*Abstract: An abstract style (in writing) is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to support its points.
*Absurd Hero: The outlook of the absurd hero is this: determined to continue living with passion even though life appears to be meaningless. Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is sentenced to ceaselessly roll a rock to the top of a mountain and then must watch its descent. He will never reach the top. Other examples of the absurd hero: Meursault in The Stranger Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot.
*Academic: As an adjective describing style, this word means dry and theoretical writing. When a piece of writing seems to be sucking all the life out of its subject with analysis, the writing is academic.
*Accent: In poetry accent refers to the stressed portion of a word. In “To be, or not to be,” accents fall on the first “be” and “not.” It sounds silly any other way. But accent in poetry is also often a matter of opinion. Consider the rest of the first line of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “That is the question.” The stresses in that portion of the line are open to a variety of interpretations.
*Ad hoc argument: Giving an after-the-fact explanation which doesn't apply to other situations.
“I see that John’s cancer is in remission.”
“Yes, our prayers have been answered!”
“But didn’t you pray for Susan, too, and look what happened to her.”
“I’m sure God had a special reason for taking her.”
Typically, you will see statements referred to as "ad hoc rationalizations" or "ad hoc explanations" when someone's attempt to explain an event is effectively disputed or undermined and so the speaker reaches for some way to salvage what he can. The result is an "explanation" which is not very coherent, does not really "explain" anything at all, and which has no testable consequences - even though to someone already inclined to believe it, it certainly looks valid.
Here is a commonly cited example:
I was healed from cancer by God!
Really? Does that mean that God will heal all others with cancer?
Well... God works in mysterious ways.
A key characteristic of ad hoc rationalizations is that the "explanation" offered is only expected to apply to the one instance in question. For whatever reason, it is not applied any other time or place and is not offered as a general principle. Note in the above that God's "miraculous powers of healing" are not applied to all cancer sufferers, but only this one at this time and for reasons which are completely unknown.
*Aesthetic: an adjective meaning “appealing to the senses.” Aesthetic judgment is a phrase synonymous with artistic judgment. As a noun, an aesthetic is a coherent sense of taste. The kid whose room is painted black, who sleeps in a coffin, and listens to only funeral music has an aesthetic. The kid whose room is filled with pictures of kittens and daisies but who sleeps in a coffin and listens to polka music has confused aesthetic. The plural noun, aesthetics, is the study of beauty. Questions like what is beauty? Or, is the beautiful always good? Fall into the category of aesthetics.
*Allegory: An allegory is a story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself. Many fables have an allegorical quality. For example, Aesop’s “Ant and the Grasshopper” isn’t merely a story of a hard working ant and a carefree grasshopper, but is also a story about different approaches to living- the thrifty and the devil-may-care. It can also be read as a story about the seasons of summer and winter, which represent a time of prosperity and a time of hardship, or even as representing youth and age. Some have argued that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an allegory to the Industrial Revolution...or the World Wars.
*Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds is called alliteration. In other words, consonant clusters coming closely cramped and compressed-no coincidence. Sensational Sasha Sproch solemnly slurps salty sassafras soup.
*Allusion: A reference to another work or famous figure is an allusion. If we say, "Ashley Nef is as wise as Athena"...we now have an allusion. We have compared the great Ashley to the great Greek goddess.
*Anachronism: The word anachronism is derived from Greek, It means, “misplaced in time.” If the actor playing Mercutio in a production of Romeo and Juliet forgets to take off his wrist-watch, the effect will be anachronistic (and probably comic).
*Analogy: An analogy is a comparison. Usually analogies involve two or more symbolic parts, and are employed to clarify an action or a relationship. Just as the mother eagle shelters her young from the storm by spreading her great wing above their heads, so does the Acme Insurers of America spread an umbrella of coverage to protect its policy-holders from the storms of life.
*Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, “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” (Winston S. Churchill).
*Anecdote: An anecdote is a short narrative, story.
*Antecedent: The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to. As the children in: The Principlal asked the children where they were going.
*Anthropomorphism: In literature, when inanimate objects are given human characteristics, anthropomorphism is at work. For example, In the forest, the darkness waited for me, I could hear its patient breathing…Anthropomorphism is often confused with personification. But personification required that the non-human quality or thing take on human shape.
*Anticlimax: An anticlimax occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect. Anticlimax is frequently comic. Sir, your snide manner and despicable arrogance have long been a source of disgust to me, but I’ve overlooked it until now. However, it has come to my attention that you have fallen so disgracefully deep into that mire of filth, which is your mind as to attempt to besmirch my wife’s honor and my good name. Sir, I challenge you to a game of badminton!
*Antihero: A protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of unsavory qualities. The character lacks the qualities of the hero: skill, grace, honesty, courage, truth.
*Aphorism/apothegm/maxim: A short and usually witty saying, such as: “A classic? That’s a book that people praise and don’t read.” "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." "All is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds." "May the Force be with you."
*Apostrophe: A figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman, or absent. For example, one might talk to a friend who has passed away.
