AP Glossary of Lit and Rhetorical Terms / 3
Synesthesia – a description involving a “crossing of the senses.” Examples: “A purplish scent
filled the room.” “I was deafened by his brightly-colored clothing.”
Personification: Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human. “The tired old truck
groaned as it inched up the hill.”
Foreshadowing – When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.
Genre - The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose,
poetry, and drama. However, genres can be subdivided as well (poetry can be classified into lyric, dramatic,
narrative, etc.). The AP Language exam deals primarily with the following genres: autobiography,
biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.
Gothic – Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death. Also refers to an architectural style
of the middle ages, often seen in cathedrals of this period.
Imagery - Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind. Usually this involves the five senses.
Authors often use imagery in conjunction with metaphors, similes, or figures of speech.
Invective – A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.
Irony - When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.
Verbal irony - When you say something and mean the opposite/something different. For example,
if your gym teacher wants you to run a mile in eight minutes or faster, but calls it a "walk in the
park" it would be verbal irony. If your voice tone is bitter, it's called sarcasm.
Dramatic irony - When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the
character doesn't and would be surprised to find out. For example, in many horror movies, we (the
audience) know who the killer is, which the victim-to-be has no idea who is doing the slaying.
Sometimes the character trusts the killer completely when (ironically) he/she shouldn't.
Situational irony - Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie. Sometimes it
makes you laugh because it's funny how things turn out. (For example, Johnny spent two hours
planning on sneaking into the movie theater and missed the movie. When he finally did manage to
sneak inside he found out that kids were admitted free that day).
Juxtaposition - Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison. Authors often use juxtaposition
of ideas or examples in order to make a point.(For example, an author my juxtapose the average day of a
typical American with that of someone in the third world in order to make a point of social commentary).
Mood - The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction). Syntax
is often a creator of mood since word order, sentence length and strength and complexity also affect pacing
and therefore mood. Setting, tone, and events can all affect the mood.
Motif – a recurring idea in a piece of literature. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the idea that “you never really
understand another person until you consider things from his or her point of view” is a motif, because the
idea is brought up several times over the course of the novel.
Oxymoron – When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox – “wise
fool,” “eloquent silence,” “jumbo shrimp.”
Pacing – The speed or tempo of an author’s writing. Writers can use a variety of devices (syntax,
polysyndeton, anaphora, meter) to change the pacing of their words. An author’s pacing can be fast,
sluggish, stabbing, vibrato, staccato, measured, etc.