AP English Literature Literary Terms

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

Allegory

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

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in a line of poetry (e.g., Marilyn Monroe).

Ambiguity

When an author leaves out details or information or is unclear about an event so the reader will use his or her imagination to fill in the blanks.

Anecdote

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

Antagonist

The protagonist's adversary.

Anti-climatic

When the ending of the plot in poetry or prose is unfulfilling or lackluster.

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.

Blank verse

Name for unrhymed iambic pentameter.

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.

Denouement

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

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).

Elegy

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

Emotive language

Deliberate use of language by a writer to instill a feeling or visual.

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.

Epiphany

Sudden enlightenment or realization, a profound new outlook or understanding about the world usually attained while doing everyday mundane activities.

Epistolary

Used to describe a novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another.

Euphemism

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

Flashback

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

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.

Trochee

A trochaic foot that has two syllables, where the first is stressed and the second is unstressed.

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.

Foreshadowing

Clues in the text about incidents that will occur later in the plot, creating anticipation in the novel.

Free verse

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

Gothic novel

A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting.

Hubris

Excessive pride used in Greek tragedies that usually leads to a hero's downfall.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or comic/dramatic effect.

In medias res

A story that begins in the middle of things.

Inversion

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

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.

Masculine ending

Stressed extra syllable at the end of a line.

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.

Oblique rhyme

Imperfect rhyme scheme.

Ode

A lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanzaic structure, celebrating something.

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).

Figurative Language

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

Personification

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

Poetic justice

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

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.

Rhyme

The repetition of sounds in words.

Rhyme scheme

The act of assigning letters in the alphabet to demonstrate the rhyming lines in a poem.

Rising action

The events of a dramatic or narrative plot preceding the climax.

Rites of passage

An incident which creates tremendous growth signifying a transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Round character

A character who is developed over the course of the book, usually a major character in a novel.

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).

Volta

A sudden change of thought which is common in sonnets.