*Archaism: The use of deliberately old-fashioned language. Authors sometimes use archaisms to create a feeling of antiquity. Tourist traps use archaisms with a vengeance, as in “Ye Olde Candle Shoppe”-Yeech!
*Aside: A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage. (See soliloquy.)
*Aspect: A trait or characteristic, as in “an aspect of the dew drop.”
*Assonance: The repeated use of vowel sounds, as in, “Old king Cole was a merry old soul.”
*Atmosphere: The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene.
*Ballad: A long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme. A ballad typically has a naďve folksy quality, a characteristic that distinguishes it from epic poetry.
*Bathos, Pathos: When the writing of a scene evokes feelings of dignified pity and sympathy, pathos is at work. When writing strains for grandeur it can’t support and tries to create tears from every little hiccup, that’s bathos.
*Black Humor: This is the use of disturbing themes in comedy. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the two tramps, Didi and Gogo, comically debate about ending their lives, and whether the branches of the tree will support their weight. This is black humor. Also, watch a Monty Python movie for a plethora of examples.
*Bombast: This is pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language. When one tries to be eloquent by using the largest, most uncommon words, one falls into bombast.
*Burlesque: A burlesque is a broad parody, one that takes a style or form, such as a tragic drama, and exaggerates it into ridiculousness. A parody usually takes on a specific work, such as Hamlet. For the purposes of the AP test, you can think of the terms parody and burlesque as interchangeable.
*Cacophony: The author uses deliberately harsh, awkward sounds. For example: the hen squawked when the fox entered the hen.
*Cadence: The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense. For example, iambic pentameter is the technical name for rhythm. One sample of predominately iambic pentameter verse could have a gentle, pulsing cadence, whereas another might have a conversational cadence, and still another might have a vigorous, marching cadence.
*Canto: The name for a section division in a long work of poetry. A canto divides a long poem into parts the ways chapters divide a novel.
*Caricature: A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality.
*Catharsis: This is a term drawn from Aristotle’s writing on tragedy. Catharsis refers to the “cleansing” of emotion an audience member experiences, having lived (vicariously) through the experiences presented on stage. A reader or audience member can feel great sorrow, pity, laughter..for example when Ophelia dies in Hamlet. A character can also have a cathartic experience..for example when Laertes realizes that it was wrong for him to trick/kill Hamlet.
*Chiasmus: a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words. "Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure" --Byron. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"-Keats. It is named after the Greek letter chi (x), indicating a "criss-cross" arrangement of terms.
*Chorus: In Greek drama, this is the group if citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it.
*Circular Reasoning: the practice of assuming something, in order to prove the very thing that you assumed. In Logic-speak, you assume that proposition A is true, and use that premise (directly or indirectly) to prove that proposition A is true. This is one of many logical fallacies that routinely get used in heated arguments, and is actually a special case of the fallacy of false assumptions.
*Classic: What a troublesome word! Don’t confuse classic with classical. Classic can mean typical, as in oh, that was a classic blunder. It can also mean an accepted masterpiece, for example, Death of a Salesman. But, classical refers to the arts of ancient Greece and Rome, and the qualities of those arts.
*Coinage (neologism) A coinage is a new word, usually one invented on the spot. People’s names often become grist for coinages, as in, "Oh, man, you just pulled a major Aggarwal." Of course, you’d have to know Shan to know what that means (a compliment or an insult).
*Colloquialism: This is a word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn’t a part of accepted “school-book” English. Examples: I’m toasted. I’m a crispy- critter man. Daniel "Ninja" Kim has got a wicked headache. Anna's idea is sweet! Maggie Yokel has hecka tight Elmo socks.
*Complex / Dense: These two terms carry the similar meaning of suggesting that there is more than one possibility in the meaning of words (image, idea, opposition); there are subtleties and variations; there are multiple layers of interpretation; the meaning is both explicit and implicit.
*Conceit, controlling image: In poetry, conceit doesn’t mean stuck-up. It refers to a startling or unusual metaphor, or to a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines. When the image dominates and shapes the entire work, it’s called a controlling image. A metaphysical conceit is reserved for metaphysical poems only.
*Connotation, denotation: The denotation of a word is it’s literal meaning. The connotations are everything else that the word suggests or implies. For example, in the phrase the dark forest, dark denotes a relative lack of light. The connotation is of danger, or perhaps mystery or quiet; we’d need more information to know for sure, and if we did know with complete certainty that wouldn’t be connotation, but denotation. In many cases connotation eventually so overwhelms a word that it takes over the denotation. For example livid is supposed to denote a dark purple-red color like that of a bruise, but it has been used so often in the context of extreme anger that many people have come to use livid as a synonym for rage, rather than a connotative description of it.
*Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, which is alliteration). A flock or sick, black-checkered, ducks.
*Couplet: A pair of lines that end in rhyme:
But as my back I always hear
Time’s winged chariot hurrying near
*Decorum: In order to observe decorum, a character’s speech must be styled according to her social station, and in accordance with the occasion. A bum should speak like a bum about bumly things, while a princess should speak only about higher topics (and in a delicate manner). In Neoclassical and Victorian literature the authors observe decorum, meaning they did not write about the indecorous. The bum wouldn’t even appear in this genre of literature.
