Ap Literature

A major unit of a drama, or play. No example.

A literary work in which all or most of the characters, settings, and events stand for ideas, qualities, or figures beyond themselves. Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in which Vanity Fair represents the world and the Celestial City symolizes heaven.

The repetition of consonant sounds, generally at the beginning of words. Note the repeated s and d sounds in the following line from Hopkin's Pied Beauty: With swift, slow; weet, sour; adazzle, dim;

A reference to a well known character, place, or situation from history, music, art, or another work of literature. W.H. Auden alludes to the Greek myth of Icarus in his poem "Musee des Beaux Arts."

The state of having more than one meaning. No example.

A comparison that shows similarities between two things that are otherwise dissimilar. Shakespeare pokes fun at analogies in "Sonnet 130," claiming, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun."

A metrical foot of three syllables in which two unstressed syllables are followed by a stressed one. In the following line from Siegfried Sassoon's"Does It Matter?" the feet are divided by slashes: You can drink/ and forget/ and be glad...

A brief account of an interesting happening. Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson contains an anecdote about the first time Boswell was introduced to Johnson by Thomas Davies.

A person or force that opposes the protagonist, or central character, in a story or drama. In Beowulf, Grendel is an antagonist.

The assignment of human characteristics to gods, animals, or inanimate objects. The sheep in Janet Frame's "Two Sheep" have human characteristics.

A short, pointed statement that expresses a wise or clever observation about human experience. Pope's saying from An Essay on Criticism: We think our father fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, we think us so.

A figure of speech in which a speaker addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or an absent person. In Percy Bysshe Shelly's Ode to the West Wind, the speaker addresses the wind.

A symbol, a character, an image, or a story pattern that recurs frequently in literature and evokes strong responses, often based on unconcious memory. Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight embarks on an archetypal journey.

A type of persuasive writing in which logic or reason is used to try to influence a reader's ideas or actions. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft presents a powerful argument for the education of women. Argument can also refer to a prose summary or synopsis of what is in a story or play. This type of argument appears at the beginning of Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

In a play, a character's comment that is directed to the audience or another character but is not heard by any other character on the stage. An example occurs in Act 1, scene 4, of Shakespeare's Macbeth. " King. My worthy Cawdor! Macbeth. [Aside.] The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap."