Literary Devices and Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide, Exams of English Language

Download Literary Devices and Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide and more Exams English Language in PDF only on Docsity! AP Lit Literary Terms 2024 Exam Preparations 1. Accent - Answer>> A way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker. 2. Allegory - Answer>> a narrative that serves as an extended metaphor.Main purpose is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have literal and figurative meanings, an extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface of the story; the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric. Examples: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Temptations of Christians) , Orwell's Animal Farm (Russian Revolution), and Arthur Miller's Crucible ("Red Scare") 3. alliteration - Answer>> the repetition of the same consonant, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound 4. allusion - Answer>> a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. 5. ambiguity - Answer>> a technique by which a writer deliberately suggests two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. 6. ambivalence - Answer>> the simultaneous existence of conflicting feelings or thoughts, such as love and hate, about a person, an object, or an idea; uncertainty or indecisiveness as to what course to follow; fluctuation 7. anachronism - Answer>> something out of its proper historical time; error of putting something in the wrong historical time 18. archetype - Answer>> An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype 19. aside - Answer>> a short speech, delivered to the audience or to another character, that others onstage are not supposed to hear. 20. assonance - Answer>> Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity 21. asyndeton - Answer>> When the conjunctions (such as "and" or "but") that would normally connect a string of words, phrases, or clauses are omitted from a sentence 22. atmosphere - Answer>> The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene 23. ballad - Answer>> Any popular narrative poem, often with epic subject and usually in lyric form. 24. baroque - Answer>> extravagantly ornate; flamboyant in style 25. bathos - Answer>> n. excessive or trivial sentimentality; and abrupt transition in style from the elevated to the commonplace, producing a laughable effect 26. blank verse - Answer>> unrhymed poetry that has a regular rhythm and line length, especially iambic pentameter 27. cacophony - Answer>> harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony. 28. caesura - Answer>> a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, usually indicated by the sense of the line, and often greater than the normal pause. 29. catharsis - Answer>> an emotional release which brings about renewal of the self or welcome relief from anxiety, tension, etc. 30. characterization - Answer>> the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character 31. chiasmus - Answer>> A figure of speech that reverses the order of words in phrases that would otherwise be structured the same. (e.g. Heaven is too great of humanity; humanity is too great for heaven) 32. cinquain - Answer>> a short poem consisting of five, usually unrhymed lines containing, respectively, two, four, six, eight, and two syllables. 33. climax - Answer>> Most exciting moment of the story; turning point 34. colloquial - Answer>> conversational; informal in language necessary but can be deduced for the context ("Some people prefer cats; others, dogs.") 49. enjambment - Answer>> describes a line of poetry in which the sense and grammatical construction continues on to the next line 50. ennui - Answer>> a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom 51. epic - Answer>> a long narrative poem written in elevated style which present the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation 52. epigraph - Answer>> The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme. 53. epiphany - Answer>> a moment of sudden revelation or insight 54. euphemism - Answer>> a mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term 55. euphony - Answer>> a succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony 56. exposition - Answer>> the immediate revelation to the audience of the setting and other background information necessary for understanding the plot; also, explanation; one of the four modes of discourse 57. extended metaphor - Answer>> A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. 58. farce - Answer>> ridiculous, light comedy; slapstick comedy; absurd thing; mockery 59. flashback - Answer>> the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative 60. flat character - Answer>> a character who is not very well developed; has few identifiable characteristics 61. foil - Answer>> a character whose personality and attitude contrast sharply with those of another 62. foot - Answer>> two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem 63. foreshadowing - Answer>> the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot 64. free verse - Answer>> Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme 77. literal - Answer>> based upon the actual meaning, as it meets the eye 78. lyric verse - Answer>> a shorter poem expressing an emotional state in a single, unified impression 79. malapropism - Answer>> the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar 80. metaphysical - Answer>> a term describing poetry that uses elaborate conceits, expresses the complexities of love and life, and is highly intellectual 81. metaphor - Answer>> a comparison without using like or as 82. meter - Answer>> a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry 83. metonymy - Answer>> A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it 84. monologue - Answer>> a speech given by one character 85. mood - Answer>> the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage 86. moral - Answer>> a lesson taught by a literary work 87. motif - Answer>> a principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design 88. octave - Answer>> An eight-line stanza. Most commonly, octave refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet. 89. ode - Answer>> a long, lyrical poem, usually serious or meditative in nature 90. onomatopoeia - Answer>> the formation of a word, as cuckoo or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent. 91. oxymoron - Answer>> a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly." 92. paradox - Answer>> a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. 93. parallelism - Answer>> the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structure 94. parody - Answer>> a humorous imitation of a serious work 95. pathos - Answer>> quality in drama, speech, literature, music, or events that arouses a feeling of pity or sadness complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work 111. sarcasm - Answer>> sneering and often ironic language intended to hurt a person's feelings 112. satire - Answer>> language or writing that exposes follies or abuses by holding them up to ridicule 113. sestet - Answer>> a six-line stanza. Most commonly, sestet refers to the second division of an Italian sonnet. 114. setting - Answer>> The time and place of a story 115. simile - Answer>> comparison using like or as 116. situational irony - Answer>> a type of irony in which events turn out the opposite of what was expected. 117. soliloquy - Answer>> a speech given by a character alone on stage 118. sonnet - Answer>> a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter 119. stereotype - Answer>> a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people 120. stream of consciousness - Answer>> A literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur. 121. style - Answer>> the arrangement of words in a way that best expresses the author's individuality, idea, intent 122. syllogism - Answer>> a three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise ("All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.") 123. symbol - Answer>> something that stands for something else 124. syntax - Answer>> sentence structure 125. theme - Answer>> the main idea of the story 126. thesis - Answer>> the primary position taken by a writer or speaker 127. third person limited - Answer>> told using third person language, but author may know only what the main character is thinking or feeling 128. third person omniscient - Answer>> the narrator knows everything about the characters and various situations 129. tone - Answer>> The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous).