7976121969 | Allegory | A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrates multiple levels of meaning and significance. | 0 | |
7976121970 | Alliteration | The sequential repetition of similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables. | 1 | |
7976121971 | Allusion | a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place. | 2 | |
7976121972 | Anapestic | a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed. | 3 | |
7976121973 | Anaphora | the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses. | 4 | |
7976121974 | Anecdote | a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature. | 5 | |
7976121975 | Antagonist | any force that was in opposition to the main character, or the protagonist. | 6 | |
7976121976 | Antithesis | the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas. | 7 | |
7976121977 | Apostrophe | an address or invocation to something that is inanimate. | 8 | |
7976121978 | Archetype | recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature. | 9 | |
7976121979 | Assonance | a repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usual those found in stressed syllables of close proximity. | 10 | |
7976121980 | Asyndetion | a writing style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses | 11 | |
7976121981 | Attitude | the sense expressed by the tone of voice and or the mood of a piece of writing, the feelings the author holds toward his subject, the people in his narrative, the events, the setting, or event he theme. | 12 | |
7976121982 | Ballad | a narrative poem that is, oroigianlly was, meant to be sung | 13 | |
7976121983 | Ballad Stanza | a common stanza form, consisting of a quantrain that alternates four beat and three beat lines. | 14 | |
7976121984 | Blank Verse | the verse form that most resembles common speech, blank verse consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. | 15 | |
7976121985 | Caesura | a pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns. | 16 | |
7976121986 | Caricature | a depiction on which a character's characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd. | 17 | |
7976121987 | Chiasmus | a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. "pleasures a sin, and sometimes sin is a pleasure" | 18 | |
7976121988 | Colloquial | ordinary language, a vernacular | 19 | |
7976121989 | Conceit | a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem. | 20 | |
7976121990 | Connotation | what is suggested by a word, apart from what is explicitly describes, often referred to as the implied meaning of a word. | 21 | |
7976121991 | consonance | the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels. | 22 | |
7976121992 | Couplet | two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection. | 23 | |
7976121993 | Dactylic | a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables followed by on unstressed syllable. | 24 | |
7976121994 | Denotation | a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word. | 25 | |
7976121995 | Denouenment | the final resolution of the main conflict in a play or story. It generally follows the climax | 26 | |
7976121996 | Dialect | the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people. | 27 | |
7976121997 | Diction | a specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect | 28 | |
7976121998 | Dramatic monologue | a monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience. | 29 | |
7976121999 | Elegy | a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation | 30 | |
7976122000 | Enjambment | the continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next. | 31 | |
7976122001 | Epic | a poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, that achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture, it uses elevated languages an grand, high style. | 32 | |
7976122002 | Exposition | that part of the structure that sets the scene, introduces and identifies characters, and established the situation at the beginning of a story or play. | 33 | |
7976122003 | Extended metaphor | a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work, also known as a conceit | 34 | |
7976122004 | Fable | a legend or short moral story often using animals as characters | 35 | |
7976122005 | Falling action | that part of plot structure in which the complications of the rising actions are untangled. | 36 | |
7976122006 | Farce | a play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and often slapstick and physical humor | 37 | |
7976122007 | Flashback | retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative | 38 | |
7976122008 | Foreshadowing | to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand | 39 | |
7976122009 | Formal diction | language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal. | 40 | |
7976122010 | Free verse | poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines. | 41 | |
7976122011 | Genre | a type or class of literature such as epic o r narrative or poetry or belles lettres. | 42 | |
7976122012 | Hyperbole | overstatement characterized by exaggerated language. | 43 | |
7976122013 | Iambic | a metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable | 44 | |
7976122014 | Idyll | a short poem describing a country or pastoral scene, praising the simplicity and peace of rustic life. | 45 | |
