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All Vocab
AP Lit - All Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| act | A major section of a play, divided into varying numbers of shorter scenes, Shakespearean works usually have 5 per drama, modern works usually have 1-3 per drama. |
| antagonist | The major character in a narrative or drama who works against the hero or protagonist. |
| aside | A comment made by a stage performer that is intended to be heard by the audience but supposedly not by the other characters. |
| catastrophe | The point at which the circumstances overcome the central motive, introducing the close or conclusion. |
| catharsis | The release of purging of unwanted emotions - specifically fear and pity - brought about by exposure to art. |
| character | Broadly speaking, a person in a literary work. The actions of these are what constitute the plot of a story, novel, or poem. |
| dynamic | In literature or drama, a character who undergoes a permanent change in outlook or character during the story; also called developing. |
| flat | An easily recognized character type in fiction who may not be fully delineated but is useful in carrying out some narrative purpose of the author. |
| round | A character in fiction whose personality, background, motives, and other features are fully delineated by the author. |
| static | A literary character who remains basically unchanged throughout a work. |
| stock | A character in literature, theater, or film of a type quickly recognized and accepted by the reader or viewer and requiring no development by the writer. |
| climax | The turning point in a narrative, the moment when the conflict is at its most intense. |
| comedy | One of two major types of drama; assumes many forms, such as farce and burlesque, and uses a variety of techniques, from parody to satire. |
| comic relief | The use of humor to lighten the mood of a serious or tragic story, especially in plays. |
| conflict | The issue to be resolved in the story. It usually occurs between two characters, protagonist and the antagonist, or between the protagonist and society, or the protagonist and himself or herself. |
| crisis | The point in a play or story at which hostile elements are most tensely opposed to each other. |
| denouement | (Falling action) In literary criticism, it denotes the resolution of conflict in fiction or drama. |
| dues ex machine | A Latin term meaning "god out of a machine." In Greek drama, a god was often lowered onto the stage by a mechanism of some kind to rescue the hero or untangle the plot. |
| epilogue | A concluding statement or section of a literary work. |
| exposition | Writing intended to explain the nature of an idea, thing, or them. |
| falling action | Denouement. |
| farce | A type of comedy characterized by broad humor, outlandish incidents, and often vulgar subject matter. |
| foil | A character in a work of literature whose physical or psychological qualities contrast strongly with, and therefore highlight, the corresponding qualities of another character. |
| hamartia | In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero’s or heroine’s downfall. |
| hero | The principal sympathetic character (male or female) in a literary work. |
| hubris | Excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. |
| monologue | A composition, written or oral, by a single individual. A speech given by a single individual in a drama or other public entertainment. |
| prologue | An introductory section of a literary work. It often contains information establishing the situation of the characters or presents information about the setting, time period, or action. |
| protagonist | The central character of a story who serves as a focus for its themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development. |
| rising action | The part of a drama where the plot becomes increasingly complicated. |
| scene | A subdivision of an Act of a drama, consisting of continuous action taking place at a single time and in a single location. |
| soliloquy | A monologue in a drama used to give the audience information and to develop the speaker's character; usually delivered while the speaker is along on stage; typically a projection of the speaker's innermost thoughts. |
| tragedy | A drama in prose or poetry about a noble, courageous hero of excellent character who, because of some tragic character flaw or hamartia, brings ruin upon him or herself. |
| tragic flaw | In a tragedy, the quality within the hero or heroine which leads to his or her downfall. |
| villain | A character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot. |
| atmosphere | The dominant mood or emotional tone of a work of art, as of a play or novel. |
| colloquial | A word, phrase, or form of pronunciation that is acceptable in casual conversation but not in formal, written communication. |
| connotation | The impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning; may be universally understood or may be significant only to a certain group. |
| denotation | The definition of a word, apart from the impressions or feelings it creates in the reader. |
| dialect | A variety of language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially. |
| dialogue | The speech of characters in a work of fiction. |
| diction | The selection and arrangement of words in a literary work. |
| epigram | A saying that makes the speaker's point quickly and concisely. |
| invective | An insulting or abusive word or expression. |
| inversion | Any change from a basic word order or syntactic sequence, as in the placement of a subject after an auxiliary verb in a question or after the verb in an exclamation. |
| irony | In literary criticism, the effect of language in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated. |
| Dramatic irony | Occurs when the audience of a play or the reader of a work of literature knows something that a character in the work itself does not know. |
| Situational irony | Results from recognizing the oddness or unfairness of a given situation, be it positive or negative. |
| Verbal irony | A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant. |
| mood | The prevailing emotions of a work or the author in his or her creation of the work. |
