AP Lit Summer Assignment

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words, creating rhythm and emphasis in poetry and prose.

Allusion

An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work, used to enhance meaning or context.

Ambiguity

A phrase, statement, or resolution that is not explicitly defined, allowing for multiple interpretations or meanings.

Analogy

A comparison between two different things that highlights their similarities, often used to explain concepts or ideas.

Anepest

A metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, often used in poetry to create a rhythmic flow.

Anecdote

A short and interesting story about a real incident or person, often used to illustrate a point or provide insight.

Antagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist, creating conflict in a story.

Antecedent

A word, phrase, or clause that is replaced by a pronoun later in a sentence, providing clarity and reference.

Antithesis

A rhetorical device that uses a contrast of opposing ideas in a parallel structure to emphasize a point.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing, often for dramatic effect.

Archetype

A typical example or original model that is universally recognized and repeated in literature, representing recurring themes and character types.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within closely placed words to create rhythm or emphasize meaning in poetry and prose.

Blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter often used in English dramatic and epic poetry.

Cacophony

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds, often used in poetry to convey a sense of disorder or chaos.

Catharsis

A process of emotional release and purification experienced by the audience in response to dramatic art, often leading to relief or renewal.

Chiasmus

A rhetorical device in which words, phrases, or concepts are repeated in reverse order for emphasis or effect.

Conceit

A fanciful expression or metaphor, often an extended analogy, that compares two vastly different things, typically used in poetry.

Connotation

The implied or suggested meaning of a word or phrase, which goes beyond its literal definition. Connotation includes the emotions and associations connected to a term.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity within a phrase or sentence, often enhancing rhythm and musicality in poetry. This device can create a pleasing effect and contribute to the overall mood.

Denotation

The literal or primary meaning of a word, as opposed to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests. Denotation serves as the straightforward definition without emotional undertones.

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing, which reflects an author's style and tone. Diction can greatly affect the clarity and effectiveness of communication.

Didactic

Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.

Elegy

A form of literature that reflects on death or loss, often in a mournful or melancholic tone.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break in poetry, which creates a sense of flow and urgency.

Epigraph

A quotation or excerpt at the beginning of a literary work, intended to suggest its theme or set the tone.

Epithet

A descriptive phrase expressing a characteristic of a person or thing, often used in literature to create vivid imagery.

Euphemism

A milder or less direct way of expressing something harsh or unpleasant such as “passed away” instead of “died.”

Euphony

A pleasant, harmonious sound or effect often created by the use of vowels and smooth consonants in speech in writing.

Farce

A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and improbable situations.

Figurative language

Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation.

Foil

A character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) to highlight particular qualities of the other character.

Foreshadowing

A literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

Free verse

Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Iambic pentameter

A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Inversion

The reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

Irony

The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Metonymy

The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant (the crown = for royalty)

Ode

A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.

Onomatopoeia

The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.

Overstatement

The action of stating something in an exaggerated or sensationalized manner.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Paradox

A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well-founded or true

Parallel structure

The repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence or a text. By making each compared item or idea in your sentence follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction.

Parody

An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

Pathos

A quality that evokes pity or sadness. In rhetoric, it is a persuasive appeal to an audience’s emotions.

Personification

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to somethng nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quailty in human form.

Point of view

The perspective from which a story is narrated. This can be first person, second person, or third person.

Protagonist

The leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

Pun

A joke explotiting the different possible meaning of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Quatrain

A stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes.

Refrain

A repeated line or set of lines in a poem or song.

Rhetorical questions

A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.

Satire

The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Sestet

The last six lines of a sonnet, or another stanza of six lines.

Simile

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

Synedoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa (ex. all hands on deck).

Syntax

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

Tone

The general character or attitude of a piece of writing.

Understatement

The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Vernacular

The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region.