AP Vocabulary
Advanced Placement students must fully understand and practice the use of the following definitions for all of the following reasons: writing essays,oral presentations, understanding poetry and prose, doing research, and most importantly to be successful on the culminating AP Exam for college credit. You must be constant in your energies to annotate/explicate all pieces of literature presented to you. Remember, the validity of your interpretation depends on the evidence that can be drawn from the text to support your views.
Culture –a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: the sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another, the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture. WHAT’S THE POINT? In literature, we attempt to analyze literature by seeing the literature in historical and cultural context, rather than as works of art in isolation.
Prose - spoken or written language without rhythmic, metrical structure: the natural flow of speech, usually written in standard paragraph form without noticeable pattern of rhyme, meter, or lineation
Genre – derived from the Latin generis, meaning “kind.” – used to designate a category or a type of literature:
A. poetry – marked by patterns of rhyme, meter, and lineation
B. drama – dominated by dialogue and meant to be performed by actors on a stage
C. nonfiction prose – may seek to argue or explain an issue or a concept – speeches, letters, essays, biographies, memoirs, textbooks, works of science or history
D. short stories – with focus on plot development and terms common to the genre (rising action)
E. novels – long narratives normally written in prose which describes fictional characters and events
Characterization – creating characters
a. Direct –the writer makes direct statements about a character’s personality, simply stating that a character is shy or selfish.
b. Indirect – requires the readers to draw their own conclusions about a character, based on evidence from the story. This evidence might include the character’s appearance, words, thoughts, actions, and the comments and thought of other characters.
In the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, did the reader/audience first learn that Oedipus was full of pride/hubris/hamartia through direct or indirect characterization?
c. major or minor
d. Hero/Heroine – central character who engages the readers’ interests
e. protagonist – main character, usually the hero or heroine
f. antagonist – character who functions as a resisting force against the goals of the protagonist
g. antihero – a protagonist who is dishonest, graceless, inept, unintelligent
h. flat – reveal only one or two personality traits, do not change
i. round – show varied and sometimes contradictory, complex moral traits
j. static – character remains the same throughout the story, same from beginning to end
k. dynamic (or developing) – character undergoes a permanent change in moral or personal traits
l. stock – stereotyped
m. foil – is not necessarily the protagonist – a foil character illuminates the major character by not making the right choices, or taking the best action as the main character in similar situations, most often the contrast is complimentary to the major character.
WHAT’S THE POINT? Characters with their many faceted motivations can bring emotional engagement on many different levels to the reader.
Conflict – two kinds. External – conflict exists when a character struggles against an outside force, such as another person or the rules of society. Internal – conflict exists within the mind of a character that is torn between opposing feelings or goals. Many characters experience both. man vs. man, man vs. society, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. fate
Point of View - perspective from which the action of a story is viewed or narrated
A. First person – “I” is a participant or observer
B. Second person - rarely serves as a narrative voice in fiction - commonly used in step-by-step instructions--that is, in a directive process analysis that explains how to do or make something.
C. Third person – (outside observer), can be omniscient, limited, multiple, or stream of consciousness (when a character’s intimate thoughts and impressions are related directly and immediately – the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind)
D. Intrusive author – author addresses the reader directly to increase intimacy between the two – “This is what I undertake to do for you reader.”
WHAT POINT? Point of view allows readers to speculate on whether the narrator is reliable or not…do we trust him? Are his facts and opinions biased in some way? Is the first person narrator being honest about himself?
Tone–often confused with mood. Tone refers to the writer’s attitude toward the subject, or the audience, the reader, or a character. It is obviously established through words (diction), and details. The tone can be angry, authoritative, paternal, intolerant, bitter, accusatory, superior, sorrowful, etc. You will often be asked to describe the tone of a passage, in other words, what is your sense of what the writer feels in the passage and how did the writer convey this to you? Establishing the tone should always be the first part of your analysis procedure. Tone is established through diction, imagery,syntax (sentence structure), and rhetorical devices.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF UNDERSTANDING TONE? It is the basis for everything. Every AP exam asks a question regarding tone.
