AP Literary Elements (Vocab) (H-P (Lovecraft))

Question 1

HYPERBOLE

Answer 1

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I told you once,
I’ve told you a million times….”

Question 2

IMAGERY

Answer 2

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience

Question 3

INVERSION

Answer 3

the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase

Question 4

IRONY

Answer 4

a discrepancy between appearances and reality

Question 5

VERBAL IRONY

Answer 5

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else

Question 6

SITUATIONAL IRONY

Answer 6

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what
would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

Question 7

DRAMATIC IRONY

Answer 7

is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one
thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better

Question 8

JUXTAPOSITION

Answer 8

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next
to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a
wet, black bough.” Juxtaposition is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or
metaphors. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Question 9

LITOTES

Answer 9

a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form:
Hawthorne— “…the wearers of petticoat and farthingale…stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not
unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng…”

Google definition:
(ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won’t be sorry, meaning you’ll be glad ).

Question 10

LOOSE SENTENCE

Answer 10

one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units. See
periodic sentence. Hawthorne: “Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity to see
whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of this footsteps,
sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure.”

Question 11

METAPHOR

Answer 11

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific
words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.

Question 12

EXTENDED METAPHOR

Answer 12

a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).

Question 13

DEAD METAPHOR

Answer 13

is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: “The
head of the house”, “the seat of the government”, “a knotty problem” are all dead metaphors.

Question 14

MIXED METAPHOR

Answer 14

is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually
or imaginatively incompatible. “The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas.”

Question 15

METONYMY

Answer 15

a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with
it. “We requested from the crown support for our petition.” The crown is used to represent the monarch.

Question 16

MOOD

Answer 16

An atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected.

Question 17

MOTIF

Answer 17

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by
one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut
uses “So it goes” throughout Slaughterhouse-Five to remind the reader of the senselessness of death.

Question 18

MOTIVATION

Answer 18

the reasons for a character’s behavior.

Question 19

ONOMATOPOEIA

Answer 19

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. “Pop.” “Zap.”

Question 20

OXYMORON

Answer 20

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. “Jumbo shrimp.”
“Pretty ugly.” “Bitter-sweet”

Question 21

PARABLE

Answer 21

a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life.

Question 22

PARADOX

Answer 22

a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.

Question 23

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

Answer 23

(parallelism) the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures.

Question 24

PARODY

Answer 24

a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer’s style.

Question 25

PERSONIFICATION

Answer 25

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

Question 26

PLOT

Answer 26

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.

Question 27

EXPOSITION

Answer 27

introduces characters, situation, and setting

Question 28

RISING ACTION

Answer 28

complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well)

Question 29

CLIMAX

Answer 29

that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called “turning point”

Question 30

RESOLUTION

Answer 30

the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the
denouement.

Question 31

POINT OF VIEW

Answer 31

the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

Question 32

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Answer 32

one of the characters tells the story.

Question 33

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Answer 33

an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus
on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

Question 34

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

Answer 35

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no
comment on any characters or events.

Question 36

PROTAGONIST

Answer 36

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. Usually the hero or
anti-hero; in a tragic hero, like John Proctor of The Crucible, there is always a hamartia, or tragic flaw in his character
which will lead to his downfall.

Question 37

PUN

Answer 37

a “play on words” based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different
things.