AP Literature Vocab.

The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases/clause

A reference to a literary or historical event/person/place.

A type or class of literature.

Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that present a single idea or connection.

A pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than metrical patterns.

A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables followed by one unstressed.

A poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation.

A metrical foot in poetry with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

The verse that most resembles common speech, consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter.

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words/phrases/grammar

A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one unstressed.

A poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, the achievements of a mighty hero(s).

A detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work.

The language and speech of a specific area, region, or group of people.

The repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants but with a change in vowels.

What is suggested by a word, apart from what it outright states, often the implied meaning.

An address or invocation to something that is inanimate.

A comparison of two unlikely things drawn out in a piece of literature, an extended metaphor.

The specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect.

A brief story or tale told by a character in the literary work.

A depiction in which a character's characteristics are exaggerated to render them absurd.

The repetition of a similar initial sound, usually in closely related syllables.

Overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.

Ordinary language, the vernacular.

The sense expressed by the tone of voice and or the mood of a piece of writing

The part of the structure that sets the scene introduces characters and establishes a situation

Any force that is in opposition to the main character.

A common stanza form consisting of a quatrain alternating between four-beat & three-beat lines.

The language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal.

A narrative poem that is, or originally was, meant to be sung.

When an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative.

A figure in which the order of the terms in the first two lines is reversed in the second two.

A repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in close stressed syllables.

The continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next.

A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters/behavior/ setting show significance.

Poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths/lack of traditional meter/nonrhyming lines

A direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word.

That part of plot structure in which the complications of the rising action are untangled.

To hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand.

A play or scene that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and or slapstick humor.

A legend or short moral story often using animals as characters.

Recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images in literature

A monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience.