Lone Peak AP Literature Terms Q-Z
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55 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Quatrain | Four-line stanza |
| Realism | American literary movement that emerges around the Civil War which attempts to depict life as most people live it, without idealization |
| Refrain | A line or lines repeated at intervals during a poem, usually at the end of each stanza |
| Regionalism | The representation in a body of literature, created by either a single author or a group of authors, or a particular locale. In Regional literature, the locale isn't merely a backdrop, it is almost a character in itself, influencing the characters and the action e. g. My Antonia and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| Renaissance | European historical period that followed the Middle Ages. It is said to have begun in Italy in the late 14th century and to have continued throught the 16th century, slowly spreading across Europe. In this period, numerous art forms reached an eminence yet to be matched, let alone exceeded. |
| Restoration | The period takes its name from the restoration of the Stuart line to the English throne after the Puritan interregnum. Lasts from 1660-1700 |
| Revenge Tragedy | A from of tragic drama in which someone rights a wrong |
| Rhetorical Question | A question with an obvious answer, so no response is expected; used for emphasis or to make a point |
| Rhyme Scheme | The arrangement of rhyme in a unit of verse |
| Rising Action | That part of a play, novel or story which precedes the climax |
| Romanticism | Literary and artistic movement that emerges in early 19th century as a reaction to and rejection of the order and logic of the Neoclassical period. Characterized by an interest in nature and the natural, organic and primitive way of life; an association of human moods with the moods of nature; an emphasis on natural religion; emphasis on the need for spontaneity in thought or action; a focus on the power and authenticity of the imagination; a tendency to exalt the individual. |
| Round Character | A character in a literary work about whom much is revealed/portrayed |
| Satire | The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society, individuals, and institutions, often in the hope that change and reform will occur |
| Sestet | A six-line stanza of poetry; also, the last lines of an Italian Sonnet |
| Sestina | A complex verse form created by the medieval troubadours, consisting of six stanzas of six lines apiece with a final envoi of three lines. The rhyme scheme requires that the same six end words appear at the end of each line of a stanza, but in a particular, fixed order. |
| Setting | The where and when of a story or play; the locale. In drama the term may refer to the scenery or props. |
| Simile | A form of comparison using "like" or "as" that says one thing is similar to another e. g. "my love is like a red, red rose" |
| Situational Irony | Form of irony in which a set of circumstances turns out to be the opposite of those expected; reverse of those anticipated and appropriate |
| Slang | Common to many languages, slang is the rough, often crude, language of the common man, of everyday speech. Typically ephemeral, some slang lasts for decades, even centuries |
| Slant rhyme | A rhyme based on imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds. Synonymous with "imperfect", "off" or "near" rhyme |
| Soliloquy | A speech, often of some length, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his inner thoughts and feelings |
| Stanza | A group of lines of verse forming one of the division of a poem. |
| Static Character | A character which does not change during the course of a work. |
| Stichomythia | Dialogue of alternating single lines, particularly in drama; usually involves a kind of verbal parrying, and creates a feeling of tension and conflict |
| Stock Character | A familiar figure that appears regularly in vertain literary forms e. g. the shrewish wife, the interfering mother-in-law, etc. |
| Stock situation | A frequently recurring pattern or incident in drama or fiction e. g. mistaken identity, lover's triangle etc. |
| Stream-of-Conciousness | A form or writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in apparently random order, thoughts are often unfinished. |
| Style | The way a writer uses language. Takes into account word choice, diction, figures of speech, and so on; the writer's "voice." |
| Sub-Plot | A subsidary action in a play or story which coincides with the main action. |
| Symbol | A concrete object, scene, or action which has deeper significance because it is associated with something else, often an important idea or theme in the work. |
| Synaesthesia | The intermingling of sensations i.e. "perfume soft as aboes, green as meadows" |
| Synecdoche | Greek for "taking together", synecdoche is a metaphor of substitution like metonymy; however, rather than substituting something associated with the subject, a part of the subject is substituted for the whole, or the whole for the part e. g. "all hands on deck" or "he drives a nice set of wheels" |
| Syntax | The way in which words, phrases, and sentences are ordered and connected. |
| Tercet | A stanza of three lines linked by rhyme |
| Terza Rima | The measure adopted by Dante for his Divina Commedia, consisting of a series of interlocking tercets in which the second line of each one rhymes with the first and third lines of the one succeeding, thus: aba, bcb, cdc |
| Theme | The cental idea of a literary work. |
| Third Person Point of View | In this form of narration, the narrator is someone outside the story who refers to all characters in the story by name or as "he" "she" or "they". There are generally considered to be two types of third person narration: omniscient- in which the narrator knows everything about the characters that needs to be known, including their innner thoughts, feelings, motives, etc.; limited- in which the narrator tells the story in third person, but has access to the thoughts, feelings, etc. of only one character. |
| Tone | Refers to the author's attitude toward the subject, and often sets the mood for the piece |
| Tongue-in-Cheek | Expressing a thought in a way that appears to be sincere, but is actually joking or ironic |
| Tragedy | Typically, a form of drama concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes, and, ultimately, the disasters, that befall human beings of title, power, and position. In tragedy, the characters' traits of excellence, nobility, and virtuousness are insufficient to save them from self-destruction or destruction brought upon them. |
| Tragic Flaw | Traditionally, a defect in a hero or heroine that leads to his or her downfall. |
| Tragicomedy | A play in which the action, though apparently leading to a catastrophe, is reversed to bring about a happy ending. |
| Transcendentalism | Literary, philosophical, and religious movement of the Antebellum period that purports the divinity of each individual conscience and that each human is animated by the same divinity; paid particular attention to the unspoiled natural world, believing that God is best revealed in man when man is in nature; likewise believed that truth can be discovered through intuition and trusting the inner voice |
| Transition/Segue | The means to get from one portion of a poem or story to another smoothly. e. g. to move from setting to setting, viewpoint to viewpoint, or to a different time period. |
| Trope | Synonym for "figure of speech" |
| Turn | The change in thought or feeling which separates the octave from the sestet in the Italian Sonnet; synonym for "Volta" |
| Unity | The quality in a work wherein there is a logical relationship of part to part and part to whole |
| Universality | The quality in a work that enables it to transcend time, place, location, culture etc. and thus have applicablity and relevance to people of all time and places |
| Utopia | Word coined by Sir Thomas More which literally means "no where", an ironic comment on the connotative meaning of the word, which is a place of earthly perfection, with no strife or discord. |
| Verbal Irony | Most commonly used form of irony, one in which there is a contradiction between what is stated and what is actually meant |
| Victorianism | British historical and artistic period spanning the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901); usually oversimplified in description as a period of prudery, materialism and complacency, but in actuality a time of stress, doubt and change in all areas of society. |
| Villain | An evil or wicked character who acts in opposition to the hero e. g. Claudius in Hamlet. |
| Villanelle | A fixed form of poetry originating @ the 16th century; comprised of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain. Each stanza follows a set pattern of repetition. |
| Volta | The moment in the italian sonnet that changes from the octave to the sestet, from the problem to the solution; synonym for "turn" |
| Zeugma | The use of a single word standing in the same grammatical relationship to the two other words, but with significant differences in meaning e.e. "Let' kill the boys and the luggage" or "stain her honor, or her new brocade" |
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