AP English Literature Literary Terms

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key literary terms and definitions from the provided AP English Literature lecture material.

Iamb

A metrical foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.

Iambic pentameter

A line of poetry containing five iambs (ten syllables) per line.

Climax

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

Colloquial language

Informal, conversational language.

Colloquialisms

Phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region.

Convention

An understanding between a reader and a writer about certain details of a story that does not need to be explained.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry, which may be at the beginning, middle, or end of the word.

Deus ex machina

Term meaning 'god from a machine' that refers to a character or force that appears at the end of a story or play to help resolve conflict through an unexpected and unlikely intervention.

Doppelganger

The alter ego of a character—the suppressed side of one's personality that is usually unaccepted by society (e.g., Mr. Edward Hyde in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

Enjambment

The continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next with no pause, a run-on line.

Epilogue

A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a play, or a short explanation at the end of a novel indicating what happens after the plot ends.

Euphemism

The act of substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive comment for a more politically accepted or positive one (e.g., short -> vertically challenged).

Flat character

A literary character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change over the course of the story.

Folklore

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

Foot

The unit measuring the metrical length of a line, determined by the number of feet it contains.

Dactyl

A dactylic foot that has three syllables beginning with a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Anapest

An anapestic foot that has three syllables, where the first two are unstressed and the third is stressed.

Irony

When one thing should occur, is apparent, or in logical sequence but the opposite actually occurs.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience or reader knows something characters do not know.

Memoir

An account of the personal experiences of an author.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, making an implicit comparison without using like or as.

Metonymy

The use of a word or phrase to stand in for something else with which it is often associated (e.g., Lamb means Jesus).

Narrator

Someone who tells a story.

First person narrator

The narrator is a character in the story.

Third person objective narrator

The narrator does not tell what anyone is thinking; acts as a 'fly on a wall'.

Third person limited narrator

The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of one character.

Third person omniscient narrator

The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of any character.

Neutral language

Language opposite from emotive language as it is literal or even objective in nature.

Onomatopoeia

The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Parody

A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule (e.g., SNL or Weird Al Yankovic).

Personification

A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form.

Prequel

A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel.

Prologue

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

Protagonist

The main character in a drama or literary work.

Slang

A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech deliberately used in place of standard terms.

Sonnet

A poem with fourteen lines, such as an Italian sonnet (subdivided into two quatrains and two tercets) or an English sonnet (subdivided into three quatrains and one couplet).