List of literary vocab words for AP English
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| 214758429 | Allegory | story or poem in which character, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities | |
| 214758430 | Alliteration | repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together | |
| 214758431 | Allusion | reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, etc. An indirect reference to something | |
| 214758432 | ambiguity | An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way- this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness and detracts from the work | |
| 214758433 | Analogy | Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike | |
| 214758434 | Anaphora | Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent | |
| 214758435 | Anastrophe | inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. it is a fancy word for inversion. | |
| 214758436 | Anecdote | Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serves as an example of something, often shows character of an individual | |
| 214758437 | Antagonist | Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story | |
| 214758438 | Antimetabole | The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order | |
| 214758439 | Antithesis | Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure | |
| 214758440 | Antihero | A protagonist who lacks one or more of the conventional qualities attributed to a hero. Instead of being dignified, brave, idealistic, or purposeful, the antihero may be cowardly, self-interested, alienated, or weak. | |
| 214758441 | Anthropomorphism | attributing human characteristics to an animal or imanimate object (personification) | |
| 214758442 | Aphorism | brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram | |
| 214758443 | Apostrophe | Calling out to an imaginary, dead or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess it is called an invocation | |
| 214758444 | Apposition | a word or phrase placed next to another word in order to define or identify it | |
| 214758445 | Assonance | the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together | |
| 214758446 | Asyndeton | Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: X,Y,Z | |
| 214758447 | Balance | Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance. | |
| 214758448 | Caesura | a break or beat written into a line of poetry | |
| 214758449 | Characterization | the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character | |
| 214758450 | Static Character | a character that does not change from the beginning of the story to the end | |
| 214758451 | Dynamic Character | a character who undergoes change during the story | |
| 214758452 | Flat Character | a character who embodies a single quality and who does not develop in the course of a story | |
| 214758453 | Round Character | a character who is well developed by the author and who many characteristics | |
| 214758454 | Chiasmus | In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed | |
| 214758455 | Cliche | an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off | |
| 214758456 | Colloquialism | a word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing (y'all, ain't) | |
| 214758457 | Comedy | A story in ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters | |
| 214758458 | Conceit | an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Extended metaphor | |
| 214758459 | Connotation | The associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition | |
| 214758460 | Couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry | |
| 214758461 | Dialect | A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. | |
| 214758462 | Diction | A speaker or writer's choice of words | |
| 214758463 | Didactic | form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking | |
| 214758464 | Elegy | poem which expresses sorow over a death of someone for whom the poet cared, or on another solemn theme | |
| 214758465 | Epic | a long narrative poem, written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society | |
| 214758466 | Epigraph | A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme | |
| 214758467 | Epithet | An adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality, Homeric epithets are often compound adjectives ("swift-footed Achilles") that become an almost formulaic part of a name. Epithets can be abusive or offensive but are not so by definition. For example, athletes may be proud of given epithets ("The Rocket"). | |
| 214758468 | Essay | a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writter discusses some aspect of a subject | |
| 214758469 | Fable | a brief story that is told in prose or poetry that leads to a moral | |
| 214758470 | Farce | a comedy filled with ridiculous or absurd happenings; broad or far-fetched humor; a ridiculous sham | |
| 214758471 | Figurative Language | Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally but are used to describe. | |
| 214758472 | Flashback | a scene or event from the past that appears in a narrative out of chronological order, to fill in information or explain something in the present | |
| 214758473 | Foil | a character whose personality and attitude contrast sharply with those of another | |
| 214758474 | Foreshadowing | the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot | |
| 214758475 | Free verse | Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme | |
| 214758476 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor | |
| 214758477 | Imagery | The use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, thing, place, or experience | |
| 214758478 | Inversion | The reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase. | |
| 214758479 | Irony | the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning | |
| 214758480 | Verbal irony | A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant | |
| 214758481 | Situational irony | occurs when the outcome of a work is unexpected, or events turn out to be the opposite from what one had expected | |
| 214758482 | Dramatic irony | (theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play | |
| 214758483 | Juxtaposition | The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development | |
| 214758484 | Litotes | a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite (describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, "It was not a pretty picture.") | |
| 214758485 | Local Color | use of specific details describing dialect, dress, customs, and scenery associated with a particular region | |
| 214758486 | Lyric Poem | a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker | |
| 214758487 | Metaphor | a figure of speech comparing to unlike things without using like or as | |
| 214758488 | Extended Metaphor | A metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it | |
| 214758489 | Dead Metaphor | a metaphor that has become so overused that we no longer realize that is a figure of speech | |
| 214758490 | Mixed Metaphor | a combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect | |
| 214758491 | Metonymy | A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it | |
| 214758492 | Mood | An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected | |
| 214758493 | Motif | A recurring theme, subject or idea | |
| 214758494 | Motivation | The reasons for a characters' behavior | |
| 214758495 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. | |
| 214758496 | Parable | a short narrative designed to teach a moral lesson | |
| 214758497 | Paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. | |
| 214758498 | Parallel Structure | the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures | |
| 214758499 | Parody | A work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style | |
| 214758500 | Personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | |
| 214758501 | Plot | The series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline | |
| 214758502 | Point of View | the perspective from which a story is told | |
| 214758503 | First Person Point of View | a character in the story is actually telling the story himself/herself | |
| 214758504 | Third Person Point of View | someone on the outside is looking in and telling the story as he/she see it unfold. Focuses on the thoughts and feelings of only one character | |
| 214758505 | Omniscient Point of View | an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters. | |
| 214758506 | Objective Point of View | a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events. | |
| 214758507 | Polysyndeton | sentence which uses a conjunction with no commas to separate the items in a series. X and Y and Z | |
| 214758508 | Protagonist | the principal character in a work of fiction | |
| 214758509 | Pun | a play on words that have multiple meanings | |
| 214758510 | Quatrain | A stanza or group of four lines of poetry | |
| 214758511 | Refrain | a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song | |
| 214758512 | Rhythm | the arrangement of spoken words alternating stressed and unstressed elements | |
| 214758513 | Rhetorical question | a question asked for an effect, not actually requiring an answer | |
| 214758514 | Romance | A story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful | |
| 214758515 | Satire | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision | |
| 214758516 | Simile | a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as, than or resembles. | |
| 214758517 | Soliloquy | A long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage | |
| 214758518 | Stereotype | a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any individuality, often based on religious , social, or racial prejudices | |
| 214758519 | Stream of Consciousness | A style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind | |
| 214758520 | Style | the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone and syntax. | |
| 214758521 | Symbol | A person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself | |
| 214758522 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. | |
| 214758523 | Syntax | Refers to the sentence choices the author makes | |
| 214758524 | Tone | the attitude a writer takes towards the subject of a work, the characters in it, revealed through diction, figurative language and organization | |
| 214758525 | Understatement | saying less than one means | |
| 214758526 | Unity | Unified parts of the writing are related to one central idea or organizing principle. Dependent upon coherence | |
| 214758527 | Vernacular | the everyday language of people in a region or country | |
| 214758528 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate sounds |
