AP Test Vocabulary Flashcards
Alliteration
Sound device; repetition of beginning consonant sounds
Allusion
Figure of speech that makes a brief reference to an historical or literary figure, event, or object
Anachronism
Something out of its place in time or history (ex: Julius Caesar riding a motorcycle)
Anapest
Meter having two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases for rhetorical or poetic effect
Anticlimax
The intentional use of elevated language to describe the trivial or common place
Anti-Hero
A protagonist who is the antithesis of the hero
Aphorism
Brief statement that expresses an observation on life, usually intended as a wise observation
Apostrophe
Addressing someone or something, usually not present, as though present (speaking directly to something non-human)
Apotheosis
A larger than life presence
Aside
A statement delivered by an actor in such a way that the other characters onstage are presumed not to have heard him
Assonance
Similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words, especially in a line or verse
Asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words and phrases
Bathos
An unintentional anticlimax through a shift from the sublime to the ridiculous which can result from the use of overly elevated language to describe trivial subject matter
Blank Verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter metrical verse with no ending rhyme (Shakespeare)
Cacophony
A combination of harsh, unpleasant sounds which creates an effect of discordance
Caesura
A pause for effect in the middle of a line of poetry
Chiasmus
Repetition in successive clauses which are usually parallel in syntax (ex: “to stop too fearful, and to faint to go”)
Conceit
An extended metaphor, two unlike things that are compared in several different ways
Concrete Poetry
Where the actual typeset layout of the poem suggests the topic (ex: a poem about trees with words shaped like a tree)
Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in words near each other in a line or lines of poetry
Couplet
A pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter; may be a separate stanza
Dactyl
Three syllable thing consisting of an accent syllable followed by the unaccented syllable
Deus Ex Machina
An unexpected, artificial, or improbably character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or dram to resolve a situation or untangle a plot
Diction
An author’s choice of words
Didactic Verse
A term for a poem that teach, almost preaches
Dramatic Irony
Irony in which the character use words which mean one thing to them but another to those who understand the situation better
Elegy
Lyrical poem about death
End Rhyme
Schematic rhyme that comes at the ends of lines of verse
End Stop Line
Line in poetry that ends with a complete pause created by punctuation
Enjambment
line of verse that carries over into the next line without a pause of any kind
Epigram
a witty saying, usually at the end of a poem
Epithet
A nickname or appellation
Euphony
a quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds
Eye Rhyme
a form of rhyme wherein the look rather than the sound is important “cough” and “tough”
False Dictionary
two extremes in a continuum of intermediate possibilities
Free Verse
unrhymed poetry with lines of varying lengths containing no specific metrical pattern
Hamartia
A tragic flaw or error in judgment
Homily
A long speech denouncing someone or something
Hyperbole
Overstatement
Gustatory Imagery
Imagery appealing to the sense of taste
In Medias Res
The story starts in the middle
Internal Rhyme
Rhyming within lines of verse instead of at the ends of lines
Inversion
Reversal of the normal order of words and phrases in a sentence (ex: adjective after a noun)
Inverted Sentence
Reversing the normal subject-verb compliment order
Lampoon
A biting satire that makes its subject appear ludicrous
Litotes
A type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative contrary
Metaphor
A figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlikely quatities without using “like” or “as”
Metonymy
Substituting a word naming an object for another word closely associated with it (ex: pay tribute to the crown)
Motif (Leitmotiv)
A recurring concept or story element in literature
Paralipsis
Withholding to the end some piece of information crucial to the reader’s understanding
Pathos
Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering
Paradox
Statement that is self contradictory but makes sense; irony is often built into a paradox
Personification
Figure of speech in which inanimate objects are given qualities of humans
Polysyndeton
The repetition of a number of conjunctions in close succession
Pun
A play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time
Satire
Ridicule the subject of the work
Simile
A figure of speech which takes the form of a comparison between two things using “like” or “as”
Syllepsis
Expression used to perform two syntactic functions (ex: the soldier emerged in dust and glory)
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole or the whole part (ex: wheels for an automobile)
Tone
Expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject
Verbal Irony
A kind of irony in which words are used to suggest the opposite of their actual meaning
Villanelle
A poem with five triplets and a final quatrain
Zeugma
A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different sense (ex: John and his license expired last week) or to two other of which it semantically suits only one (ex: with weeping eyes and hearts)
