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AP LIT POETY VOCAB
N/A
98
Language - English
12th Grade
04/08/2012

Additional Language - English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
ALLITERATION
Definition
Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of successive words (round and round the rugged rocks)
Term
ANTICLIMAX
Definition
A letdown used for the effect of humor or contrast
Term
ANTITHESIS
Definition
Opposite
Term
APOSTROPHE
Definition
Way of addressing s.o./s.t. invisible or not usually spoken to
Term
ARCHETYPES
Definition
Mold for a character
Term
ASSONANCE
Definition
Repetition of the same vowel sound (“all the awful auguries,” “eyes like sapphires shining bright”)
Term
BLANK VERSE
Definition
Best-known one-line pattern in English: unrhymed iambic pentameter
Term
CACOPHONY
Definition
A harsh sounding words or phrase (“grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw), like your lips/teeth/tongue have to work to say it
Term
CADENCE
Definition
Rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words
Term
CAESURA
Definition
Any pause in a line of poetry after any word in the line, occurs at a mark of punctuation
Term
CATASTROPHE
Definition
In drama (esp. Shakespeare), the last act.
Term
CATHARSIS
Definition
Purging of pity and fear felt by audience (usually Greek)  
Term
COLLOQUIAL
Definition
Language  used that is more informal (slangy/”normal”) than formal
Term
COMIC RELIEF
Definition
Passages of clownish humor (in the midst of drama) e.g. Hamlet and the gravediggers.
Term
CONCEIT
Definition
Elaborate comparisons (My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun)
Term

 

CONCLUSION/

RESOLUTION

Definition
The ending of a story; decisive ending
Term
CONFLICT
Definition
A character wants something, something/someone is in the way
Term
CONNOTATION
Definition
Meaning that is figurative/symbolic (opposite of denotation-dictionary definition)
Term
CONSONANCE
Definition
Rhymed words/phrases have the same beginning and ending consonant sounds but different vowels (chitter/chatter)
Term
CONTROLLING IMAGE
Definition
Literary device employing repetition so as to stress the theme of a work or a particular symbol
Term
COUPLET
Definition
Two successive rhyming lines          
Term
DACTYL
Definition
A three syllable foot consisting a heavy stress with two lights (notable, parable, terrible)
Term
DENOTATION
Definition
Dictionary definition of a word
Term
DEUS EX MACHINA
Definition
God in the machine; characters are “saved” by deities/forces
Term
DEVICES OF SOUND
Definition
Techniques of deploying the sound of words: rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia
Term
DIALECT
Definition
The speech of a region or social group, usually shown by unique words, expressions, and pronunciation.
Term
DIALOGUE
Definition
Speeches of two or more characters
Term
DIARY
Definition
Daily record, usually private, esp. of the writer's own experiences, observations, feelings, attitudes, etc
Term
DIRGE
Definition
Funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead
Term
DISSONANCE
Definition
Inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; cacophony
Term
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
Definition
Type of poem (taken from theatre) in which a speaker addresses an internal listener or the reader at length (see soliloquy)
Term
ELEGY/ELEGIAC
Definition

 

A mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or a lament for the dead; a poem written in elegiac meter

 

Term
END-STOPPED LINE
Definition
A line ending in a full pause, usually w/a period or semi-colon
Term
ENJAMBMENT
Definition
A line having no end punctuation but running over to the next line
Term
EPIGRAM (EPIGRAMMATIC)
Definition
Short, witty poem, usually in couplet, that makes a humorous or satiric point
Term
EPILOGUE
Definition
Concluding part added to the end of a literary work
Term
EUPHEMISM
Definition
The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt; the expression so substituted: “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”
Term
EUPHONY
Definition
When the sounds of words working with meaning pleases the mind and ear (think loveliness in poetry)
Term
EXTENDED METAPHOR
Definition
a metaphor that is extended through a stanza or entire poem, often by multiple comparisons of unlike objects or ideas
Term
FARCE
Definition
Humorous play whose plot depends on a situation rather than character development.
Term
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Definition
Writing that uses figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, and irony
Term
FOIL
Definition
Character in the story that helps balance the protagonist, provides contrast
Term
FOOT
Definition
Measured combinations of heavy and light stresses, (e.g. iamb or dactyl)
Term
FREE VERSE
Definition
Poetry based on the natural rhythms of phrases and normal pauses, not metrical feet
Term
GENRE
Definition
Various styles of writing (e.g. drama, fiction, non-fiction, tragedy, poetry, essay, memoires)
Term
HUBRIS
Definition
A character’s excessive pride  (Oedipus)
Term
HUMOR/COMEDY
Definition
Lol
Term
HYPERBOLE
Definition
Exaggeration of the truth/overstatement
Term
IAMB
Definition
A two-syllable foot consisting of a light stress followed by a heave stress (e.g. the winds, or I want)
Term
IMAGERY
Definition
Descriptions of sensual (having to do with touch, smell, sight, taste, sound) experiences
Term
IMPLIED METAPHOR
Definition
Comparison that uses neither a connective verb or form of to be: “my love has red petals and sharp thorns”
Term
INVECTIVE
Definition
Vehement or violent criticism; an insulting or abusive word or expression
Term
INVERSION
Definition
Any change from a basic word order or syntactic sequence, e.g. the placement of a subject after an auxiliary verb in a question or after the verb in an exclamation, as “When will you go?” and “How beautiful is the rose!”
Term
LITOTES
Definition
Understatement
Term
LYRIC
Definition
Short poem written in a repeating stanzaic form, often designed to be set to music
Term
MEASURE
Definition
A short rhythmical movement or arrangement, as in poetry or music
Term
METAPHYSICAL
Definition
A far-fetched and ingenious extended comparison (or "conceit") using unusual analogies for the poet's ideas that are startlingly obscure or shockingly commonplace
Term
METER
Definition
The number of feet within a line of traditional verse e.g. iambic pentameter referring to a line containing five iambs
Term
METONYMY
Definition
Name of s.t. is substituted for another thing closely associated with it e.g. “The White House” is used for the president
Term
OCTAVE
Definition
The first 8 lines of an Italian sonnet, unified by topic, rhythm, and rhyme
Term
ODE
Definition
A stanzaic poetic form (usually long, to contrast it with a song) with varying line lengths and sometimes intricate rhyme schemes
Term
ONOMATOPOEIA
Definition
Representation of a thing/action by a word imitating its sound (boom, crash, gurgle)
Term
OXYMORON
Definition
Military intelligence/cold fire; description that places 2 words/ideas together that seem to contradict each other
Term

