AP LIT VOCAB 15

Explication

close reading: the detailed analysis of the complex interrelations and ambiguities (multiple meanings) of the verbal and figurative components within a work of literature

Hamartia

the “error of judgement” of a character, or their “tragic flaw”

Imagists

poetic style that flourished in England, and even more vigorously in America between 1912 – 1917. Advocated for a poetry which, abandoning conventional poetic materials and versification, is free to choose any subject and to create its own rhythms, uses common speech, and presents an image or vivid sensory description that is hard, clear, and concentrated.

Lampoon

a short satirical work, or a passage in a longer work, which describes the appearance and character of a particular person in a way that makes that person ridiculous.

Myth

any story or plot whether true or invented that functions in a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide rationale for social customs, and to establish sanctions for the rules by which people conduct their lives.

Palindrome

Greek for “the same path,” or “the direction again”. A number, word, or sentence which can be read forward as well as backward, or in reverse order with the same effects and meanings.

Poetic License

a justification of the poet’s departure from the rules and conventions of standard spoken and written prose in matters such as syntax, word order, the use of archaic or newly coined words, and the conventional use of “eye-rhymes” (wind-bind, daughter-laughter).

Requiem

A solemn chant (such as a dirge) for the repose of the dead

Stock Characters

Character types that occur repeatedly in a particular literary genre and are recognizable as part of the conventions of the form

Zeugma

In Greek, means “yoking”; applied to expressions in which a single word stands in the same grammatical relation to two or more other words, but with an obvious shift in its significance