AP Literature and Composition Vocabulary

abstract

a style in writing that is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to support its points

academic

an adjective describing style; dry and theoretical writing; piece of writing seems to be sucking all the life out of its subject with analysis

accent

in poetry, the stressed portion of a word; sometimes set, often a matter of opinion

aesthetic

adj.: "appealing to the senses"; noun: coherent (logically connected) sense of taste

allegory

a story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself; many fables have this quality; true ones are even more hard and fast; example: Orwell's Animal Farm

alliteration

the repetition of INITIAL consonant sounds; consonant clusters coming closely cramped and compressed

allusion

a reference to another work or famous figures; can be classical (refers to Greek and Roman mythology or literature), topical (refers to current event), or popular (refers to something from pop culture--TV show or hit movie)

anachronism

Greek for "misplaced in time"; something or someone that isn't in its correct historical or chronological time--i.e., Brutus wearing a watch

analogy

a comparison usually involving two or more symbolic parts; employed to clarify an action or relationship

anecdote

a short narrative

antecedent

the word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to

anthropomorphism

when inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena are given human characteristics, behaviour, or motivation--"In the forest, the darkness waited for me, I could hear its patient breathing."

anticlimax

occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect; frequently comic

antihero

a protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities

aphorism

a short and usually witty saying; astute observation--"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton)

apostrophe

a figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman, absent, or dead

archaism

the use of deliberately old-fashioned language, used to create a feeling of antiquity

aside

a speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage

assonance

the repeated use of vowel sounds--"Old king Cole was a merry old soul."

atmosphere

the emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene

ballad

a long, narrative poem, usually in regular meter and rhyme; typically has a naive folksy quality that sets it apart from epic poetry

pathos

when the writing of a scene evokes feelings of dignified pity and sympathy

black humor

the use of disturbing themes in comedy; morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world, ordinary characters or situations exaggerated beyond normal limits of satire or irony

bombast

pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language; one tries to be eloquent by using the largest, most uncommon words

burlesque

broad parody, one that takes a style or form, such as tragic drama, and exaggerates it into ridiculousness; achieves its effects through caricature, ridicule, and distortion, devoid of any ethical element; interchangeable with parody

cacophony

using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds--the sound of midday traffic

cadence

the beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense e.g., iambic pentameter; can be gentle and pulsing, conversational, and even vigorous, marching

canto

the name for a section division in a long work of poetry; divides a long poem into parts the way chapters divide a novel--like in Dante's Inferno

caricature

a portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality

catharsis

drawn from Aristotle's writings on tragedy; refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences, having lived (vicariously) through the experiences presented on stage; purging of emotions through a form of art, in this case, literature

chorus

the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it

colloquialism

a word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "schoolbook" English; slang words, informal English

conceit

refers to a startling or unusual metaphor, or to a metaphor developed and expanded upon over several lines

connotation

what a word suggests or implies, not its literal meaning--i.e., dark meaning dangerous instead lacking of light

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds WITHIN words--"A flock of sick, black-checkered ducks."

couplet

a pair of lines that end in rhyme

decorum

in order to observe, a character's speech must be styled according to his or her social station, and in accordance with the occasion--bum speaks like a bum about bumly things

diction

author's choice of words, choice of specific words

dirge

a song for the dead, tone is typically slow, heavy, and melancholy

dissonance

the grating of incompatible sounds

doggerel

crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme--i.e., limericks

dramatic irony

when the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not

dramatic monologue

when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience

elegy

a type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner; often use the recent death of a noted or loved person as a starting point; also memorialize specific dead people

enjambment

the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause--i.e.,

epic

a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style; typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter--i.e., great war, heroic journey, battle with supernatural, etc.

epitaph

lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place; usually a line or a handful of lines, often serious or religious, but sometimes witty and even irreverent

euphemism

a word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality--i.e., passed away for died, let go for fired

euphony

when sounds blend harmoniously

farce

today it's used to refer to extremely broad humor; in earlier times, it was used to mean a simply funny play; a comedy (generic term for play then, btw, no implication of humor)

feminine rhyme

lines rhymed by their final two syllables--running, gunning; properly, the penultimate syllables are stressed and the final syllables are unstressed

foil

a secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast

foot

the basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed

foreshadowing

an event or statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later

free verse

poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern

Gothic, Gothic novel

form first showed up in the middle of the 1700s, heyday of popularity for sixty years; sensibility: mysterious, gloomy, sinister

hubris

the excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall--like Caesar

hyperbole

exaggeration or deliberate overstatement: He has a watermelon head.

interior monologue

a term for novels and poetry, not dramatic literature; refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character's head; related, but not identical to the stream of consciousness; tends to be coherent, as though the character is actually talking

inversion

switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase--Yoda speech!

*irony

comes in a variety of forms; a statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean, deeper than sarcasm though; an undertow of meaning

lampoon

a satire

lyric

a type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world; when used to describe a tone, refers to a sweet, emotional melodiousness

masculine rhyme

a rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable--spent, went

melodrama

a form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure

metaphor

a comparison, or analogy that states one thing IS another--His eyes were burning coals.

metonym

a word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with---"the crown" referring to the king, "The pen is mightier than the sword." (pen reps writers and ideas, sword reps war)

nemesis

the protagonist's archenemy or supreme and persistent difficulty

objectivity

treatment of a matter as impersonal or as an outside view of events

subjectivity

treatment of a matter using the interior personal view of a single observer and is typically coloured with that observer's emotional responses

onomatopoeia

words that sound how they're spelled--boom, splat

oxymoron

a phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction

parable

a story that instructs like a fable or an allegory

paradox

a situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, it does not---"It's raining, but I don't believe that it is."

parallelism

repeated syntactical similarities used for effect--He likes playing the piano, eating cookies, and reading lengthy novels.

parody

when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness

pastoral

a poem set in a tranquil nature or even more specifically, one about shepherds

persona

the narrator in a non-first-person novel. in third person, get an idea of author's personality, but isn't really the author's personality; shadow-author

personification

giving an inanimate object human qualities or form--The darkness of the forest became the figure of a beautiful, pake-skinned woman in night-black clothes.

protagonist

the main character of a novel or play

pun

usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings

refrain

a line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem

requiem

a song or prayer for the dead

rhapsody

an intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise

rhetorical question

a question that suggests an answer

satire

exposes common character flaws to humor; attempts to improve things by pointing out people's mistakes in the hope that once exposed, such behaviours will become less common--hypocrisy, vanity, greed

simile

like a metaphor but softens the full-out equation of things, often, but not always, by using like or as

soliloquy

a speech spoken by a character alone on stage; meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts; not meant to imply that the actor acknowledges the audience is listening

stanza

a group of lines roughly analogues in function in verse to the paragraph's function in prose

stock characters

standard or cliched character types: the drunk, the miser, the foolish girl, etc.

subjunctive mood

a mood that represents an act or state (not as a fact but) as contingent or possible; wishful thinking--if I were you, if he were honest

summary

a simple retelling of what you've just read; covers more material than paraphrase, more general, includes all the facts

symbolism

a device in literature where an object reps an idea

theme

the main idea of the overall work; the central idea; topic of discourse or discussion

thesis

the main position of an argument; the central contention that will be supported

tragic flaw

in tragedy, weakness of character in an other wise good/great individual that leads to his demise

travesty

a grotesque parody

truism

a way-too-obvious truth

utopia

an idealized place; paradise