Diction (words, language, rhetoric) – diction is how a writer establishes tone. It is the word choice and levels of language in a work. Look at the words that focus you. Do you hear a lot of slang words such as dude, word, what’s up? Then the tone is colloquial. Diction can be described as:
- colloquial, ordinary, plain – slang, folksy, homey, native, rustic, everyday, common, clear, obvious
- artificial – false
- bombastic, pretentious – pompous, ostentatious, gaudy, inflated
- concrete, literal, precise, exact – specific, particular, apparent, word for word, exact, accurate, decisive, precise, verbatim
- connotative – suggestive, all the ideas a person brings to a word, alluring
- emotional – expressive of emotions, sappy, spirited, forlorn, pathos
- esoteric, cultured – understood by a chosen few, refined
- informal, simple – casual, relaxed, unofficial, clear, unintelligible
- formal, scholarly, learned, pedantic, didactic – intellectual, academic, educated, experienced, conventional, bookish, scholastic
- insipid, trite, obtuse – common, stereotyped, dull-witted, uninteresting, undiscerning, tame, cliché, hackneyed – even in the seventeenth century, Shakespeare recognized the problem and so wrote: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…
- symbolic, figurative – metaphorical, representative, serving as illustration, Biblical, universal
- poetic, sensuous – lyric, melodious, romantic, passionate, luscious
- vulgar, grotesque – coarse, indecent, tasteless, hideous
- euphonious, euphemistic – pleasant sounding, insincere, polite
- elegiac – mournful, sad, ritualistic, ode like
- abstract – ideas, ideals, ambiguous, emotional
- archaic – language of the past, no longer current or applicable, antiquated
- jubilant – great joy, rejoicing, exultant
- threatening – cautionary, menacing, ominous, alarming, sinister, imminent
WHAT POINT? You will be asked by me and the AP exam to describe tone. You cannot begin to describe tone unless you can give a comprehensive description of the type of diction that is used in the piece.
Imagery, or figurative language – creates a vivid picture and appeals to the senses – used in poetry, speeches, and prose writing. The POINT OF IMAGERY IS OBVIOUS.
a.repetition of sound in poetry or prose. The repetition may be at the beginning, middle, or end of words. Or you may wish to be more specific: alliteration – repetition of the initial sounds in words and syllables, assonance – repetition of two or more vowel sounds in the middle in a group of words in prose or poetry, and consonance – repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words. SIBILANCE – SSSSSS sounds, repetition of S’s in an alliterative way, creating a hissing sound.. WHAT POINT? Repetition encourages memorization and produces a melodic effect.
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
(Samuel Coleridge from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
In these lines, Coleridge employs alliteration for several purposes: to slow the pace of the lines, to create a dramatic tone, and, perhaps above all, to give pleasure to those who read aloud.
b. onomatopoeia – the use of words whose sounds (replicate) suggest their meaning: the bubbling brook, the clock went tick tock, murmur.WHAT POINT? Sounds express ugliness, beauty, fluidity, jolts.
c. personification – attributing (live) qualities to inhuman objects or animals – The flowers cried for water. What is the point? Why use it? Answer : ) The human tendency to ascribe human qualities to nonhuman objects! We project our emotions onto pets and other animals, we refer to cars and boats as “she,” and assign human names to hurricanes. Through personification we breathe life into what might otherwise be lifeless and bestow a personality, willpower, the ability to think and feel and act in every way like a human being. While stimulating our imaginations, personification often surprises us with insights.
d. simile – a figurative comparison using the words like or as :
Rachel says that love is like a big black piano being pushed off the top of a three-story building and you’re waiting at the bottom to catch it.
e. metaphor – a direct comparison of unlike things: a metaphor serves to transfer the sense of one word to another. Ex. The gray cat is fog shiftlessly moving across the docks.
Or a metaphor can be extended and unspoken:
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
(Eliot)
Rather than simply stating as a metaphor, the fog was a cat, rubbing its back upon the window-panes, the metaphor is unnamed and becomes extended.
f. lightness and darkness – always be aware of it! (connotation!)
Syntax – word structure, pattern of words, sentence length, and sentence type (establish tone)
A. short sentences usually provide emphasis
B. parallel structure: refers to grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence: She loved singing, dancing, and acting.
C. antithesis: grammatically similar words of contrasting meaning: “the heat of injustice and oppression” “the oasis of freedom and justice”
D. Complex: contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clause. Ex: Since the AP students were prepared, they did very well on their exams.
E. Compound: contains two independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction. Remember coordinating conjunctions with the acronym “fanboys:” for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Ex: The AP students were prepared, so they did very well on their exams.
F. Compound/complex: contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate
clauses. Ex: Since they had read and studied, the AP students were prepared, so they did very well on their exams.