| paradox | A statement that appears illogical or contradictory at first, but may actually point to an underlying truth. |
| proverb | A brief, sage saying that expresses a truth about life in a striking manner. |
| pun | A play on words that have similar sounds but different meanings. |
| sarcasm | A sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark. |
| satire | A work that uses ridicule, humor, and wit to criticize and provoke change in human nature and institutions. |
| slang | A type of informal verbal communication that is generally unacceptable for formal writing. |
| tone | The author's attitude toward his or her audience may be deduced from the tone of the work. |
| voice | The author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character. |
| third person | Presents the events of the story from outside of any single character's perception, much like the omniscient point of view, but the reader must understand the action as it takes place and without any special insight into characters' minds or motivations. |
| limited | Reveals the thoughts of only a single character. |
| omniscient | "Godlike" perspective, unrestricted by time or place, from which to see actions and look into the minds of characters. This allows the author to comment openly on characters and events in the work. |
| theme | The main point of a work of literature.The term is used interchangeably with thesis. |
| unlimited | A perspective that can be seen from one character's view. |
| point of view | The persona telling the story. |
| incident | A distinct piece of action, or an episode, as in a story or play. |
| flashback | A device used in literature to present action that occurred before the beginning of the story. |
| subplot | A secondary story in a narrative; may serve as a motivating or complicating force for the main plot of the work, or it may provide emphasis for, or relief from, the main plot. |
| objective | Quality in writing characterized by the absence of the author's opinion or feeling about the subject matter. |
| anecdote | A short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical. A brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event. |
| stream-of-consciousness | A narrative technique for rendering the inward experience of a character. |
| anticlimax | An event, conclusion, statement, etc., that is far less important, powerful, or striking than expected. |
| motivation | An inducement or incentive. |
| first person | This point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character. |
| narrative voice | The person telling the story. |
| character | Broadly speaking, a person in a literary work. |
| personification | A figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects. |
| onomatopoeia | The use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning. |
| simile | A comparison, usually using "like" or "as," of two essentially dissimilar things. |
| understatement | To state or represent less strongly or strikingly than the facts would bear out; set forth in restrained, moderate, or weak terms. |
| euphemism | The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. A sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an exclamation mark. |
| litotes | Understatement, especially in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in "not bad at all." |
| synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for the part, the special for the general or the general for the special. |
| hyperbole | In literary criticism, deliberate, exaggeration used to achieve an effect. |
| symbol | Something that suggests or stands for something else without losing its original identity. |
| allusion | A reference to a familiar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea more easily understood; a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize. |
| apostrophe | A statement, question, or request addressed to an inanimate object or concept or to a nonexistent or absent person. |
| metaphor | A figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object; suggestion the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object. formal |
| allegory | A narrative technique in which characters representing things or abstract ideas are used to convey a message or teach a lesson. |
| verse | A line of metered language, a line of a poem. |
| discourse | Communication of thought by words; talk; conversation. |
| narration | The telling of a series of events, real, or invented. |
| fable | A prose or verse narrative intended to convey a moral with animals or inanimate objects with human characteristics serving as characters. |
| anecdote | A short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical. |
| parable | A story intended to teach a moral lesson or answer an ethical question. |
| description | Writing intended to allow a reader to picture the scene or setting in which the action of a story takes place. |
| genre | A category of literary work; also refers to types of popular literature as Science Fiction, Young Adult, etc. |
| humorous | Does not have to be slap-stick or laugh-out-loud. |
| exposition | Writing intended to explain the nature of an idea, thing, or theme. |
| essay | A prose composition with a focused subject of discussion. |
| diary | A personal written record of daily events and thoughts. |
| novel | A long fictional narrative written in prose; usually organized under a plot or theme with a focus on character development and action. |
| argumentation | The author's subject matter or principle idea. |
| novella | Refers to modern short novels. |
| prose | A literary medium that attempts to mirror the language of everyday speech. It is distinguished by its use of unmetered, unrhymed language consisting of logically related sentences. |
| informal | Not in the regular, usual, or established form; not according to official, conventional, prescribed, or customary forms or rules; irregular. **Poetry** alliteration |
| English sonnet | The Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a couplet rhymed abab cdcd efef gg. |
| stanza | Serve as units of thought in a poem much like paragraphs in prose. |
| iamb | When the accent is on the second syllable of a two syllable word. |
| end-stopped line | A poetic line that has a pause at the end. |
