Can you name the 120 AP Literary Terms?

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Definition/ExampleLiterary Term
The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words
Two ideas presented closely together for contrast
Non-literal language
The atmosphere or feeling a literary work gives the reader
A word or group of words used to characterize a person.
The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences
Hints of what is to come
A radical change in a character
The quality of a literary work which appeals to emotion
A recording of the thoughts and emotional experience of a character on one or more levels of consciousness
Ex: My only love sprung from my only hate
Two succesive rhyming lines
Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter
The running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza to the next in poetry
Ex: much of the spoken language in Huckleberry Finn
A protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of courage, strength and nobility
A short narrative poem written in songlike stanza form
An error in diction caused by the substitution of one word for another similar in sound but different in meaning
The time and place in which the action of the plot occurs
A short speech made by an actor onstage to the audience
The ability of a work to appeal to a wide segment of the reading public
A reference to something in previous literature or history
Traditionally a fourteen line love poem
Anything that appeals to the senses
An all-knowing narrator
A literary form in which some or all of the characters are embodiments of abstract ideas. A story which carries a second meaning
Narrow in point of view or approach
The main character or force which creates conflict
The organizational pattern of a work
A word's most literal and limited meaning
Ex: All nerds wear glasses
Attribution of human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object
The struggle in the plot
The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society
A character who contrasts with the main character
Ex: Owen goes over the ocean
A rhetorical device consisting of a switch in the normal word order
The central idea of a literary work
One who changes as the result of actions in the plot
Ex: boom, crash, bang, jitterbug
Definition/ExampleLiterary Term
Ex: I'm so hungry that I could eat a horse
Compares an unfamiliar object or place by comparing it to the familiar
The opposite of parallel construction
Ex: FOR ti fy
A statement of the opposite of what is meant. bitter or cutting speech
Word Choice
A complex or far-fetched comparison
A three beat rhythm with two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
A sentence that delivers its point at the end
A smooth, pleasant arrangement of sounds
The writer's or speaker's attitude
A story where the conflict overcomes the main character
A character centering about a single quality, one that does not grow or change during the action of the plot
A metaphor developed at length
An element within a story that is out of its time frame
A satirical imitation of a poem or other writing
The way a writer uses language
Any literary work with a happy ending
An interruption by the introduction of an earlier event or past experience
A usually formal poem expressing sorrow or lamentation for the dead
Poetry with no fixed metrical pattern or representation
Extravagant language
Short story illustraing a moral or religious lesson
Humorous use of a word involving two interpretations of meaning
A comparison using like, as, or so
'God from the machine'
Elevating someone to the level of God
The expression of the opposite of what is intended
Language describing ideas and qualities rather than specific things. people, or places
A reasonable conclusion drawn by the reader
Ex: 'she passed away' as opposed to 'she died'
Ex: To sit in solemn silence'
An emotional cleansing through expression of emotion
The arrangement of details in such an order that the unimportant suddenly appears at the point where the critical detail should be
The opposite of hyperbole
The use of a proper noun as a common name
A pause in a line of poetry
What a word suggests beyond its basic definition
Any writing that isn't poetry or drama
The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events
Definition/ExampleLiterary Term
A short pithy statement of a principle or precept
Seize the day
The true, actual events...not figurative
The art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse
Something that has a deeper meaning
A simple one-dimensional character
A story that explains the origins of God's heroes or natural phenomenon
A label given to a literary work whose main purpose is to give guidance in moral, ethical, or religious matters
The ryhtmical pattern of a poem
A form of satire that elevates low characters and low situations by using elevated language in literary traditions of the epic
A brief quotation at the beginning of a literary work
The stage setting of a play
A sudden flash of insight
10 syllable line made up of 5 feet with each foot containing an unaccented followed by an accented syllable
A character, situation or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion or folklore
A poem, play, or story that celebrates and idealizes a simple life
A figure of speech that replaces the name of something with a word or phrase closely associated with it
The events following the resolution of the final conflict of the plot
Insolence, arrogance, or pride...leads to the protagonist's downfall
A witty, pointed, terse saying
A humorous play depending on an exaggerated, improbable situation
A short, emotionally expressive poem
A literary type classified by form and technique
Ex: bittersweet living, living death, jumbo shrimp
A stereotypical character
Latin for 'in the middle of things'
A dramatic monologue
A four line stanza
A two syllable beat with a stressed and then an unstressed syllable
Ex: any soap opera
Ex: Arrayed and Said or Fine and Rhyme
A harsh combination of sounds
Quality of being intentionally unclear
A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two unlike things
Repetition of a line, stanza, or phrase
The perspective from which a story is told
The repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence
Figure of speech where the subject is not alive
Ex: All hands on deck
The main character
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120 AP Literary Terms Quiz

  1. by kmiz22
  • Created Jan 7, 2010 in Language
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