Mini Vocabulary List - AP Lit

Alliteration

the sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables

Anecdote

a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature

Assonance

a repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity

Colloquial

words or phrases that are not literary, ones used in casual conversation

Conceit

a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem

Connotation

what is suggested by a word, apart from what it explicitly describes, often referred to as the implied meaning of a word

Denotation

direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word

Dialect

the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence from one line of poem to the next with no punctuation at the end of a line of poetry

Epic

a poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture; it uses elevated language and grand, high style

Flashback

retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative

Free Verse

poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines

Hyperbole

overstatement characterized by exaggerated language

Imagery

broadly defined, any sensory detail in a work, more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object

In Medias Res

“in the midst of things”; refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filling in past details by exposition or flashback

Juxtaposition

the location of one thing as being adjacent with another, reveals an attitude or accomplishes some purpose of the writer

Litotes

a figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement

Meter

the more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry, determined by the kind of “foot” and by the number of feet per line

Mood

a feeling or ambiance resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator’s attitude and point of view, fabricated through descriptions of feelings or objects that establish a certain feeling

Omniscient Point Of View

a perspective that can be seen from one character’s view, then another’s, then another’s or can be moved in or out of the mind of any character at any time

Oxymoron

a figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, sometimes resulting in a humorous image or statement

Parallel Structure

the use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts

Parable

a short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy

Paradox

a statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true

Protagonist

the main character in a work, who may or may not be heroic

Rhetorical Question

a question that is asked simply for stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered

Satire

a literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and express disapproval

Speaker

the person, not necessarily the author who is the voice of a poem

Structure

the organization of arrangement of the various elements in a work

Style

a distinctive manner of expression; each author’s story is expressed through his or her writing choices

Tragedy

a drama in which a character (usually good and noble and of high rank) is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force

Trochaic

a metrical foot in poetry that is the opposite of iambic

Voice

the acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story; the speaker; the “person” telling the story or poem