English Lit. Ap Terms

Front 1

Accent

Back 1

The stressed portion of the word

Front 2

Allegory

Back 2

An extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story

Front 3

Alliteration

Back 3

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close to one another

Front 4

Allusion

Back 4

A reference to another work or famous figure assumed to be well known enough to be recognized by the reader

Front 5

Anachronism

Back 5

An event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out of order in time

Front 6

Analogy

Back 6

A comparison of two similar but different things, usually to clarify an action or relationship

Front 7

Anecdote

Back 7

A short, simple narrarive of an incident

Front 8

Antihero

Back 8

A protagonist who is markedly unheroic

Front 9

Aphorism

Back 9

A short, often witty statement of a principle or a truth about life

Front 10

Aposteophe

Back 10

Usually in poetry; device of calling out to an imaginary, dead or absent person, or to a place, thing or personified abstraction either to begin a poem or to make a dramatic break in thought somewhere within the poem

Front 11

Archaism

Back 11

The use of deliberately old-fashioned language

Front 12

Aside

Back 12

A brief speech or comment that an actor makes to the audience, supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage

Front 13

Assonance

Back 13

Repetition of vowel sounds between different consonants

Front 14

Ballad

Back 14

Long narrative poem that presents a single dramatic episode, which is often tragic or violent

Front 15

Folk Ballad

Back 15

One of the earliest forms of literature, it was usually sung and passed down orally from singer to singer

Front 16

Literary Ballad

Back 16

Also called an art ballad, this is a ballad that imitates the form and spirit of the folk ballad, but is more polished and uses a higher level of poetic diction

Front 17

Bathos

Back 17

When the Writing strains for grandeur it can't support and tries to jerk tears from every little hiccup

Front 18

Blank Verse

Back 18

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

Front 19

Burlesque

Back 19

Broad parody

Front 20

Cacophony

Back 20

Harsh, awkward or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose

Front 21

Canto

Back 21

The name for a section division in a long work of poetry

Front 22

Caricature

Back 22

Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of appearance or facet of personality

Front 23

Catharsis

Back 23

The emotional release that an audience member experiences as a result of watching a tragedy

Front 24

Chorus

Back 24

In Greek drama, a group of characters who comments on the action taking place on stage

Front 25

Classicism

Back 25

The principles and styles admired in the classics of Greek and Roman literature

Front 26

Coinage

Back 26

A new word, usually invented on the spot

Front 27

Colloquialism

Back 27

A word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing that is sometimes inappropriate in formal writing

Front 28

Conceit

Back 28

An elaborate, starting or unusual figure of speech in which two seemingly dissimilar things or situations are compared or when a metaphor is developed and expanded upon over several lines

Front 29

Connotation and Denotation

Back 29

The denotation of a word is its literal meaning. The connotations are everything else that the world suggests or implies.