AP English Terms Summaries
Romanticism **** the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century
that stressed emotion, imagination, nature, and individualism
Gothicism **** a style of writing that is characterized by exoticism, mystery,
dread
Frame Story **** a story set within a story
Tone **** the authors emotion or attitude toward the topic
Mood **** how the reader feels in reaction to a text; the emotion evoked by
the author
Diction **** word choice; the specific words an author uses in their writing
Connotation **** the associations or moods attached to a word: words are
generally positive, negative, or neutral
Denotation **** dictionary definition of a word
Speaker **** the narrative voice behind the poem, NOT the poet
Stanza **** group of lines in poetry that form a basic unit of the poem
Simile **** comparison between two things using "like" or "as"
Metaphor **** comparison between two things that are essentially dissimilar
Extended Metaphor **** continues throughout a series of sentences in a
paragraph or lines in a poem
, Personification **** a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman
subject is given human characteristics
Hyperbole **** extreme exaggeration or overstatement
Allusion **** reference to another person, historical event, literary event,
another work of art, etc.
Narrative Poem **** a poem that tells a story
Literary Ballad **** a song-like poem that often tells a story; frequently deals
with adventure or romance
Rhyme **** the echo or imitation of a sound;
Rhyme Scheme **** regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Rhythm **** the sense of movement attributable to the pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables
Meter **** a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or the units of stress
patterns
Iamb **** one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable
Iambic: trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter **** 3, 4, 5
Symbol **** an object that signifies something greater than itself
Theme **** - the central message or purpose of a literary work
- main point author wants to make with reader
- often a basic truth
- an acknowledgment of our humanity or a reminder about human being's
shortcomings
- usually about life, society, or human nature
Romanticism **** the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century
that stressed emotion, imagination, nature, and individualism
Gothicism **** a style of writing that is characterized by exoticism, mystery,
dread
Frame Story **** a story set within a story
Tone **** the authors emotion or attitude toward the topic
Mood **** how the reader feels in reaction to a text; the emotion evoked by
the author
Diction **** word choice; the specific words an author uses in their writing
Connotation **** the associations or moods attached to a word: words are
generally positive, negative, or neutral
Denotation **** dictionary definition of a word
Speaker **** the narrative voice behind the poem, NOT the poet
Stanza **** group of lines in poetry that form a basic unit of the poem
Simile **** comparison between two things using "like" or "as"
Metaphor **** comparison between two things that are essentially dissimilar
Extended Metaphor **** continues throughout a series of sentences in a
paragraph or lines in a poem
, Personification **** a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman
subject is given human characteristics
Hyperbole **** extreme exaggeration or overstatement
Allusion **** reference to another person, historical event, literary event,
another work of art, etc.
Narrative Poem **** a poem that tells a story
Literary Ballad **** a song-like poem that often tells a story; frequently deals
with adventure or romance
Rhyme **** the echo or imitation of a sound;
Rhyme Scheme **** regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Rhythm **** the sense of movement attributable to the pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables
Meter **** a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or the units of stress
patterns
Iamb **** one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable
Iambic: trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter **** 3, 4, 5
Symbol **** an object that signifies something greater than itself
Theme **** - the central message or purpose of a literary work
- main point author wants to make with reader
- often a basic truth
- an acknowledgment of our humanity or a reminder about human being's
shortcomings
- usually about life, society, or human nature
