AP Lit Vocabulary

i did this during work

Abstract (Style)

Abstract (Style)

Intangible qualities, ideas, and concepts

Academic (style)

Presents and evaluates issues and arrives at an objective position

Dry theoretical writing

Accent

A stress or emphasis on a particular part of something, usually a word

Aesthetic(s)

Appealing to the (5) senses

Allegory

Story in which each aspect of the story has symbolic meaning

There is a hidden meaning!!!!

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Allusion

Reference to another work or famous figure

Analogy

A comparison

Ancedote

A short narrative, personal story

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to or replaces

ex. Tammy asked Riley when he has work (‘he’ is the pronoun and Riley is the antecedent)

Anthropomorphism

When inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena are given human characteristics, behavior, or motivation (not personification which takes up human shapes)

Anticlimax

Occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect

Antihero

The protagonist who is markedly unheroic, does not have the typical qualities of a hero

ex. riley haha

Aphorism

A short and witty saying

ex. grass is greener on the other side

Apostrophe

An address to someone not present or to a personified object or idea

Archaism

Use of deliberately old-fashioned language

Aside

A speech made by an actor to the audience

Assonance

The repeated use of vowel sounds

Atmosphere

The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene

Ballad

A long, narrative poem, usually in a very regular meter and rhyme

Black Humor

The use of disturbing themes in comedy

ex. joking about death, sensitive topics, etc

Bombast

A pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language

ex. “that was indeed a spectacle to lay my eyes on” vs “that was super cool to watch”

Burlesque

A broad parody, one that takes a style or a form such as tragic drama and exaggerates it into ridiculousness (basically a parody)

ex. think snl skit

Cacophony

Using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds

ex. krrrrrrt

Cadence

The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense

Canto

The name for a section division in a long work of poetry

ex. like chapters in a novel

Caricature

A portrait that exaggerates a facet of personality

ex. when riley got that super duper defined chin on winter formal

Catharsis

Refers to the ‘cleansing’ of emotion an audience member experiences having lived through the experiences presented on stage

Chorus

Often a group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comments on it

Colloquialism

Word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn’t a part of accepted ‘schoolbook’ English

ex. I’m pooped!!! or That’s wicked

Conceit

Startling or unusual metaphor, or one developed and expanded upon over several lines

Connotation

What a word or phrase is suggesting or implying, opposite to denotation

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words (not at the beginning like alliteration)

Couplet

A pair of lines that end in rhyme

ex. Nhi has a shopping addiction, she does it without restriction :(

Decorum

A characters speech should be styled according to her social station and with the occasion

ex. because Joe Biden is president he will talk about America

Denotation

A word’s literal meaning

Diction

The authors choice of words (why did they chose that??!!!)

Dirge

A song for the dead, typically slow song

Dissonance

The grating of incompatible sounds

Doggerel

Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme

ex. limericks!

Dramatic Irony

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

ex. when nate was sleeping with cassie but maddy didn’t know

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

ex. salva randomly

Enjambent

the continuation of a syntactic unity from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause

Epic

A super long narrative poem on a serious theme and in a dignified style, typically has a profound subject matter

ex. the odyssey where he spends like trillions of years getting back to his wife awwww and kills a bunch of people

Epitaph

Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place (can be serious or witty)

Euphemism

A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality

ex. saying ‘passed away’ instead of ‘died’

Euphony

When sounds blend harmioniously

Farce

Extremely broad humor (used to refer to just something funny)

Feminine Rhyme

Lines that rhymed by their final two syllables (typically the first syllable is stressed and the final syllable is unstressed)

ex. running, gunning

Foil

A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character

ex. a independent, confident main character will often have a quiet or weak friend

Foot

The basic rhythmic unit of line of poetry

Foreshadowing

An event or statement in a narrative that suggests a larger event that comes later

Free verse

Poetry written without a regular rhyme or metrical pattern

Gothic Novel

Aptmoshere of mystery and horror

ex. nevermore! nevermore!

Hubris

Excessive pride that leads to downfall

ex. classic greek myths lol

Hyperbole

Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement

ex. Naomi is the best driver I have ever seen in my life

Interior monologue

Writing the records the mental talking that goes on inside a character’s head

It tends to be more coherent than a ‘stream of consciousness’, almost like they are actually speaking rather than thinking

Inversion

Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase

ex. ‘Brandon needs to get headphones that don’t need wires’ vs ‘Headphones don’t need wires, Brandon needs to get’

Irony

Comes in various forms, but a main definition is a statement that means the opposite of what it means (irony insinuates)

Lampoon

A satire

Lyric

A type of poetry that explores the poet’s personal interpretation of and feelings about the world

Masculine Rhyme

A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable

Melodrama

Cheesy theater that has clear boundaries of role, hero is super heroic, villian is super evil (basically sterotypes)

ex. think rom coms, single white lady who is giving up on romance meets white buff lumberjack with an aussie accent in the countryside who makes her fall in love with love

Metaphor

comparison or analogy that states one thing is another

Metonym

A word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with

ex. saying dish instead of a full plate

Nemesis

The protagonists archenemy

ex. nhi

Objectivity

Impersonal or outside view of events

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like what they mean

ex. SPLAT!!

Oxymoron

A phrase composed of opposites

ex. jumbo shrimp

Parable

A story that instructs (like a fable)

Paradox

A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself but on closer inspection does not

Parallelism

Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect

Parody

A work that makes fun of another work by exaggeration many of it’s qualities

Pastoral

A poem set in tranquil nature

Pathos

Sad

Persona

The narrator in a non-first person novel. In a third person novel this is the author and their persona

Personaification

Giving an inanimate object object human qualities or form

Plaint

A poem or speech expressing sorrow

Protagonist

The main character of a novel or play

ex. me

Pun

The 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 of prayer for the dead

Rhapsody

An intense passionate verse, usually of love or praise

ex. me when i talk about naomi

Rhetorical Question

A question that suggests an answer

Satire

Exposes common character flaws through humor, irony, exaggeration

Simile

Comparison using like or as

Soliloquy

A speech spoken alone by a character alone on stage

Supposed to make the audience think they are listening to the characters thoughts

Stanza

Group of lines in verse

Stock Characters

Standard or cliched character types

ex. gay best friend, token black friend

Subjectivity

Interior or personal view of a singer observer

Subjunctive mood

A verb form used to refer to a hypothetical scenario or to express a wish, suggestion, or command

ex. "‘If I were you, I’d be Tammy’s bff’ (‘if’ creates a hypothetical senario)

Summary

A simple retelling of what you’d just read

ex. a bunch of AP lit terms

Symbolism

A device in literature where an object represents an idea

ex. Skull = death

Theme

The main idea of the overall work

ex. the theme of these flashcards is to win ap lit

Tragic Flaw

Typically in a tragedy, a weakness of a character (usually a hero) that ultimately leads to demise :(

Travesty

A grotesque parody

Truism

A way-too-obvious truth

ex. i am a senior

Utopia

An idealized place

ex. brandons house

Zeugma

The use of a word to modify two or more words but used for different meanings

ex. He closed the door and his heart on his love (sad!)