AP LIT - VOCAB

Anaphora

Intentional repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines, stanzas, sentences, or paragraphs to create emphasis.

Apostrophe

Addressing the dead, the inanimate, or the absent as if they were living, capable of understanding, or present.

Chiasmus

Two successive phrases or clauses that are parallel in syntax but reverse the order of the analogous words.

Litotes

Affirming a point by negating its opposite, often used for witty or humorous effect.

Structural irony

An implication of alternate or reversed meaning that pervades a work, often created through an unreliable narrator or multiple perspectives.

Dramatic irony

When the audience possesses knowledge that one or more characters lack.

Oxymoron

Two apparently contradictory terms brought together to form a sharper perception.

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to non-human things and events.

Pun

A play on words with the same or nearly the same sound but sharply contrasted meanings, often used for witty or humorous effect.

Repetition

Intentional repetition of sounds, words, phrasing, or concepts to create unity and emphasis.

Simile

A direct comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.

Synecdoche

Using a part of something to represent the whole.

Tone

The manner, feeling, or atmosphere the poet intends to set in the poem.

Allusion

A passing reference in a work of literature to another literary or historical work, figure, or event.

Analogy

Comparing a subject to something similar in order to clarify its nature, purpose, or function.

Antithesis

Strongly contrasting terms, clauses, or ideas.

Atmosphere

The manner, feeling, or atmosphere the poet intends to set in the poem.

Conceit

An extended metaphor, often used by the Metaphysical poets of the 17th century.

Diction

The word choice and phrasing, described by the quality of the language.

Dramatic situation

Who is the speaker? To whom are they speaking? What are the circumstances? How does it contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Epiphany

A sudden, overwhelming insight or revelation evoked by a commonplace object or scene.

Hyperbole

Great exaggeration used to emphasize strong feelings or create a satiric, comic, or sentimental effect.

Imagery

Words used to evoke a sensory representation of an object, appealing to the five senses.

Metaphor

Implies a comparison between two fundamentally different things, ascribing the qualities of one to the other.

Metonymy

Substituting the name of one object for another closely associated with it.

Irony

Presenting a deliberate contrast between two levels of meaning, often through verbal irony or cosmic irony.

Pathetic fallacy

Personifying inanimate aspects of nature as having human qualities or feelings.

Paradox

A seemingly self-contradictory or absurd statement that is still true, emphasizing meaning or symbolism through apparent opposites.

Periphrasis

Stating a point in deliberate circumlocution, often used in euphemisms or complex references.

Rhetorical question

A question posed to emphasize a foregone or clearly implied conclusion, not to solicit a reply.

Symbol

Something concrete that represents something abstract.

Theme

The poet's dominant purpose behind writing the poem.

Understatement

Deliberately expressing a point as less significant or important than it actually is.

Cosmic Irony

refers to an implied worldview in which characters are led to embrace false hopes of aid or success, only to be defeated by some larger force such as God or fate.

Extended Metaphor

Metahor that continues through or paragraph or literary work.

Mixed Metaphor

An inconsistent comparison.