AP Vocab 1
Section I of AP Vocabulary
Terms
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- flat character
- A character who shows only one main characteristic during the course of a work of literature.
- alliteration
- The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning ofwords that are next to or close to each other.
- enjambment
- A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an end-stopped line in which the grammatical and logical sense is completed within the line.
- conceit
- An extended metaphor; a figure of speech that establishes a parallel between two very different circumstances, settings, actions, or objects.
- catharsis
- The purging of the feelings of pity and fear that, according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience experiences catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe.
- caesura
- A strong pause within a line of verse. Emily Dickinson's verse is characterized by the use of caesuras.
- complication
- An event or action in a work of literature that serves to intensify and develop the conflict.
- climax
- The turning point of the action in the plot of a drama or work of fiction. This turning point often marks the protagonist's taking an action or making a decision to resolve the conflict of the work.
- assonance
- The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a line of poetry or within a sentence of prose.
- diction
- The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values.
- static character
- A character who does not change during the course of a work of literature.
- denotation
- The dictionary meaning of a word. Writers typically play off a word's denotative meaning against its connotations, or suggested and implied associational implications.
- dialogue
- The conversation of characters in a literary work. In fiction, dialogue is typically enclosed within quotation marks. In plays, characters' speech is preceded by their names.
- anecdote
- A very short narrative, often told to illustrate a particular point.
- apostrophe
- An address to an absent or fictional person, to a place, or to an inanimate object as though it were living and present.
- Antagonist
- A character or force against which another character struggles.
- deus ex machina
- A god who resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention.
- characterization
- The means by which writers present and reveal character. Although techniques of characterization are complex, writers typically reveal characters through their speech, dress, manner, and actions.
- aside
- Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play.
- connotation
- The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning. Poets especially tend to use words rich in connotation.
- caricature
- Exaggeration or distortion of a character's physical, emotional, and moral characteristics, for the purpose of comic criticism.
- allusion
- A reference to an event, a person, a location, a work of art, or an object that is not included in the work itself.
- couplet
- A pair of rhymed lines, which sometimes forms a separate stanza of a poem. Shakespeare's sonnets end in rhymed couplets, as in "For thy sweet love remembered such
- catastrophe
- The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement or falling action of a play.
- blank verse
- A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
- allegory
- A narrative in which the characters, setting, and action stand for specific concepts, ideas, or principles. Allegory often takes the form of a story in which the characters represent moral qualities.
- exposition
- The explanation at the beginning of a work of literature of details related to characters, plot, and setting, which readers need to know to understand the action of the work. It is the first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background information is provided.
- dynamic character
- A character who changes in the course of a work of literature.
- dramatic irony
- Occurs when there is a discrepancy between what a character knows and what the audience knows.
- epigram
- A brief witty poem, often satirical.
- elegy
- A poem that laments the dead.
- Denouement
- The resolution of the plot of a literary work; in a comedy, the unravelling of the complications of the plot end in success for the protagonist, while in tragedy, the denouement embodies the protagonist's downfall (often death or banishment).
- chorus
- A group of characters who comment on the characters and action in a play without participating in the action themselves. They often represent the view of the general society at the time and in the place at which the play is set.
- round character
- A character who demonstrates complexity and many qualities during the course a work of literature
- comic relief
- The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments. The comedy of scenes offering comic relief typically parallels the tragic action that the scenes interrupt.
- epic
- A long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero. Epics typically chronicle the origins of a civilization and embody its central values
- conflict
- The struggle between two forces, in a literary work. Conflicts may include interior conflict between two opposing emotions or commitments within the character, as well as external conflicts, such as characters opposing the mores of their society, forces of nature, or other characters.
- convention
- A customary feature of a literary work, such as the use of a chorus in Greek tragedy, the inclusion of an explicit moral in a fable, or the use of a particular rhyme scheme in a sonnet.
- dialect
- A variant of language different from that regarded as formal usage in a particular culture. Distinctive pronunciations of words, non-standard grammatical constructions, and innovative vocabulary may characterize dialect.
- end rhyme
- The matching of the final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words that occur at the end of lines of poetry.
- comedy
- A play in which the conflicts of the plot and the complications faced by the characters are not deeply serious. The action and dialogue of the play generally amuse the audience, and when the characters experience reversals of fortune, they are generally for the better. The typical ending for a comedy is the marriage of one or more than one pairs of characters.
- ballad
- A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, characterized by swift action and narrated in a direct style.
- dramatic monologue
- A type of poem in which a speaker addresses a silent listener. As readers, we overhear the speaker in a dramatic monologue.