AP Lit Vocab Terms Quiz 3

agency

the potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power

Allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.; a thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another (very useful when analyzing poetry)

Antithesis

the direct opposite, a sharp contrast

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.

Archetype

A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response

atmosphere

the overall mood or feeling of a work of literature

Bildungsroman

A coming of age story

catharsis

the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions; oftentimes a reaction to viewing an event and/or engaging with literature

closed form

poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern

Colloquialism

A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing (y'all, ain't)

conceit

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.

connotation

the implied or associative meaning of a word

denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

didactic

literature/poetry written with the intention to instruct or teach

direct address

to speak directly; to remove any separation between speaker and audience

dramatic irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

dynamic character

A character who grows, learns, or changes as a result of the story's action

epiphany

A moment of sudden revelation or insight

epistolary

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters

epithet

an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. "Fair Ophelia"

extended metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem

foil

A character who acts as a contrast to another character, oftentimes to emphasize the opposite traits of the protagonist

ideology

A consistent set of beliefs by groups/individuals

in media res

a piece of writing that begins in the middle of the action

inference/infer

to draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented (to be able to determine a character's motivations/ feelings/beliefs from indirect evidence)

innate

existing from birth

juxtaposition

placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast

meter

a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

motif

A recurring theme, subject or idea; a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition

narrative distance

the physical distance, chronological distance, relationships, or emotional investment of the narrator to the events or characters of the narrative

nuance

a slight or subtle degree of difference

omission

to leave something out

open form

poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and meter

pacing / tempo

the speed at which a story unfolds

parable

a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson

paradox

a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true

picaresque

involving clever rogues or adventurers especially as in a type of fiction

referent

the thing that a word or phrase denotes or stands for: "the Morning Star" and "the Evening Star" have the same referent (the planet Venus). the name to which a pronoun refers (very useful when analyzing poetry)

regionalism

an element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot

rising fortunes

common archetype in literature, also known as "rags to riches" from fairy tales (Cinderella) to novels (Oliver Twist)

situational irony

An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected

static character

A character that does not change from the beginning of the story to the end

stream of consciousness

A literary technique, found in works by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and others, that uses interior monologue — a character's thoughts and feelings as they occur — to explore the human psyche.

syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

verbal irony

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant