LITERARY TERMS

Drama (many of these terms are applicable to both drama and fiction)
antagonist
protagonist
aside
catharsis
dynamic character
flat character
static character
round character
stock character
climax
comedy
comic relief
conflict
crisis
denouement
deus ex machina
epilogue
exposition
falling action
farce
foil
hamartia
tragic hero
epic hero
hubris
monologue
prologue
rising action
scene
soliloquy tragedy
tragic flaw
villain

Elements of Style
atmosphere
colloquial
connotation
denotation
dialect
dialogue
diction
epigram
invective
inversion
irony dramatic, verbal, situational
mood
paradox
parallelism
proverb
pun
repetition
restatement
rhetorical question
sarcasm
satire
slang
tone
voice
Source: Crest, Catherine Bartlett. Teachers Guide AP English Literature and Composition. New York: Educational
Testing Service, 1999.
 LITERARY TERMS
Fiction
anecdote
anticlimax
flashback
incident
motivation
narrative voice
point of view first person, objective, omniscient, limited, third person, unlimited
stream-of-consciousness
subplot
theme

Figures of Speech
allusion
apostrophe
euphemism
hyperbole
litotes
metaphor
onomatopoeia
personification
simile
symbol
synecdoche
understatement

Form
allegory
anecdote
diary
discourse argumentation, description, exposition, narration
essay formal, humorous, informal
fable
genre
novel
novella
parable
prose
verse

Source: Crest, Catherine Bartlett. Teachers Guide AP English Literature and Composition. New York: Educational
Testing Service, 1999.
 LITERARY TERMS
Poetry
alliteration
assonance
blank verse
cacophony
cadence
caesura
conceit
connotation
consonance
controlling image
couplet
dirge
dissonance
dramatic monologue
elegy
end-stopped line
enjambment
epic
euphony
foot
free verse
iamb
image
imagery
in medias res
lyric
measure
meter
octave
ode
pentameter
persona
quatrain
refrain
repetition
rhyme end, external, feminine, internal, masculine
scansion
sestet
sonnet English, Italian
stanza
stress
trochee
volta

Syntax
antithesis
balanced sentence
coherence
complex sentence
compound complex
ellipsis
inverted sentence
loose sentence

Source: Crest, Catherine Bartlett. Teachers Guide AP English Literature and Composition. New York: Educational
Testing Service, 1999.