AP Literature Vocabulary Terms

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering 69 key literary terms from the AP Literature lecture notes.

Allegory

A story in which events, settings, and characters stand for abstract or moral concepts.

Analogy

A comparison that shows similarities between otherwise different ideas or issues.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Antithesis

A juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses.

Aphorism

A concise, witty saying that expresses a truth or principle.

Apostrophe

Directly addressing an absent, dead, or inanimate entity as if it could respond.

Canto

A subdivision or section of a long poem.

Conceit

An elaborate, surprising comparison between two very dissimilar things.

Deus Ex Machina

A contrived, unexpected device that suddenly resolves a plot problem.

Elegy

A poem or text that mourns the loss of someone or something.

Enjambment

Continuation of a sentence without pause past the end of a line or stanza.

Epigram

A clever, memorable statement that relates meaningfully to the text that follows.

Epilogue

A concluding section or speech that comments on or wraps up a narrative.

Epiphany

A character’s sudden insight or awakening after a dramatic moment.

Epitaph

A commemorative inscription or poem for someone deceased.

Epithet

A descriptive phrase or adjective characterizing a person or thing.

Farce

A comedic work featuring ridiculous stereotypes and improbable events.

In Media Res

Beginning a narrative in the middle of the action.

Kenning

An Anglo-Saxon metaphor that directly renames a person, place, or thing (e.g., “whale-road” for sea).

Lament

A poem or song that expresses deep grief or sorrow.

Litotes

Ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite (e.g., “not bad”).

Lyric

Emotional, song-like poetry or narrative expressing personal feelings.

Motif

A recurring word, object, image, or idea within a text.

Neoclassicism

A late 17th–18th-century revival of classical forms and standards.

Ode

A lyrical poem that praises or is dedicated to someone or something.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it denotes (e.g., “sizzle”).

Oxymoron

A figure of speech combining seemingly contradictory terms (e.g., “jumbo shrimp”).

Parable

A short allegorical story that teaches a moral or religious lesson.

Parody

An imitation of a work for humorous effect or critique.

Pun

A joke exploiting multiple meanings of words or similar sounds.

Realism

A literary approach that depicts people and events as they truly are, without idealization.

Refrain

A repeated phrase or line for emphasis in poetry or song.

Romance

A medieval verse narrative of heroic adventures undertaken for love or a noble ideal.

Satire

Writing that ridicules human vices or follies to provoke change.

Stream of Consciousness

A narrative mode that presents a character’s continuous flow of thoughts.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words.

Allusion

A reference to a biblical, historical, literary, or mythological source.

Antagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist and creates conflict.

Aside

Lines spoken to the audience unheard by other characters onstage.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words to reinforce meaning or mood.

Atmosphere

The overall mood or feeling in a literary work.

Autobiography

An account of a person’s life written by that person.

Biography

A narrative of someone’s life written by another author.

Climax

The peak of action or emotion; the turning point of a plot.

Conflict

Internal or external struggle faced by characters in a narrative.

Connotations

Emotional or associative meanings attached to a word beyond its dictionary definition.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of verse, usually rhymed, forming a unit.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary definition of a word.

Denouement

The resolution or conclusion where plot issues are resolved.

Dialect

Speech patterns characteristic of a particular region or group.

Diction

An author’s deliberate choice of words to convey tone and purpose.

Epic

A long poem celebrating heroic deeds and reflecting cultural values.

Essay

A prose composition expressing a writer’s ideas, arguments, or research.

Fable

A short tale with animal characters conveying a moral lesson.

Flashback

A narrative interruption that depicts an earlier event.

Foil

A character who contrasts with another to highlight traits of both.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues about events that will occur later in a story.

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality.

Novel

A long fictional narrative generally exceeding 50,000 words.

Paradox

A statement or idea that seems contradictory yet reveals truth.

Parallelism

Repetition of grammatical structure for effect and rhythm.

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human objects or abstractions.

Plot

The sequence and development of events in a narrative.

Point of View

The narrative perspective: 1st, 2nd, 3rd-limited, 3rd-omniscient, etc.

Protagonist

The main character around whom the story’s conflict revolves.

Soliloquy

A long speech by a character alone on stage revealing inner thoughts.

Suspense

Tension or uncertainty about upcoming events in a story.

Symbol

An object, person, or situation that represents a meaning beyond the literal.

Theme

The central topic or insight a work communicates about a subject.