AP Literature Key Terms and Concepts 1

A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance. Often a universal symbol or personified abstraction, such as Death portrayed as a black-cloaked "grim reaper" with a scythe and hourglass.

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Fable
• Allegory

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The sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables.

• Onomatopoeia
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Consonance

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A reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place.

• Allusion
• Allegory

• Chiasmus

• Attitude

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A metrical foot in poetry that consists of 2 unstressed syllables followed by one stressed; ''/''/''/''/. This meter can be found in "The Night before Christmas": "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house/ Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

• Anapest
• Lambic

• Anapestic

• Dactyl

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The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

• Anaphora
• Epiphora
• Alliteration
• Chiasmus

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A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature. For example, Chaucer's entire Canterbury Tales is a collection of this related by the pilgrims on their journey.

• Colloquial

• Caricature

• Narrative
• Anecdote

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Any force that is in opposition to the main character, or protagonist. For example, the environment is the opposition force to Jack London's "To Build a Fire."

• Allusion

• Antagonist

• Antithesis

• Asyndeton

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The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas. For example, Ella Wheeler Wilco's "Solitude" is a poem consisting entirely of opposites. The juxtaposition can be seen in the first two lines of each stanza:

1. 1. Laughs, and the world laughs with you

2. 2. Weep, and you will weep alone

• Ballad

• Apostrophe

• Antithesis

• Asyndeton

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An address or invocation to something that is inanimate--such as an angry lover who might scream at the ocean in his or her despair. Many are familiar with the title line of a famous Christmas that exemplifies this: "O little town of Bethlehem, how still we thee lie..."

• Archetype

• Apostrophe

• Blank Verse

• Caesura

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Recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images that are identifiable in a wide range of literature; for instance, the femme fatale, that female character who is found throughout literature as the one responsible for the downfall of a significant male character.

• Asyndeton

• Archetype

• Antithesis

• Anatagonist

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CCSS.RL.11-12.3

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