AP Lit Final Vocab List

Alliteration

__Repetition__ of the __same letter/sound__ at the __beginning__ of words (ex: Peter Piper picked a peck…. a bug bit a big beetle).

Alliterative Verse

Early verse of Germanic languages in which __alliteration__ is a __basic structure__ (Beowulf: He will carry me away as he goes to ground, gorged and bloodied).

Allusion

__A reference__ to something in literature.

Caesura

__A break__ between words (usually ||).

End Rhyme

__A rhyme__ that occurs in the __last syllables__ of verses (The ladies men admire, I've heard, / Would shudder at a wicked word.).

Enjambment

The __continuation__ of a sentence __without a pause beyond__ the end of a line, couplet, or stanza (Shakespeare uses it a lot).

Epithet

A __descriptive__ phrase expressing a __characteristic__ of someone/thing (Beowulf: Son of Ecgtheow).

Heroic Couplet

A pair of __rhyming__ __iambic__ __pentameters__ (used in Canterbury Tales).

Iamb

A __metrical__ foot consisting of one short (or __unstressed__) __syllable__ followed by one long (or stressed) syllable (used by Shakespeare, each line contains five iambs, aka iambic pentameter).

Kenning

An __expression__ in Old English and Old Norse poetry with __metaphorical__ meaning (face-licker = dog).

Lof

__Fame__ (is created when an epithet is used).

Romance

A literary __genre__ comprised of fictional works of __chivalry__ and __adventures__ from the Middle Ages.

Situational Irony

Something happening that is very __different to what was expected__.

Soliloquy

Speaking one's thoughts __aloud__ when by __oneself__ or regardless of any __hearers__ (Shakespeare uses this).

Verbal Irony

Speaker says something that they __don’t actually mean__.

Wergild

The __value__ of a __man's life__.

Allegory

A __literary work__ that can reveal a hidden meaning.

Apostrophe

A __speech__ or address to a __person who is not present__ or to a personified object (Yorick’s skull in Hamlet).

Assonance

The __repetition__ of __vowel sounds__ in words that are close together in a sentence (His tender heir might bear his memory).

Blank Verse

Verse without __rhyme__, especially one that uses __iambic__ __pentameter__ (does have meter though!).

Chiasmus

A __two-part sentence__ or phrase, where the second part is a __reversal__ of the first (when the going gets tough, the tough get going).

Consonance

__Repeats__ the same __consonant sound__ within a group of words (Paddy’s potatoes were prepared to perfection).

Didactic

Type of __literature__ that is meant to __instruct__ or teach __something__.

Dramatic Irony

The audience __knows__ something that the characters __don’t__.

Fable

A __short story__, typically with __animals__ as characters, __conveying__ a moral.

Free Verse

Poetry that does __not__ __rhyme__ or have a regular __meter__.

Hyperbole

__Exaggerated__ statements.

Metonymy

The __name__ of an object/concept is __replaced__ with a word __closely related__ to or suggested by the original (referring to the President of the U.S. as “the White House”).

Motif

A __repeated pattern__—an image, sound, word, or symbol that comes back again and again.

Non-Sequitur

A __statement__ that does __not__ __logically__ follow from the previous statement (often used for comedic effect).

Parallelism

The __repetition__ of __grammatical elements__ in a piece of writing to create a __harmonious__ effect (MLK’s “I have a dream” speech).

Satiric

Exposing __human__ folly to __ridicule__ (being sarcastic).

Sermon

A __talk__ on a __religious__ subject (usually given during church service abt the Bible).

Sestina

A complex French verse form, usually __unrhymed__, consisting of __six stanzas of six lines__ each and a __three-line envoy__.

Synecdoche

A __part__ is made to __represent__ the __whole__ or vice versa (ex: hungry **mouths** to feed).

Terza Rima

An arrangement of __triplets__, especially in __iambs__, that __rhyme__ (aba, bcb, cdc).

Understatement

A particular __quality__ of a person, object, emotion, or situation is __downplayed__.

Anon

“At once”

Baleful

“Menacing”

Bequeath

“To pass something on to someone else”

Capon

“A castrated male chicken fattened for eating”

Congeal

“To solidify by cooling”

Contemptuous

“Manifesting, feeling, or expressing deep hatred or disapproval”

Cozen

“Trick/deceive”

Curb

“Restrain or keep in check”

Deluge

“Flood”

Entrails

“The innermost parts of something (usually intestines)”

Fiendish

“Extremely cruel or unpleasant”

Florins

“A foreign gold/silver coin”

Gambol

“Run or jump playfully”

Gentility

“Social superiority (demonstrated by polite manners or behavior)”

Heathen

“A person who does not belong to a widely held religion (usually Christianity)”

Heinous

“Utterly wicked”

Hierarchy

“A system in which people are ranked”

Invocation

“Summoning a deity or (in Christianity) introducing a sermon/prayer”

Naegling

“The name of the sword that belonged to Beowulf”

Nobles

“A person of noble rank”

Peradventure

“Perhaps”

Pious

“Devoutly religious”

Polecat

“Slang for a prostitute/whore (is actually a kind of weasel)”

Prowess

“Skill/bravery (in battle)”

Pursy

Of a horse- “Short of breath”

Of a human- “Fat”

Renown

“Talked about by many people”

Resolute

“Admirably determined”

Rogue

“A dishonest person”

Roisterer

“Person who knows how to have a good time (parties too far, causes disturbances, drink too much)”

Slily

“In a cunning manner; slyly”

Sovereignty

“Supreme power/authority”

Syntax

“The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences”

Thane

“A man who holds land granted by the king (ranks between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble)”

Ulcerous

“Having and ulcer”

Unction

“The action of anointing someone with oil or ointment as a religious rite”

Vanquished

“Defeat thoroughly”

Vice

“Immoral behavior”

Virtue

“Behavior showing high moral standards”

Waning

“Become weaker”

Whetted

“Sharpen a blade or excite someone”

Woo

“Seek the favor of”

Wyrd

“Concept in Anglo-Saxon culture corresponding to fate or personal destiny”