AP Vocab 181-210 Flashcards
Sestet
Six lines of poetry, OR the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.
Setting
Where and when a story takes place. Can be revealed either directly or indirectly.
Sociological Novel
Narrative which depicts the injustices of society, making moral judgments and offering resolutions.
Sonnet
A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme.
Sonnet, Petrarchan (Italian)
Sonnet composed of an octave and a sestet, usually with the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde.
Sonnet, Shakespearean (English)
Sonnet composed of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.
Spenserian Stanza
A nine-line stanza with the rhyme scheme abaabbcbcc; the first eight lines are written in iambic pentameter and the last line (an alexandrine) is written in iambic hexameter.
Sprung Rhythm
Meter in which the number of stressed syllables in each line is the same, while the number of unstressed syllables can vary. Intended to imitate natural speech patterns.
Stanza
A division of a poem.
Stereotype
A character whose attitudes, words, and actions fall within a widely-held idea of a “type”; may also be applied to plot.
Stichomythia
Dialogue in which the endings and beginnings of each line echo each other, taking on a new meaning with each new line.
Stream of Consciousness
A technique in which prose follows the logic and flow of a character (or multiple characters’) thought processes - associations, tangents, seemingly strange transition - rather than a more ordered narrative.
Style
The way a literary work is written. Style is produced by an author’s choices in diction, syntax, imagery, figurative language, and other literary elements.
Syllabic Verse
Poetry which contains the same number of syllables in each line or follows a pattern of syllables per line.
Symbol
A setting, an object, or an event in a story that carries more than literal meaning and therefore represents something significant to understanding the meaning of a work in literature.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which part of something is used to represent the whole.
Syntax
The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences in a prose passage. This includes word order; the length and structure of sentences, phrases, and clauses; the preference of various parts of speech over others; the use of connectors between and within sentences; and more.
Syllogism
A form of logical reasoning that joins two or more premises to arrive at a conclusion.
Tercet
Three lines of poetry that usually rhyme.
Terza Rima
An interlocking three-line stanza with the rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc ded, etc.
Theme
Underlying ideas or issues in a work.
Thesis
The chief claim that a writer makes in any argumentative or expository piece of writing, usually stated in one sentence.
Tone
A speaker’s attitude or stance as exposed through stylistic choices.
Tragedy
A serious dramatic work in which the protagonist experiences a series of unfortunate reversals due to some character trait, referred to as a tragic flaw. Structurally, they usually progress from order to chaos.
Transcendentalism
A 19th century movement in the Romantic tradition that was a reaction to both rationalism and empiricism. Emphasized the idea that humans can rise above materialism to a higher happiness through simplicity and communion with nature.
Transition
A word or phrase that links ideas, signaling a shift from one idea to another.
Understatement
The presentation of framing something as less important, urgent, important, awful, good, powerful, and so on than it actually is, often for satire or comical effect; the opposite of hyperbole.
Villanelle
A form of poetry in which five tercets (rhyme scheme aba) are followed by a quatrain (rhyme scheme abaa). Lines 1 and 3 of the first tercet repeat alternately as refrains at the end of the subsequent tercets, and are used to conclude the quatrain.
Wit
Cleverness and keen perception.
Zeugma
A technique in which one verb is used with multiple (and often incongruous) objects, so that the definition of the verb is changed, complicated, or made both literal and figurative.
