AP Seminar Vocabulary

Frame Story

Outer narrative that sets the stage for inner stores (story that has a story in it); provides background for telling of an inner story

Meter

Rhythmic pattern of organizing stressed and unstressed syllables

Narrative

A story or account of fictional or real events

Quatrain

A four line stanza in a poem, often with a specific meter or rhyme

Tone

The author’s attitude towards the subject or audience; conveyed through words, descriptions

Mood

Feeling or Atmosphere the author creates through word usage and setting description

Alliteration

Repeating of the beginning of the same consonant sound

Irony

A situation where there is a distinct contrast between expectations and reality

Theme

The main idea, message, or meaning of a narrative or story

Dialogue

A conversation between two or more characters/people

Monologue

Speech delivered by a single person where thoughts and ideas are expressed to either themselves, other characters, or the audience

Soliloquy

Literary device when a character expresses their inner thoughts aloud on stage to the audience only “thinking aloud”

Aside

A comment by a character that is meant to only be heard by the audience and not the other characters; used to provide thoughts and feelings; typically short

Blank Verse

Poetry written with a regular meter, but without rhyme; often iambic pentameter

Iambic Pentameter

Rhythmic pattern where each line consists of 10 syllables arranged in 5 pairs of unstressed and stress syllables (daDUM, daDUM, daDUM, daDUM, daDUM)

Couplet

Pair of consecutive lines of poetry that form a complete thought or idea; typically rhyme

Comedy

Series of Media works that are designed to incite laughter in the audience

Allusions

Indirect references in a story to other forms of culture; assume the reader knows a certain body of knowledge

Foil

Characters, events, or themes that typically contrast with the main character to highlight specific qualities; used to make the main character’s decisions or traits more significant and pronounced

Foreshadowing

Literary device where the author subtly hints towards future events in the story