7976122015 | Imagery | 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. | 46 | |
7976122016 | Informal Diction | language that is not as lofty or impersonal as formal diction, similar to everyday speech | 47 | |
7976122017 | In medias res | "in the midst of things", refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitation filling in past details by exposition or flashback. | 48 | |
7976122018 | Irony | a situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. | 49 | |
7976122019 | Jargon | specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. | 50 | |
7976122020 | Juxtapostition | the location of one things as being adjacent or juxtaposed with another. This placing of two items side by side creates a certain effect, reveals an attitude, or accomplishes some purpose of the writer. | 51 | |
7976122021 | Limited point of view | a perspective confined to a single character, whether a first person or third person, the reader cannot know for sure what is going on tin the minds of other characters. | 52 | |
7976122022 | Litote | a figure of speech that emphasized its subject by conscious understatement. | 53 | |
7976122023 | Loose sentence | a sentence grammatically complete and usually stating its main idea before the end. | 54 | |
7976122024 | Lyric | originally designated poems meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre, now any short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion rather that describing a narrative or dramatic situation | 55 | |
7976122025 | Message | a misleading term for theme, the central idea or statement of a story, or area of inquiry or explanation, misleading because it suggests a simple, packages statement that pre-exists and for the simple communication of which the story is written. | 56 | |
7976122026 | Metaphor | one thing pictured as if it were something else, suggestion a likeness or analogy between them. It is an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a verbal signal such as lik or as, which is a simile. | 57 | |
7976122027 | Meter | the more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. | 58 | |
7976122028 | metonymy | a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something as in "the white house announced today..." | 59 | |
7976122029 | Mood | a feeling or ambiance resulting rom the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view. This effect is fabricated through descriptions of feelings or objects that establish a sense of fear...ect. | 60 | |
7976122030 | Motif | a recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event. | 61 | |
7976122031 | Narrative structure | a textual organization based on sequences of connected events, usually presented in a straightforward, chronological framework. | 62 | |
7976122032 | Narrator | the "character" who "tells" the story, or in poetry, the persona | 63 | |
7976122033 | Occasional poem | a poem written about or for a specific occasion, public or private. | 64 | |
7976122034 | Ode | a lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, is elevated in style, and sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure, which is often patterned in sets of three. | 65 | |
7976122035 | Omniscient point of view | also called unlimited focus: a perspective that can be seen from one character's view, then another's then another's or can be moved in or out of the mind of any character at any time. The reader has access to the perceptions ant thoughts of all the characters in a story. | 66 | |
7976122036 | Onomatopoeia | a word capturing or approximation the sound of what it describes, "buzz" is a good example. | 67 | |
7976122037 | Overstatement | exaggerated language | 68 | |
7976122038 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory element, sometimes resulting in a humorous image or statement. | 69 | |
7976122039 | Parable | a short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy. | 70 | |
7976122040 | Paradox | a statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true. | 71 | |
7976122041 | Parallel structure | the use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts. | 72 | |
7976122042 | Parody | a work that imitates another work for comic effect by exaggerating the style and changing the content of the original. | 73 | |
7976122043 | Pastoral | a work that describes the simple life of country folk, usually shepherds who live a timeless, painless life in a world full of beauty music, and love. | 74 | |
7976122044 | Periodic sentence | a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the end. | 75 | |
7976122045 | Persona | 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. | 76 | |
7976122046 | Personification | treating an abstraction or nonhman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human qualities. | 77 | |
7976122047 | Petrarchan sonnet | also called italian sonnet: a sonnet form that divides the poem into one section of eight lines and second section of six lines, usually following the abba abba cde cde rhyme scheme, though the sestet's rhyme varies. | 78 | |
7976122048 | Plot | the arrangement of the narration based on the cause-effect relationship of the events. | 79 | |
