AP English Literature Vocabulary – Flashcards
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foreshadowing
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to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand
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enjambment
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the continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to the next
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pastoral
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a work that describes the simple life of country folk who live in a timeless, painless life in a world full of beauty, music and love; bucolic, idyll
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ode
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a lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style and sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure, which is often patterned in sets of three
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antithesis
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the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas
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apostrophe
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an address or invocation to something that is inanimate
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denotation
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a direct and specific meaning, often reffered to as the dictionary definition of a word
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blank verse
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the verse form consisting of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter
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caesura
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pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns
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antagonist
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any force that is in opposition to the main character
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colloquial
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ordinary language, the vernacular
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theme
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a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the dominant idea or concern of a work
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couplet
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two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection
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dialect
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the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people
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synechdoche
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when a part is used to signify a whole, as in "All hands on deck!"-hands= sailors
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diction
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the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect
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syntax
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the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences
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flashback
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retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative
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elegy
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a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation
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epic
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a poem that celebrates, in a continuou narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture
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allusion
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a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place
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extended metaphor
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a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work; also called a conceit
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farce
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a play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and often slapstick and physical humor
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in-medis-res
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refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filing in past details by exposition or flashback; literally, "in the midst of things"
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formal diction
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language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal
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exposition
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that part of the structure of a plot that sets the scene, introduces and identifies characters, and establishes the situation at the beginning of a story or play
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satire
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a literary work that holds up human failing to ridicule
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alliteration
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the sequential repetition of similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables
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style
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a distinctive manner of expression expressed through an author's diction, rhythm, imagery, and more
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free verse
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poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines
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genre
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a type or class of literature such as epic or narrative or poetry
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hyperbole
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overstatement characterized by exaggerated language
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iambic
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a metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
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conceit
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a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature; in particular, an extended metaphor within a poem
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motif
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a recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event
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dramatic monologue
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also, a soliloquy; a monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience
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imagery
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broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work; more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object
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informal diction
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language that is not as lofty or impersonal as formal diction; similar to everyday speech
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irony
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a situation or statement characterized by a significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant
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lyric
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any short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion rather than desciribing a narrative or dramatic situation; a sonnet and ode are two examples
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consonance
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the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels
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mood
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a feeling or ambiance resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view
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metaphor
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one thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them; an implicit comparison of two unlike things
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villanelle
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a verse form consisting of nineteen lines divided into six stanzas- five tercets and one quatrain; the first and third line of the first tercet rhyme, and this rhyme is repeated through each of the next four tercets and in the last two lines of the concluding quatrain
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allegory
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a prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrates multiple levels of meaning and significance; often is a universal symbol or personified abstraction
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tone
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the attitude a literary work takes toward its subject and theme
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narrative structure
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a textual organization based on sequences of connected events, usually presented in a straightforward, chronological framework
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narrator
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the character who tells the story
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connotation
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what is suggested by a word, apart from what it explictly describes
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omniscient
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also called unlimited focus; a perspective that can be seen from multiple characters
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oxymoron
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a figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, sometimes resulting in a humorous image or statement
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parable
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a short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy
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realism
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the practice in literature of attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail
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juxtaposition
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the location of one thing as being adjacent with another; this placement of two items side by side creates a certain effect, reveals an attitude, or accomplishes some purpose of the writer
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ancedote
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a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature
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structure
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the organization or arrangement of the various elements in a work
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parallel structure
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the use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts; maintains balance and symmetry
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persona
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the voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share the values of the actual author
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archetype
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recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature
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refrain
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a repeated stanza or line(s) in a poem or song
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quatrain
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a poetic stanza of four lines
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rhyme
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the repetition of the same or similar sounds, most often at the ends of lines
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simile
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a direct, explicit comparison of two things, usually using like or as to draw the connection
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solioquy
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a monologue in which the character in a play is alone and speaking only to himself or herself
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protagonist
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the main character in a work who may or may not be heroic
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assonance
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repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity
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personification
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treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human qualitites
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Shakespearean sonnet
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a sonnet form divided into three quatrains and one couplet; also called an English sonnet
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onomatopoeia
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a work capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes
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speaker
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the person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of the poem
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symbolism
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a person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents something else
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Petrachan sonnet
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a sonnet form divided into an octave and a sestet; also called an Italian sonnet
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setting
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the time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play
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tragedy
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a drama in which a character, usually of noble or high rank, is brought to a disastrous end in confrontation with a superior force
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sestina
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a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet; the same set of six words ends the lines of each of the six-line stanzas, but in a different order each time
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paradox
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a statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true
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rhythm
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the modulation of weak and strong (stressed and unstressed) elements in the flow of speech
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terza rima
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a verse form consisting of three-line stanzas in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third of the next
