Words you Need to Know for the AP Exam
ABSTRACT
An abbreviated synopsis of a longer work of scholarship or research.
ADAGE
A saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language.
ALLEGORY
A story in which a second meaning is to be read beneath the surface.
ALLITERATION
The repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines in a poem.
ALLUSION
A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea.
AMBIGUITY
A vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretations.
ANACHRONISM
A person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is
set.
ANALOGY
A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things.
ANNOTATION
A brief explanation, summary, or evaluation of a text or work of literature.
ANTAGONIST
A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist produces tension or conflict.
ANTITHESIS
A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences, as in the
following: "They promised freedom but provided slavery." "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for
your country."
APHORISM
A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.
APOLLONIAN
In contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior.
APOSTROPHE
A location that addresses a person or personified thing not present. An example: "Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I
detest you!"
ARCHETYPE
An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form.
ASSONANCE
The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines of a poem.
BALLAD
A simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited.
BARD
A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment.
BATHOS
The use of insincere or overdone sentimentality.
BELLE-LETTRES
French term for the world of books, criticism, and literature in general.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A list of works cited or otherwise relevant to a subject or other work.
BILDUNGSROMAN
A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as a hero travels in quest of a
goal.
BOMBAST
Inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects.
BURLESQUE
A work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque imitation.
CACOPHONY
Grating, inharmonious sounds.
CAESURA
A pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often marked by punctuation.
CANON
The works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied.
CARICATURE
A grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things.
CARPE DIEM
Literally, "seize the day"; enjoy life while you can, a common theme in literature.
CATHARSIS
A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror of a dramatic tragedy.
CLASSIC
A highly regarded work of literature or other art form that has withstood the test of time.
CLASSICAL, CLASSICISM
Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and
restraint.
CLIMAX
The high point, or turning point, of a story or play.
CONCEIT
A witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language.
CONNOTATON
The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation.
CONSONANCE
The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry.
COUPLET
A pair of rhyming lines in a poem. Two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter is sometimes called a heroic couplet.
DENOTATION
The dictionary definition of a word.
DENOUEMENT
The resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work of fiction.
DEUS EX MACHINA
In literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem.
DICTION
The choice of words in oral and written discourse.
DIONYSIAN
As distinguished from Apollonian, the word refers to sensual, pleasure-seeking impulses.
DRAMATIC IRONY
A circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character.
ELEGY
A poem or prose selection that laments or mediates on the passing or death of something or someone of value.
ELLIPSIS
Three periods [. . .] indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation.
ELLIPTICL
CONSTRUCTION
A sentence containing a deliberate omission of words. In the sentence "May was hot and June the same," the
verb was is omitted from the second clause.
EMPATHY
A feeling of association or identification with an object or person.
END-STOPPED
A term that describes a line of poetry that ends with a natural pause often indicated by a mark of punctuation.
ENJAMBMENT
In poetry, the use of successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them.
EPIC
A narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero.
EPIGRAM
A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement.
EPONYMOUS
A term for the title character of a work of literature.
EUPHEMISM
A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term; pass away is a euphemism for die.
EXEGESIS
A detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature.
EXPOSE
A piece of writing that reveals weaknesses, faults, frailties, or otter shortcomings.
EXPOSITION
The background information and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature.
EXPLICATION
The interpretation or analysis of a text.
EXTENDED
METAPHOR
A series of comparisons between two unlike objects.
FABLE
A short tale often with nonhuman characters from which a useful lesson may be drawn.
FALLING ACTION
The action in a play or story that occurs after the climax and that leads to the conclusion and often to the resolution
FANTASY
A story containing unreal, imaginary features.
FARCE
A comedy that contains an extravagant and nonsensical disregard of seriousness, although it may have a serious, scornful
purpose.
FIGURE OF
SPEECH,
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
In contrast to literal language, figurative language implies meanings. Figures of speech include metaphors, similes, and
personification, among many others.
FIRST-PERSON
A narrative told by a character involved in a story, using first-person pronouns such as I and we.
