Ap English Vocabulary 2

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Anecdote

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a brief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident

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Analogy

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a comparison of similar things, often to explain something unfamiliar with something familiar

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Antihero

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a protagonist who is markedly unheroic

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Abstract

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a writing style that is typically complex and discusses intangible qualities like good and evil

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Academic

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a writing style that means dry and theoretical

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Anticlimax

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an effect that spoils a climax

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Atmosphere

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the mood or tone of a literary work

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Archaism

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the use of deliberately old-fashioned language

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Anthropomorphism

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when inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena are given human characteristics

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Aestheticism

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reverence for beauty; movement that held form is to be valued more than instructive

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Allegory

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a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible

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Allusion

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an indirect or passing reference to an event, person, place, or artistic work

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Anachronism

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an event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out of its natural order of time

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Antecedent

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the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers

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Aphorism

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a terse statement of principal or truth (Life is long, reasoning difficult, etc.)

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Dissonance

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harshness of sound and/or rhyme; thee grating of incompatible sounds

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Bombast

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pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language

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Black humor

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the use of disturbing themes in comedy

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Caricature

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a portrait that exaggerates a facet of personality

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Explicit

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to say or write something directly and clearly

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Ballad

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a long, narrative poem with lots of dialogue and a naive folksy quality

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Canto

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the name for a section in a long work of poetry

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Catharsis

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"cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences, having lived vicariously through experiences presented on stage

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Decorum

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a character's speech must be styled according to her social station, and in accordance with the occasion

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Dirge

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a funeral song of lamentation; a short lyric of mourning

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Doggerel

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Crude, simplistic, often sing-song rhyme

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Dramatic monologue

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when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience

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Elegy

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An elaborately formal lyric poem lamenting or meditating on death

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Enjambment

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the running over of the sense and grammatical structure from one verse line or couplet to the next

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Epic

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a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes in a grand style

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Genre

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a term for a type, species, or class of composition such as novel, poem, short story, and such

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Classic

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an accepted masterpiece

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Feminine rhyme

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lines rhymed by their two final syllables

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Free verse

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poetry without regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern

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Foot

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the basic unit of rhythmic measurement in a line of poetry

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Cadence

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the beat or rhythm of poetry in general sense

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Diction

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the choice of words used in literary work

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Accent

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the stressed portion of a word in poetry

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Implicit

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to say or write something that suggests but never says it directly or clearly

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Interior monologue

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writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character's head

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Hubris

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excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall

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Epitaph

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lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place

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Euphony

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when sounds blend harmoniously

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Conceit

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a startling or unusual metaphor; a metaphor developed over several lines

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In media res

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the technique of beginning a story in the middle of action

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Farce

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slapstick comedy

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Elements

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the basic techniques of each genre of literature

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Aspect

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a trait or characteristic

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Foreshadowing

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an event or statement that suggests a larger event that comes later

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Chorus

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a group of citizens who stand outside the main action in drama and comment on it

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Consonance

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"A flock of sick, black-checkered ducks." the repetition of consonant sounds within words

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Cacophony

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"Come gargling from froth corrupted lungs" harsh clashing sounds

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Colloquialisms

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"I'm toasted. I'm crispy-critter man, and now I've got this wicked headache." words or phrases that are used in everyday conversation

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Alliteration

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"Let us go forth to lead the land we love" the repitition of initial consonant sounds

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Couplet

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But at my back I always hear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near

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Euphemism

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"vertically challenged" instead of short

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Anachronism

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The comic effect of the actor playing Brutus in a production of Julius Caesar who forgets to take off his wristwatch

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Assonance

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"Old king Cole was a merry old soul" the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words

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Connotation

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group and clique; pushy and aggressive; woman and chick

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Gothic

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Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King write in this genre; a final entry in a diary might read "No, NO!! IT COULDN'T BE!"

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Denotation

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the dictionary definition of obese is overweight

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Hyperbole

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You could have knocked me over with a feather

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Coinage

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Oh, man you just pulled a major Wilson a new word invented on the spot

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Enjambment

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Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds

Or bends with the remover to remove

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Foil

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The king and the duke's production of the Royal nonesuch in Huckleberry Finn

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Aside

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In Othello, Iago often informs the audience of his plans and how he will try to achieve his goals

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Burlesque

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Okonkwo is a violent man who acts before he thins; his best friend Obierika is a peaceful man who thinks before he acts

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Apostrophe

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"O liberty, what things are done in thy name." a rhetorical device in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an inanimate object

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Burlesque

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parody