of life are extremely bad, characterized by human misery,
poverty, oppression, violence, disease, and/or pollution.
58. Either/Or – Logical fallacy also known as “black or white”. Occurs
where both choices are false. Ex: If 1+1 doesn’t equal 3, it must
equal 4.
59. Elegy – A type of poem that meditates on death or morality in a
serious, thoughtful manner. Elegies often use the recent death of a
noted person or loved one as a starting point. They also memorialize
specific dead people.
60. Elements – This word is used constantly and with the assumption that
you know exactly what it means – that is, the basic techniques of
each genre of literature. For a quick refresher, here’s a short and
sweet list for each genre:
a. Short Story – characters, irony, theme, symbol, plot, setting
b. Poetry – figurative language, symbol, imagery, rhythm, rhyme
c. Drama – conflict, characters, climax, conclusions, expositions,
rising action, falling action, sets, props
d. Nonfiction(rhetorical) – argument, evidence, reason, appeals,
fallacies, thesis
61. Ellipsis – Indicates an intentional omission of a word or phrase using
periods or dashes.
62. Enjambment – The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or
couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.
63. Epic – In a broad sense, an epic is simply a very long narrative poem
on a serious theme in a dignified style. Epics typically deal with
glorious or profound subject matter; a great war, a heroic journey,
the fall of man from Eden, a battle with supernatural forces, a trip
into the underworld, etc. The mock-epic is a parody form that deals
with mundane events and ironically treats them as worthy of epic
poetry.
64. Epitaph – Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place. An
epitaph is usually a line or handful of lines, often serious or religious,
but sometimes witty and even irreverent.
65. Euphemism – A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh,
unpleasant, or impolite reality. The use of passed away for died and
let go for fired are two examples.
66. Euphony – When sounds blend harmoniously.
67. Explicit – To say or write something directly and clearly (this is a
rare happening in literature because the whole game is to be
“implicit”, that is, to suggest or imply).
68. Extended metaphor – See “Conceit”.
69. Farce – Today we use this word to refer to extremely broad humor.
Writers of earlier times used it as a more neutral term, meaning
simply a funny play; a comedy. (And you should know for writers of
centuries past, comedy was the generic term for any play; it did not
imply humor).
70. Faulty dilemma – See “Either/Or”
71. Feminine rhyme—Lines rhymed by their final two syllables. Ex:
running and gunning.
72. Figurative language – Language employing figures of speech and
cannot be taken literally or only literally.
73. Foil – A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the
characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast. For example,
an author will often give a cynical, quick-witted character a docile,
naïve, sweet-tempered friend to serve as a foil
74. Foreshadowing – An event or statement in a narrative that in
miniature suggests a larger event that comes later.
75. Free verse – Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or
metrical pattern.
76. Genre – A subcategory of literature. Science fiction and detective
stories are genres of fiction.
77. Gothic, Gothic novel – Gothis is the sensibility derived from gothic
novels. This form first showed up in the middle of the 18th century
and had a heyday of popularity for about 60 years. It hasn’t really
ever gone away. Think mysterious gloomy castles perched high upon
sheer cliffs. Paintings with sinister eyeballs that follow you around
the room. Weird screams from the attic each night. Diaries with a
final entry that trails off the page and reads something like, “No, NO!
IT COULDN’T BE!”
78. Hubris – The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main
character’s downfall.
79. Hyperbole – Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement.
80. Idiom --