7976122049 | Protagonist | the main character in a work, who may or may not be heroic. | 80 | |
7976122050 | Quatrain | a poetic stanza of four lines | 81 | |
7976122051 | Realism | the practice in literature of attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail. | 82 | |
7976122052 | Refrain | a repeated stanza or line in a poem or song | 83 | |
7976122053 | Rhetorical question | a question that is asked simply for stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered | 84 | |
7976122054 | Rhyme | the repetition of the same or similar sounds, most often at the ends of lines. | 85 | |
7976122055 | Rhythm | the modulation of weak and strong element in the flow of speech | 86 | |
7976122056 | Rising action | the development of action in a work, usually at the beginning. | 87 | |
7976122057 | Sarcasm | a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually harshly or bitterly critical. | 88 | |
7976122058 | Satire | a literary work that holds up human failing to ridicule and censure | 89 | |
7976122059 | Scansion | the analysis of verse to show its meter | 90 | |
7976122060 | Setting | the time and place of the action i na tory, poem, or play | 91 | |
7976122061 | Shakespearean sonnet | also called an English sonnet: a sonnet form that divides the poem into three units of four lines each and a final unit of two lines, usually abab cdcd efef gg | 92 | |
7976122062 | Shaped verse | another name for concrete poetry: poetry that is shaped to look like an object | 93 | |
7976122063 | Simile | a direct, explicit compariosn of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection. | 94 | |
7976122064 | Sliloquy | a monologue in which the character in a play is alone and speaking only to himself. | 95 | |
7976122065 | Speaker | the person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of a poem | 96 | |
7976122066 | Stanza | a section of a poem demarcated by extra line spacing. some distinguish a stanza, a division marked by a single pattern of meter or rhyme, form a verse paragraph, a division marked by thought rather than pattern. | 97 | |
7976122067 | stereotype | a characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that some aspect, such as gender, age, ethnic or national identity, religion, occupation...ect. | 98 | |
7976122068 | Stock character | one who appears in a number of stories or plays such as the cruel stepmother, the femme fatal, ect. | 99 | |
7976122069 | stucture | the organization or arrangement of the various elements in a work | 100 | |
7976122070 | Style | a distinctive manner of expression, each author's style is expressed through his or her diction, rhythm, imagery, an so on. It is a writer's typical way of writing | 101 | |
7976122071 | Symbolism | a person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. | 102 | |
7976122072 | Syenecdoche | when a part is used to signify a whole. | 103 | |
7976122073 | Syntax | the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. | 104 | |
7976122074 | Terza rima | a verse from consisting of three-line stanzas in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third of the next | 105 | |
7976122075 | theme | a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the inferred central or dominant idea or concern of a work, the statement a poem makes about its subject. | 106 | |
7976122076 | Tone | the attitude a literary work takes toward its subject and theme; the tenor of a pice of writing based on particular stylistic devices employed by the writer | 107 | |
7976122077 | Tragedy | a drama in which as character is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force. | 108 | |
7976122078 | trochaic | a metrical foot in poetry that is the opposite of iambic. the first syllable is stressed, the second is not. | 109 | |
7976122079 | Turning point | the third part of plot structure, the point at which the action stops rising and begins falling or reversing. | 110 | |
7976122080 | Verisimilitude | the quality or characteristic of being true or real. | 111 | |
7976122081 | Villanelle | a verse form consisting of 19 lines divided into six stanzas-five tercets, and one quatrain. the first and third line of the first tercet thyme, and this rhyme is repeated through each of the next four tercets and in the last two lines of the concluding quatrain | 112 | |
7976122082 | Voice | the acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story, the speaker, the "person" telling the story or poem. | 113 |
AP English Literature and Composition Kaplan Vocabulary 2014 Flashcards
Primary tabs
Need Help?
We hope your visit has been a productive one. If you're having any problems, or would like to give some feedback, we'd love to hear from you.
For general help, questions, and suggestions, try our dedicated support forums.
If you need to contact the Course-Notes.Org web experience team, please use our contact form.
Need Notes?
While we strive to provide the most comprehensive notes for as many high school textbooks as possible, there are certainly going to be some that we miss. Drop us a note and let us know which textbooks you need. Be sure to include which edition of the textbook you are using! If we see enough demand, we'll do whatever we can to get those notes up on the site for you!