| scansion | The analysis or "scanning" of a poem to determine its meter and often its rhyme scheme. |
| consonance | Occurs in poetry when words appearing at the ends of two or more verses have similar final consonant sounds but have final vowel sounds that differ. |
| masculine | The rhyming sound falls in a single accented syllable. |
| sonnet | A fourteen-line poem, usually composed in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes. |
| image | A concrete representation of an object or sensory experience; typically helps evoke the feels associated with the object or experience itself. |
| foot | The smallest unit of rhythm in a line of poetry. |
| sestet | Any six-line poem or stanza. |
| volta | A turning; a time; used in phrases signifying that the part is to be repeated one, two or more times. |
| connotation | The impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning. |
| epic | A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance. |
| elegy | A lyric poem that laments the death of a person or the eventual death of all people. |
| stress | Emphasis in melody, rhythm, etc.; beat. |
| refrain | A phrase repeated at intervals throughout a poem; may appear at the end of each stanza or at least regular intervals; may be altered slightly at each appearance. |
| euphony | Sound patterns used in verse to achieve opposite effects; pleasing and harmonious. |
| blank verse | Loosely, any unrhymed poetry, but more generally, unrhymed iambic pentameter verse (composed of lines of five two-syllable feet with the first syllable accented, the second unaccented). |
| free verse | This form allows a poet to exploit a variety of rhythmical effects within a single poem. |
| cadence | The natural rhythm of language caused by the alternation of accented and unaccented syllables. |
| dramatic monologue | A composition, written or oral, by a single individual; a speech given by a single individual in a drama or other public entertainment. |
| ode | Name given to an extended lyric poem characterized by exalted emotion and dignified style; usually concerns a single, serious theme. |
| couplet | Two lines of poetry with the same rhyme and meter, often expressing a complete and self-contained thought. |
| feminine | A rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed. |
| enjambment | The running over of the sense and structure of a line of verse or a couplet into the following verse or couplet. |
| pentameter | The most common English meter, in which each line contains ten syllables, or five iambic feet, which individually are composed of an unstressed syllable followed by an accented syllable. |
| trochee | The pattern where the first syllable is stressed, while the second is unstressed. |
| internal | Rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse. |
| dirge | Any composition resembling such a song or tune in character, as a poem of lament for the dead, or solemn, mournful music. |
| Italian sonnet | A Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave rhymed abbaabba and a sestet rhymed either cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce. |
| controlling image | A literary device employing repetition so as to stress the theme of a work, or a particular symbol. |
| lyric | A poem expressing the subjective feelings and personal emotions of the poet; originally accompanied by a lyre in recitals. |
| persona | A Latin term meaning "mask." The characters in a fictional work of literature. |
| cacophony | The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition, as for poetic effect. |
| external | Rhyme schemes that are made up on the last syllable of a certain word in each line. |
| quatrain | A four-line stanza of a poem or an entire poem consisting of four lines. |
| in medias res | A Latin term meaning "in the middle of things." It refers to the technique of beginning a story at its midpoint and often using various flashback devices to reveal previous action. |
| meter | In literary criticism, the repetition of sound patterns that creates a rhythm in poetry. The patterns are based on the number of syllables and the presence and absence of accents. |
| caesura | A pause in a line of poetry, usually occurring near the middle. |
| measure | The foot, verse, or time sequence used in a literary work, especially a poem. |
| repetition | Reiteration, or repeating the same word, or the same sense in different words, for the purpose of making a deeper impression on the audience. |
| end | Rhyme that occurs at the end of lines of verse. |
| imagery | The array of images in a literary work; also known as figurative language. |
| rhyme | When used as a noun in literary criticism, this term generally refers to a poem in which words sound identical or very similar and appear in parallel positions in two or more lines. |
| octave | A poem or stanza composed of eight lines. |
| dissonance | A combination of harsh or jarring sounds, especially in poetry. |
| conceit | A clever and fanciful metaphor, usually expressed through elaborate and extended comparison, that presents a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things. balanced sentence |
| coherence | The property of unity in a written text or a segment of spoken discourse that stems from the links among its underlying ideas and from the logical organization and development of its thematic content. |
| inverted sentence | Any sentence in which the normal word order is reversed, with the verb coming before the subject or the complete subject and predicate coming after another clause. |
| complex sentence | A sentence containing one or more dependent clauses in addition to the main clause. |
| loose sentence | A sentence that does not end with the completion of its main clause, but continues with one or more subordinate clauses or other modifiers. |
| compound-complex sentence | A sentence containing at least two independent clauses and one dependent clause. |
| antithesis | A figure of speech in which two statements show a contrast through the balancing of two opposite ideas. |
| ellipsis | The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding. |
| rhetorical devices | Literary techniques used to heighten the effectiveness of expression. |
| deductive reasoning | Reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case. |