G. Loose sentence: the sentence reveals the key information right away and unfolds loosely after that. Ex: Due to snowy conditions, the principal announced an early release, and students were jubilant, high-fiving, shouting about sleds and video games, wishing the clock would go faster.
H. Periodic sentence: the main idea or most important information is not revealed until the end of the sentence. Ex: That morning, after a longer than normal bus ride on icy roads, we made it safely to school.
I. Balanced sentence: similar to parallel structure, a balanced sentence features two similar elements that balance each other (like on a teeter-totter). Ex: The students reveled in the snow day; the teachers reveled in the student-less day.
J. Chiasmus: the repetition and arrangement of two key terms in a sentence using the ABBA pattern.Ex: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
K. Asyndeton: the omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses. Ex: I came, I saw, I
conquered.
L. Polysyndeton: opposite of asyndeton, the deliberate use of many conjunctions for emphasis. Ex: The movie was amazing—the acting and the camera work and the soundtrack and the special
effects. Wow!
M. Epistrophe: ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. Ex: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —
Emerson
N. Parallel Structure: refers to grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a
sentence. Ex: She loved singing, dancing, and acting.
O. Anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines. Ex. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. Churchill
Rhetoric – language – rhetorical devices (establish tone)
* rhetorical question – to emphasize a point
Rhetorical Devices – language that enhances and supports literary effect
a. euphemism – substituting a more pleasant, acceptable sounding word
b. aphorism – universal sayings, short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment
c. repetition – the recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas to increase the sense of unity and call attention to particular ideas…used for emphasis.
“At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.”(Plath)
What is the effect of the repetition here? How does repeating the word “back” make the lines sound?
*Anaphora – is also a form of repetition. It is a scheme of repetition in which the same word or group of words is used to begin successive clauses or sentences.
“Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices:”
What is the effect of the repetition of the “ands” here? Was Eliot in a hurry and mistakenly used too many “ands”? Or do you think he wanted to emphasize the brutal, hostile conditions and the list of exhaustive grievances? (from “Journey of the Magi”)
d. restatement – main point said in another way
e. Irony – You must always look for irony, and it is usually always there. Verbal, situational, dramatic, tragic, cosmic. The best way to describe irony is that “it is what you least expect to happen” or the opposite meaning or result that you expected or meant, or when an audience knows something important about a character before the character is able to figure it out themself. Shakespeare has his Lady Macbeth hatching a plot to kill the king so her husband will gain the crown and then ten minutes later a messenger arrives notifying her that the king is coming to stay at her castle tonight!…how convenient is that?....this is situational irony; she did not expect to have the opportunity so soon, and dropped in her lap, to kill the king. In the popular story “The Gift of the Magi”, the husband sells his watch to buy a comb for his wife’s beautiful hair, and she sells her hair to buy him a watch chain…..such situational irony!
f. Tensions - are created for an ironic effect. When an author treats a grim topic(murder, suicide) with a light touch… Written with beauty or detachment, like a scientist taking notes.
g. allusion – referring to something universally, commonly known – historical, literature, biblical – (Noah and the flood)
h. paradox – contradictory, but true, true and false at the same time – used for shock value – “Much Madness is divinest Sense” or to “damn with praise”
i. juxtaposition – side by side unassociated ideas, words, actions for emphasis or effect, parallelism ( not always entirely literally “side by side”)
j. Connotation – describes the thoughts that a word brings to your mind – the “suggestive meaning”. It has nothing to do with the dictionary definition of the word. Often, the connotation of titles of literature or poetry are significant and you should always consider that in analysis. Sylvia Plath wrote a poem called “Daddy”, what does that title suggest to most people?
Here are some lines from the poem:
You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.
Daddy, I have had to kill you.
I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
Any less the black man who
Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
So daddy, I’m finally through.
There’s a stake in your fat black heart
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.
k. pun – humorous play on words, using similar sounding words, or identical words to suggest different meanings
l. hyperbole – overstatement, deliberate exaggeration for effect
m. metonymy – figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated/related - “crown” can refer to the king or queen of a nation, “Uncle Sam” wants you, the “White house” said in a statement this morning…”/synecdoche substitutes a part for a whole, “hands” for workers, “She was twenty summers” substituting summers for years
n. Foreshadowing – is a technique by which an author suggests or predicts an outcome of the plot. Sometimes you don’t recognize the foreshadowing until the end of the story; then you realize you should have recognized those hints the author planted for you. A poem by Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover”, begins: The rain set early in tonight,