literary terms review ap literature 2012-2013. overview this is not a conclusive list of literary...

Literary Terms ReviewAP Literature 2012-2013

Overview

This is not a conclusive list of literary terms for AP Literature; students should be familiar with these terms at the beginning of the year. Please review the terms and ensure that you know each definition and could identify an example by Tuesday, September 11/Wednesday, September 12.

I. NarrativeA narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in a story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind.

Point of View

the perspective that a narrative

takes toward the events

it describes

Set I.i Point of View

First Person Narration

A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own

point of view and

refers to him/herself as “I.”

Set I.i Point of View

Third Person Narration

The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters

in the story using proper names and “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.”

Set I.i Point of View

Omniscient Narration

The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations

of all of the characters.

Set I.i Point of View Third Person Narration

Limited Omniscient Narration

The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters.

Set I.i Point of View Third Person Narration

Free Indirect Discourse

The narrator conveys

a character’s inner thoughts

while staying in third person.

Set I.i Point of View Third Person Narration

Objective Narrator

A style in which the narrator reports neutrally on the outward behavior

of the characters

but offers no interpretation

of their actions or their inner states.

Set I.i Point of View

Unreliable Narrator

The narrator is revealed over time to be an untrustworthy source

of information.

Set I.i Point of View

Stream-of-Consciousness Narration

The narrator conveys a subject’s thoughts, impressions, and

perceptions exactly as they occur, often in a disjointed fashion and

without the logic, and grammar of typical speech and writing.

Set I.i Point of View

Character

A person, animal, or any other thing with a personality that appears

in a story.

Set I.ii Character

Protagonist

The main character around whom the story revolves.

Set I.ii Character

Hero/Heroine

an admirable protagonist

Set I.ii Character Protagonist

Antagonist

The primary character or entity

that acts to frustrate the goals

of the protagonist.

Set I.ii Character

Stock Character

a common character type that recurs throughout the literature

Set I.ii Character

Dynamic Character

A character that undergoes some kind of change because of the

action in the plot.

Set I.ii Character

Flat Character

A character that embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that

can be readily described in a brief summary. These are not

psychologically complex characters and therefore are readily accessible

to readers.

Set I.ii Character

Round Character

Characters that are more complex than flat or stock characters, and often display the inconsistencies

and internal conflicts found in most real people. They are more fully

developed, and therefore are harder to summarize.

Set I.ii Character

Foil Character

A character who illuminates

the qualities of another character by means of contrast.

Set I.ii Character

Confidant/Confidante

A character who is not integral

to the action but who receives

the intimate thoughts

of the protagonist without the use of an omniscient narrator.

Set I.ii Character

Characterization

The process by which a writer reveals the personality of a

character, making that character seem real to the reader.

Set I.iii Characterization

Direct Characterization

The author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. For

example, the narrator may tell the reader directly what the character’s

personality is like: humble, ambitious, vain, gullible, etc.

Set I.iii Characterization

Indirect Characterization

The author presents a character’s talking and acting and lets the

reader infer what kind of person the character is.

Set I.iii Characterization

Setting

The location of a narrative

in time and space.

Set I.iv Setting

Plot

The arrangement of the events

in a story, including the sequence

in which they are told,

the relative emphasis they are given, and the casual connections

between events.

Set I.v Plot

Conflict

The central struggle

that moves the plot forward.

Set I.v Plot

Rising Action

The early part of the narrative, which builds momentum and develops

the narrative’s major conflict.

Set I.v Plot

Climax

The moment of highest tension,

at which the conflict comes

to a head.

Set I.v Plot

Falling Action

The latter part of the narrative,

during which the protagonist responds to the events of the climax

and the various plots elements introduced earlier in the plot.

Set I.v Plot

Resolution

An ending that satisfactory answers all the questions raised

over the course of the plot.

Set I.v Plot

Elements of Style

Figures of Speech

Expressions that stretch words beyond their literal meanings.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Alliteration

The repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words/

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Apostrophe

A direct address to an absent or dead person, or to an object,

quality or idea.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Assonance

The repetition

of similar vowel sounds

in a sequence of nearby words.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Cacophony

The clash of discordant sounds within a sentence or phrase.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Cliche

An expression such as

“turn over a new leaf”

that has been used so frequently

it has lost its expressive power.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Hyperbole

An excessive statement or conscious exaggeration of fact.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Metaphor

The comparison of one thing

to another that does not use

the terms “like” or “as.”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Mixed Metaphor

A combination of metaphors

that produces a confused

or contradictory image, such as “The company’s collapse left

mountains of debt in its wake.”

Set II.i Figures of Speech Metaphor

Metonymy

The substitution of one term

for another that generally

is associated with it.

For example, “suits” instead of “businessman”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Onomatopoeia

The use of words,

such as “pop,” “hiss,” and “boing,” that sounds like the thing

they refer to.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Oxymoron

The association

of two contrary terms,

such as in the expressions

“same difference” or “wise fools”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Paradox

A statement that seems absurd

or even contradictory on its face but often expresses a deeper truth.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Personification

The use of human characteristics to describe animals, things,

or ideas.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Rhetorical Question

A question that is asked

not to elicit a response

but to make an impact or

call attention to something.

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Simile

A comparison of two things through the use of “like” or “as.”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Synaesthesia

The use of one kind

of sensory experience

to describe another, such as the line “Heard melodies are sweet”

in John Keats’s “Ode to a Grecian Urn.”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Synecdoche

A form of metonymy

in which a part of an entity

is used to refer to the whole,

for example,

“my wheels” for “my car.”

Set II.i Figures of Speech

Literary Techniques

Whereas figures of speech work on the level of individual words or sentences,

writers also use a variety

of techniques to add clarity or intensity to a larger passage,

advance the plot in a particular way, or suggest connections

between elements in the plot.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques

Antithesis

Definition

Set II.ii Literary Techniques

Allusion

An implicit reference

within a literary work to a historical or literary person, place, or event.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques

Foreshadowing

An author’s deliberate use of hints or suggestions to give a preview of

events or themes that do not develop until later in the narrative.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques

Irony

A wide-ranging technique of detachment that draws awareness to the discrepancy between words

and the meanings, between expectation and fulfillment, or, most

generally, between what is and what seems to be.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques

Verbal Irony

The use of a statement that, by its context implies its opposite.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques Irony

Situational Irony

A technique in which one understanding of a situation stands in sharp contrast to another, usually

more prevalent, understanding of the same situation.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques Irony

Dramatic Irony

A technique in which the author lets the audience or reader in on a character’s situation while the

character himself remains in the dark.

Set II.ii Literary Techniques Irony

Thematic Meaning

Literature becomes universal when it draws connections between the particular and the general. Often, certain level’s of a literary work’s

meaning are not immediately evident.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Imagery

Language that brings to mind sense-impressions especially via

figures of speech.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Motif

A recurring structure of, contrast, or other device that develops or

informs a work’s major themes.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Symbol

An object, character, figure, or color that is used to represent an

abstract idea or concept.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Theme

A fundamental and universal idea explored in a literary work.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Thesis

The central argument that an author makes in a work.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning

Tone

The general atmosphere created in a story, or the narrator’s attitude

toward the story or reader.

Set II.iii Thematic Meaning