FOOT
A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line.
FORESHADOWING
Providing hints of things to come in a story or play.
FRAME
A structure that provides premise or setting for a narrative. A group of pilgrims exchanging stories while on the
road is the frame for Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
FREE VERSE
A kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet.
GENRE
A term used to describe literary forms, such as novel, play, and essay.
GOTHIC NOVEL
A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terrors pervades the action.
HARANGUE
A forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade.
HUBRIS
The excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death.
HUMANISM
A belief that emphasizes faith and optimism in human potential and creativity.
HYPERBOLE
Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.
IDYLL
A lyric poem or passage tat describes a kind of ideal life or place.
IMAGE
A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or felt.
IN MEDIAS RES
A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.
INDIRECT QUOTATION
A rendering of a quotation in which actual words are not stated but only approximated or paraphrased.
INVECTIVE
A direct verbal assault; a denunciation.
NARRATIVE
IRONY
A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light
sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected.
KENNING
A device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities, as
in "ring-giver" for king and "whale-road" for ocean.
LAMPOON
A mocking, satirical assault on a person or situation.
LIGHT VERSE
A variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, but sometimes with a satirical thrust.
LITOTES
A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. Example: He is
not a bad dancer.
LYRIC POETRY
Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject.
MAXIM
A saying or proverb expressing common wisdom or truth.
MELODRAMA
A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response.
METAPHYSICAL
POETRY
The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and
expresses the complexities of love and life.
METER
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry.
METONYMY
A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. Example: "The
White House says..."
MIDDLE ENGLISH
The language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.
MOCK EPIC
A parody of traditional epic form.
MODE
The general form, pattern, and manner of expression of a work of literature.
MONTAGE
A quick succession of images or impressions used to express an idea.
MOOD
The emotional tone in a work of literature.
MORAL
A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature.
MOTIF
A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.
MUSE
One of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts. The imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or
writer.
MYTH
An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group of society.
NARRATIVE
A form of verse or prose that tells a story.
NATURALISM
A term often used as a synonym for realism; also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and
pessimistic.
NON SEQUITUR
A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before.
NOVEL OF MANNERS
A novel focusing on and describing social customs and habits of a particular social group.
ODE
A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.
OLD ENGLISH
The Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approxiamately 450 and 1150 A.D.
OMNISCIENT NARRATOR
A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other
elements of the story.
ONOMATOPOEIA
The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning. Example: bubbling, murmuring brooks.
OTTAVA RIMA
An eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem.
OXYMORON
A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect. Examples: loud silence,
jumbo shrimp.
PARABLE
A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived.
PARADOX
A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.
PARODY
An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.
PARAPHRASE
A version of a text put into simpler, everyday, words.
PASTORAL
A work of literature dealing with rural life.
PATHETIC FALLACY
Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.
PATHOS
That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.
PENTAMETER
A verse with five poetic feet per line.
PERIODIC SENTENCE
A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In
other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support.
PERSONA
The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader, a viewer, or the world at large.
PERSONIFICATION
A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics.
PLOT
The interrelationship among the events in a story; the plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, and resolution.
PICARESQUE NOVEL
An episodic novel about a rougelike wanderer who lives off his wits.
POINT OF VIEW
The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to the story or subject matter of a poem. A story told in the first person
has aninternal point of view; an observer uses an external point of view.
ROTAGONIST
The main character in a work of literature.
PSEUDONYM
A false name or alias used by writers.
PULP FICTION
Novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots.
PUN
A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings.
QUATRAIN
A four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem.
REALISM
The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect.
RHETORIC
The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience.
RHETORICAL
STANCE
Language that conveys a speaker's attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject.
RHYME
The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry.
RHYME SCHEME
The pattern of rhymes within a given poem.
RHYTHM
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry.
ROMAN A CLEF
French for a novel in which historical events and actual people appear under the guise of fiction.
ROMANCE
An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places.
SARCASM
A sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt; different from irony, which is more subtle.
SATIRE
A literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change.