AP English Literature and Composition

Essential Terms

The terms below are ones that we will use throughout the year in our discussion of literature. Please write a brief definition in language that makes sense to you. Keep in mind, this list is NOT meant to be exhaustive. It’s a big literary world out there. These are, however, some of the most common, basic terms. Quizzes on the first 25 and so on will be at midterm and the end, respectively.

Term / Definition
1 / allegory
2 / alliteration
3 / allusion
4 / ambiguity
5 / antagonist
6 / apostrophe
7 / archetype
8 / assonance
9 / ballad
10 / blank verse
11 / cacophony
12 / caesura
13 / caricature
14 / characterization
15 / comic relief
16 / conceit
17 / connotation
18 / consonance
19 / convention
20 / couplet
21 / denotation
22 / dues ex machina
23 / diction
24 / dissonance
25 / dramatic situation
26 / elegy
27 / end rhyme
28 / enjambment
29 / epic poem
30 / epiphany
31 / euphony
32 / figurative language
33 / foil
34 / free verse
35 / hubris
36 / hyperbole
37 / imagery
38 / in medias res
39 / internal rhyme
40 / irony
41 / litotes
42 / lyric poem
43 / metaphor
44 / meter
45 / metonymy
46 / mood
47 / motif
48 / onomatopoeia
49 / oxymoron
50 / paradox
51 / parallelism
52 / parody
53 / persona
54 / personification
55 / point of view
56 / protagonist
57 / pun
58 / rhythm
59 / sarcasm
60 / simile
61 / sonnet
62 / stanza
63 / symbol
64 / synecdoche
65 / syntax
66 / theme
67 / tone