| frame device | A story within a story. |
| surrealism | An artistic movement emphasizing the imagination and characterized by incongruous juxtapositions and lack of conscious control. |
| parallelism | The use of corresponding grammatical and syntactical forms. |
| literary license | Deviating from normal rules or methods in order to achieve a certain effect (intentional sentence fragments, for example). |
| myth | A traditional story presenting supernatural characteristics and episodes that help explain natural events. |
| chiasmus | A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed. |
| romantic | A term describing a character or literary work that reflects the characteristics of the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century that stressed emotion, imagination, and individualism. |
| structure | The arrangement or framework of a sentence, paragraph, or entire work. |
| malapropism | The mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar. |
| parenthetical | A comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or explain. |
| syntax | The manner in which words are arranged into sentences. |
| metonymy | Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it. |
| narrator | The one who tells the story; may be first or third person, limited or omniscient. |
| parody | A humorous imitation of a serious work. |
| tautology | Needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding. |
| archetype | A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response. |
| expletive | An interjection to lend emphasis; sometimes, a profanity. |
| maxim | A concise statement, often offering advice; an adage. |
| riddle | A question requiring thought to answer or understand; a puzzle or conundrum. |
| scapegoat | A person or group that bears the blame for another. |
| epiphany | A moment of sudden revelation or insight. |
| ad hominem argument | An argument attacking an individual's character rather than his or her position on an issue. |
| asyndeton | A construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions. |
| idiom | An expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect. |
| motif | A standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works. |
| juxtaposition | Placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast. |
| bathos | Insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity. |
| solecism | Nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules. |
| didactic | Having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing. |
| homily | A sermon, or a moralistic lecture. |
| cliche | An expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off. |
| style | The choice a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work. |
| aphorism | A concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance. |
| rhetoric | The art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasive manner. |
| analogy | A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way. |
| implication | A suggestion an author or speaker makes without stating it directly. |
| vernacular | The everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage. |
| trite | Overused and hackneyed. |
| compound sentence | A sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions. |
| simple sentence | A sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause. |
| limerick | Light verse consisting of five lines of regular rhythm in which the first, second, and fifth lines (each consisting of three feet) rhyme, and the second and third lines (each consisting of two feet) rhyme. |
| antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers. |
| hubris | Excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy. |
| pathos | The quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity. |
| non sequitur | An inference that does not follow logically from the premises. |
| epigraph | A saying or statement on the title page of a work, or used as a heading for a chapter or other section of work. |
| exclamatory sentence | A sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an exclamation mark. |
| absolute | A word free from limitations. |
| inference | A conclusion one draws based on premises or evidence. |
| syllogism | A three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise. |
| hypothetical question | A question that raises a hypothesis, conjecture, or supposition. |
| epitaph | An inscription on a tombstone or burial place. |
| anaphora | The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences. |
| polysyndeton | The use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions that is necessary or natural. |
| syllepsis | A construction in which one word is used in two different senses. |
| pedantic | Characterized by an excessive display of learning or scholarship. |
| declarative sentence | A sentence that makes a statement or declaration. |
| rhetorical question | A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer. |
| concrete details | Details that relate to or describe actual, specific things or events. |
| jargon | The specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession. |
| cumulative sentence | A sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases. |
| epithet | A term used to point out a characteristic of a person. |
| dilemma | A situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives. |
| fantasy | A story that concerns an unreal world or contains unreal characters; a fantasy may be merely whimsical, or it may present a serious point. |
| paraphrase | A restatement of a text in a different form of in different words, often for the purpose of clarity. |
| synesthesia (or synaesthesia) | Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another. |
| oxymoron | An expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined. |
| philippic | A strong verbal denunciation. |
| eulogy | A formal speech praising a person who has died. |
| foreshadowing | The presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come later in the work. |
| legend | A narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements. |
| adage | A familiar proverb or wise saying. |
| inductive reasoning | Deriving general principles from particular facts or instances. |
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