 

PARADOX (paradoxical)

 

Definition
A statement that seems contradictory, but makes some sense (“I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night”)
Term
PARODY (SELF-PARODY)
Definition
A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing: his hilarious parody of Hamlet's soliloquy
Term
PATHOS
Definition
The quality/power in literature of evoking pity/compassion
Term
PENTAMETER
Definition
A line of five metrical feet
Term
PERSONAFICIATION
Definition
A thing/animal/abstract term (love/truth) is made human           
Term
PROLOGUE
Definition
Introductory part of a play, novel or poem
Term
PROSE (think paragraphs rather than lines)
Definition
Either prose fiction (short story or novel) or prose poem (laid out to look like prose employing methods of verse)
Term
PROVERB
Definition
A short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought; adage
Term
PUN
Definition
Play on words (A man saying, “I can’t conceive madam, can you?”)
Term
QUATRAIN
Definition
A four line stanza or poetic unit (united by rhyme)
Term
REFRAIN
Definition
A phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, esp. at the end of each stanza; chorus
Term
REPETITION
Definition
(Anaphora) the repetition of the same word or phrase throughout a work or a section of a work. The effect is to lend weight and emphasis
Term
RHETORICAL QUESITON
Definition
A question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply, as “What is so rare as a day in June?”
Term
RHYME
Definition
When two or more words/phrases contain an identical or similar vowel sounds.
Term
RHYME (TYPES)
Definition

 

END/EXTERNAL (rhyme at the end of a line)

 

FEMININE (rhyme of 2 or more syll. w/a stress on a syll. Other than the last: TURtle/FERtile; intelLECTual, henPECKED you all)

 

INTERNAL (rhymes occurring within lines of a poem)

MASCULINE (rhyme of 1-syll. words or stressed final syll: reMORSE/diVORCE)

Term
ROMANTICISM
Definition
Belief and assumption that reliance on emotion provides a valid and powerful means of knowing and also a reliable guide to ways of living
Term
SATIRE
Definition
An attack on human follies or vices, as measured positively against a normative religious, moral or social standards; Writing that tries to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule
Term
SCANSION
Definition
The metrical analysis of verse. The usual marks for scansion are ˘ for a short or unaccented syllable, ¯ for a long or accented syllable
Term
SESTET
Definition
A six line stanza or unit of poetry
Term
SIMPLE METAPHOR
Definition
A metaphor that is easy to understand vs. complex metaphor
Term
SLANG
Definition
Informal diction
Term
SOLILOQUY
Definition
Speech made by a character, alone on stage, directly to the audience, in which the character is revealing thoughts and feelings
Term
SONNET (English or Shakespearean)
Definition
A poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter with 3 Quatrains and 1 couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab/cdcd/efef/gg
Term
SONNET (Italian)
Definition
A poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter with 1 Octave and 1 Sestet. The rhyme scheme is abbaabba/cdecde OR abbaabba/cdcdcd
Term
STANZA
Definition
A group of poetic lines corresponding to paragraphs in prose; the meters and rhymes are usually repeating or systematic
Term
STRESS
Definition
The emphasis given to a syllable, either strong or light
Term
SYNECHDOCHE
Definition
Use of a part of a thing to stand for the whole or vice versa (”She lent a hand” means she lent her entire presence and help)
Term
SYNTAX
Definition
Word order and sentence structure. Syntax will change depending on what the writer is attempting to do
Term
TONE
Definition
he techniques/modes of presentation that reveal or create attitudes
Term
TRAGEDY
Definition
Story that presents a conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming force
Term
TRAGIC FLAW/HAMARTIA
Definition
Fatal weakness of the tragic hero
Term
TROCHEE
Definition
A two syllable foot consisting of a heavy followed by a light stress
Term
UNDERSTATEMENT
Definition
A deliberate underplaying or undervaluing of a thing to create emphasis
Term
VERISIMILITUDE
Definition
(realism) setting, circumstances, characters, dialogue, actions and outcomes in a work are designed to seem true, lifelike, real, plausible and probable
Term
VERSE
Definition
Succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem; a particular type of metrical line: a hexameter verse; a poem, or piece of poetry.
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