AP Literature Terms Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering literary, syntactical, and poetic terms including definitions, types of allusions, and specific terminology functionality.

Cacophony (poetic)

The use of words and phrases that imply strong, harsh sounds; these words have jarring and dissonant sounds that create a disturbing, objectionable atmosphere.

Caesura (poetic)

A pause in a line or sentence formed by the rhythms of natural speech rather than metrics, often denoted by a period, semicolon, dash, or exclamation point; it is not punctuation at the end of a line of poetry.

Allusion (literary)

A reference to another work, concept, or situation that generally enhances the meaning of the work citing it; they may be implicit, explicit, limited, or broadly developed.

Mythological allusions

References that often cite specific characters, such as the beauty of Aphrodite or the power of Zeus, or entire works referring to mythological events like the Phaedra legend.

Biblical allusions

References to familiar circumstances such as the mark of Cain, the fall from paradise, the tribulations of Job, or character traits like the strength of Samson or the loyalty of Ruth.

Historical allusions

References to major historical events, such as Napoleon meeting his Waterloo or Nixon dealing with Watergate.

Literary allusions

References where a work refers to other well-known pieces, such as West Side Story referencing Romeo and Juliet, or describing a character as quixotic to refer to Cervantes's Don Quixote.

Political allusions

Sustained references seen in works like Gulliver's Travels or Alice in Wonderland, or historical statements such as The Crucible's commentary on McCarthyism in the $1950s$.

Contemporary allusions

References often lost when the current context is no longer in the public eye, such as the Hunger Games phrase, "May the odds be ever in your favor."

Anadiplosis (syntactical)

Repetition of a prominent last word in one phrase or clause at the beginning of the next.

Anaphora (syntactical)

Repetition where the same expression is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines.

Anastrophe (syntactical)

A figure of speech involving an inversion of the natural syntax of a sentence for the sake of emphasis or effect.

Apostrophe (literary)

A figure of speech where an absent person, abstract quality, or non-existent personage is addressed as if capable of understanding and responding.

Assonance (poetic)

Repetition of vowel sounds.

Asyndeton (syntactical)

The omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join successive words or clauses.

Colloquialism

A word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

Conceit (poetic)

An elaborate or unusual comparison in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of a simile, metaphor, hyperbole and/or contradiction.

Connotation (literary)

The cultural and emotional implications and associations that words carry, such as a snake meaning treacherous or evil.

Consonance (poetic)

A literary device in which a consonant sound is repeated in words that are in close proximity, appearing anywhere in the words.

Couplet (poetic)

In poetry, a pair of lines that end in rhyme.

Cumulative (loose) Sentence (syntactical)

An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions (phrases or clauses) that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea.

Denotation (literary)

The basic meaning of a word, independent of its emotional associations; the dictionary definition.

Doppelgänger (literary)

A German term which means the double of a character; usually a dark double or evil twin character.

Enjambment (syntactical)

The running over of a sentence from one line of verse into another so that closely related words fall in different lines.

Epanalepsis (syntactical)

Repetition at the end of a clause of a word that occurred at the beginning.

Epanorthosis (syntactical)

Rephrasing of an immediately preceding word or statement for emphasis; setting it straight by substituting a stronger or more to the point word/phrase.

Epistrophe (syntactical)

Repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive clauses, phrases, sentences, or verses.

Euphemism (literary)

Substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt, such as using passed away rather than died.

Euphony (poetic)

Derived from the Greek word euphonos meaning sweet-voiced; the use of words and phrases distinguished as having melody or loveliness in sound.

Foil (literary)

A character used as a source of contrast (usually to the protagonist) to emphasize the protagonist's moral, emotional, or intellectual qualities.

Hyperbole (literary)

An exaggeration used for effect.

Juxtaposition (literary)

Placing two images, symbols, or ideas close together for the purpose of comparison or contrast.

Litotes (literary)

An understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite, such as saying He was not displeased.

Metonymy (literary)

Substitution of a term for one thing by something closely associated with it, such as using the press to refer to the media.

Mood (literary)

The atmosphere of a literary piece that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words, setting, theme, tone, and diction.

Motif (literary)

A conspicuous recurring element, such as an incident, device, reference, object, idea, or verbal formula which appears frequently in a work of literature.

Onomatopoeia (poetic)

The use of words whose sounds reinforce their meaning, like pop or splash.

Oxymoron (literary)

From the Greek for pointedly foolish, a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms together.

Paradox (literary)

A statement that appears contradictory but in fact has some truth.

Periodic Sentence (syntactical)

A sentence that contains the main or independent clause at the end, with additional grammatical units leading up to the point.

Polysyndeton (syntactical)

The use of many conjunctions in close succession.

Slant Rhyme (poetic)

A type of rhyme in which two words at the end of a line of poetry end in similar but not identical consonant sounds; also called imperfect or near rhyme.

Syllepsis (literary)

A grammatically correct construction in which one word is placed in the same grammatical relationship to two words but in different senses, one literal and one figurative.

Synecdoche (literary)

The use of a part to signify the whole, such as using hired hands to signify workers.

Synesthesia (literary)

The practice of associating two or more different senses in the same image, where one sensory stimulus evokes the experience of another.

Tone (literary)

The author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both, often identified by considering how a work would sound if read aloud.