Ap Lit Vocab

Front 1

Connotation

Back 1

The extra tinge or taint of meaning each word carries beyond the dictionary definition

Front 2

Denotation

Back 2

minimal, strict definition of a word as found in a dictionary

Front 3

Alliteration

Back 3

Repeating a consonant/vowel sound in close proximity to others

Front 4

Assonance

Back 4

Repeating identical or similar vowels in nearby words

Front 5

Chiasmus

Back 5

"By day the frolic, and the dance by night."

Day<->Night ; frolic<->dance

Front 6

Consonance

Back 6

rider, reader, raider, and ruder

Front 7

Onomatopoeia

Back 7

Boom!

Front 8

Rhyme (muscular)

Back 8

line ends in a fianl stressed syllable

House / Mouse

Front 9

Rhyme (feminine)

Back 9

line ends in a lightly stressed syllable

Housing / Mousing

Front 10

Rhyme (internal)

Back 10

words rhyme with each other in one line

"I silently laugh at my own cenotaph"

Front 11

Allegory

Back 11

Story where people & actions are symbolic

Front 12

Antithesis

Back 12

Oppsite

"I burn and I freeze"

Front 13

Euphemism

Back 13

Using a gentle phrase instead of a harsh one

"Grandfather has gone to a better place"

Front 14

Hyperbole

Back 14

Exaggeration

Front 15

Irony

Back 15

saying one thing and meaning another

Front 16

Litotes

Back 16

Understatement using a negative

"You know, Einstein is not a bad mathematician."

Front 17

Metaphor

Back 17

Comparison without using like or as

"She is the sun, shining on me"

Front 18

Metonymy

Back 18

Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea

Crown = British royalty

Front 19

Oxymoron

Back 19

opposites

"mud bath"

Front 20

Paradox

Back 20

"without laws, we can have no freedom."

Front 21

Personification

Back 21

"The sun smiled down at me"

Front 22

Pun

Back 22

I didn't understand why the ball was getting closer. Then it hit me.

Front 23

Sarcasm

Back 23

Verbal irony, meant to be degrading/harsh/cruel

Front 24

Simile

Back 24

comparing 2 things, usually using like or as (sometimes other words)

Front 25

Symbol

Back 25

Anything that stands for something else

Front 26

Synectochy

Back 26

"Give us this day our daily bread,"

Bread is referring to all necessities

Front 27

Accent

Back 27

Variation between stressed & unstressed syllables

Front 28

Caesura

Back 28

A pause separating phrases within lines of poetry

Front 29

End-Stopping

Back 29

A line ending in a full pause, often indicated by appropriate punctuation such as a period or semicolon

Front 30

Enjambment

Back 30

No pause, meaning continues onto next line

Front 31

Iamb

Back 31

Unstressed, stressed

"Vermont"

Front 32

Pentameter

Back 32

Five feet in each line

Foot = # of syllables

Front 33

Blank Verse

Back 33

Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents

Front 34

Couplet

Back 34

Two lines of the same metrical length that end in a rhyme to form a complete unit

Front 35

Quatrain

Back 35

stanza of four lines, often rhyming in an ABAB pattern

Front 36

Refrain

Back 36

Like a chorus in a song

Front 37

Apposition

Back 37

"my friend Alice", "Alice" is in apposition to "my friend".

Front 38

Subordination

Back 38

one or more clauses are dependent on the main clause

Front 39

Coordination

Back 39

[Sarah and Xolani] went to town (coordination of NPs)

Front 40

First-person narrative

Back 40

Narrative told from first person; more personal