AP English Literature Terms

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering essential literary terms for AP English Literature, aimed at enhancing understanding and retention for exam preparation.

Allegory

The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

Allusion

A reference to a canonical work of literature, usually the Bible, Shakespeare, or mythology.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words.

Ambiguity

When an author leaves out details or is unclear about an event so the reader uses imagination to fill in the blanks.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or phrases.

Anecdote

A short story or joke told at the beginning of a speech to gain the audience’s attention.

Antagonist

The protagonist’s adversary, not always 'the bad guy or the villain,' but typically so.

Apostrophe

When a character speaks to a character or object that is not present or is unable to respond.

Assonance

The repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase or line of poetry.

Asyndeton

The omission of conjoining conjunctions when not grammatically necessary for emphasis.

Bildungsroman

A novel of coming-of-age, formation, growth, or change.

Blank verse

Poetic lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Caesura

A brief pause in a line of poetry caused by punctuation or a metrical break.

Catharsis

The emotional release of the audience by experiencing the suffering of the characters.

Climax

The turning point in the plot or the high point of action.

Colloquialism

Informal, conversational language indicative of a specific region.

Connotation

An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word beyond its literal definition.

Convention

An understanding between a reader and a writer about certain details of a story.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry.

Couplet

Two rhyming lines in poetry.

Deus ex machina

A character or force that appears at the end of a story to help resolve conflict.

Diction

Specific word choice or the use of words in speech or writing.

Denouement

The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot.

Doppelganger

The alter ego of a character or the suppressed side of one’s personality.

Double Entendre

A word or phrase open to two interpretations, one usually risque or offensive.

Elegy

A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person.

Elision

The omission of certain letters to maintain rhythm or create colloquialisms.

Emotive language

Deliberate use of language to instill a feeling or visual.

Enjambment

The continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next with no pause.

Epic

An extended narrative poem in elevated language, celebrating the feats of a legendary hero.

Epigraph

The introductory quote at the beginning of a novel or play.

Epilogue

A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a work.

Epiphany

Sudden enlightenment or realization about the world.

Epistolary

A novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another.

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a sentence or clause.

Euphemism

Replacing a harsh or blunt comment with a more politically accepted or positive one.

Euphony

A succession of words that are pleasing to the ear.

Fable

A short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point through personified characters.

Feminine ending

An unstressed extra syllable at the end of a line of poetry.

Figurative language

Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect.

Flashback

When a character remembers a past event relevant to the current story action.

Flat character

A character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change.

Foil

A character that enhances the distinctive characteristics of another by contrast.

Folklore

The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.

Foot

A way of describing the stressed syllables within a line of poetry.

Foreshadowing

Clues in the text about incidents that will occur later in the plot.

Free verse

Type of verse that contains a variety of line lengths and lacks traditional meter.

Genre

A category of artistic composition marked by a distinctive style.

Gothic novel

A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror.

Hamartia

A Greek word describing the 'tragic flaws' of a character.

Heroine

A woman noted for courage and daring action or the female protagonist.

Homonym

Two words that sound similar but have different meanings.

Hubris

Excessive pride that usually leads to a hero’s downfall.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration used for emphasis or comic/dramatic effect.

Illocution

Language that avoids the true meaning of the words.

Imagery

The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.

In medias res

A story that begins in the middle of things.

Inversion

An intentional digression from ordinary word order to maintain regular meters.

Irony

When what is expected to happen is the opposite of what actually occurs.

Masculine ending

Stressed extra syllable at the end of a line.

Memoir

An account of true personal experiences by an author.

Meter

The measured arrangement of words in poetry.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes an implicit comparison between unrelated things.

Motif

A dominant theme or central idea that occurs in the story.

Narrator

The teller of the story; the voice of the narrative.

Novella

A short novel usually under 100 pages.

Ode

A lyric poem of considerable length, usually serious or meditative.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Paradox

A statement which seems to contradict itself.

Parody

A literary work that imitates the characteristic style of an author for comic effect.

Personification

Endowing inanimate objects or abstractions with human qualities.

Poetic justice

The rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice in the resolution of a plot.

Polysyndeton

The use of multiple conjunctions when not grammatically necessary for emphasis.

Prequel

A work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work.

Prologue

An introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play.

Prose

Ordinary speech or writing without metrical structure.

Protagonist

The main character in a drama or literary work.

Pun

A play on words that have multiple meanings.

Repetition

The successive use of a word or phrase for emphasis.

Rhyme

The repetition of sounds in words.

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of end rhyme in a poem.

Rising action

The events of a plot that precede and build up to the climax.

Round character

A character developed over the course of the book; usually major.

Resolution

Solution to the conflict in literature.

Satire

A literary work that attacks human vice or folly through irony or wit.

Simile

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.

Slang

Language occurring in casual or playful speech, often short-lived.

Soliloquy

A form of discourse in which a character talks to themselves, revealing inner thoughts.

Sonnet

A poem of fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter.

Style

The combination of distinctive features characterizing a particular person or era.

Symbol

Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.

Tragedy

A drama where the main character suffers extreme sorrow, often due to a tragic flaw.

Tone

Reflects how the author feels about the subject matter, often conveyed through word choice.