*Diction,syntax: The author’s choice of word. Whether to use wept or cried is a question of diction. Syntax refers to the ordering and structuring. Whether to say, The pizza was smothered in cheese and pepperoni. I devoured it greedily, or Greedily, I devoured the cheese and pepperoni smothered pizza, is a question of syntax.
*Dirge: This is a song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, depressed, and melancholy.
*Dissonance: This refers to the grating of incompatible sounds.
*Doggerel: Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme. Limericks are a kind of doggerel.
*Double entendre: An expression or term liable to more than one interpretation: ambiguity, equivocality, equivocation. Example: "Beards, they grow on you."
*Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not.
*Dramatic Monologue: When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience.
*Dynamic character: one who changes his/her beliefs, values, opinions in a story. A static character's beliefs stay the same.
*Elegy: A type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner. Elegies often use the recent death of a noted person or loved one as a starting point. They also memorialize specific dead people.
*Ellipsis: the omission of a word or words understood in the context. Example: If possible for if it is possible.
*Enjambment: The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.
*Epic: In a broad sense, an epic is simply a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style. Epics typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter: a great war, a heroic journey, the fall of a man from Eden, a battle with supernatural forces, a trip to the underworld, etc. The mock-epic is a parody form that deals with mundane events and ironically treats them as worthy of epic poetry.
*Epitaph: Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place. An epitaph is usually a line or handful of lines, often serious or religious, but sometimes witty and even irreverent.
*Equivocation: The same word is used with two different meanings. The sign said "fine for parking here," and since it was fine, I parked there.
*Euphemism: A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality. The use of passed away for died, and let go for fired are two examples of euphemisms.
*Euphony: When sounds blend harmoniously, the result in euphony.
*Explicit: To say or write something directly and clearly (this is a rare happening in literature since the whole game is to be “implicit,” that, to suggest and imply).
*Farce: Today we use this word to refer to extremely broad humor. Writers of earlier times used farce as a more neutral term, meaning simply a funny play; a comedy. (And you should know that for writers of centuries past, comedy was the generic term for any play; it did not imply humor.)
*Feminine rhyme: Lines rhymed by their final two syllables. A pair of lines ending with running and gunning would be an example of feminine rhyme. Properly, in a feminine rhyme (and not simply a double rhyme) the penultimate syllables are stressed and the final syllables are unstressed.
*Flashback: a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time.
*Foil: A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast. For example, an author will often give a cynical, quick-witted character a docile, naďve, sweet-tempered friend to serve as a foil. Examples: Laertes to Hamlet. Walton to Frankenstein. Kimia to Chelsea.
*Foreshadowing: An event or statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later.
*Free verse: Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern.
*Genre: A sub-category of literature. Science-fiction and detective stories are genres of fiction.
*Gothic, Gothic novel: Gothic is the sensibility derived from gothic novels. This form first showed up in the middle of the eighteenth century and had a hey-day of popularity for about sixty years. It hasn’t really ever gone away. The sensibility? Think mysterious gloomy castles perched high upon sheer cliffs. Paintings with sinister eyeballs that follow you around the room. Weird screams from the attic each night. Diaries with a final entry that traits off the page and reads something like, No, NO! IT COULDN’T BE!!
*Hero's Journey: Most protagonists go through the typical four steps of a journey (Innocence, Initiation, Chaos, Resolution).
*Hubris: The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character’s downfall (another term from Aristotle’s discussion of tragedy).
*Hyperbole: exaggeration or deliberate overstatement.
*Imagery: a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell.
*Implicit: To say or write something that suggest and implies but—gasp—never says it directly or clearly. “Meaning” is definitely present, but it’s in the imagery, or “between the lines.”
*In medias res: Latin for “in the midst of things.” One of the conversations of epic poetry is that the action begins in medias res. For example, when The Iliad begins, the Trojan war has already been going on for seven years.
*Interior Monologue: This is a term for novels and poetry, not dramatic literature. It refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character’s head. It is related, but not identical to stream of consciousness. Interior monologue tends to be coherent, as though the character were actually talking. Stream of consciousness is looser and much more given to fleeting mental impressions.
*Inversion: Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase. When done badly it can give a stilted, artificial, look-at-me-I’m poetry feel to the verse, but poets do it all the time. This type of messing with syntax is called poetic license. I’ll have one large pizza with all the fixin’s- presto chango instant poetry- A pizza large I’ll have, one with the fixin’s all.
*Irony: One definition of irony is a statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean, and while that isn’t a bad definition, it doesn’t get at the delicacy with which the authors on the AP test use irony. Simply saying the opposite of what one means is sarcasm. The hallmark of irony is an undertow of meaning, sliding against the literal meaning of the words. Jane Austen is famous for writing descriptions which seem perfectly pleasant, but to the sensitive reader have a deliciously mean snap to them. Irony insinuates. It whispers underneath the explicit statement, Do you understand what I really mean? Think of the way Marc Anthony says again and again of Brutus, “but he is an honorable man.” At first it doesn’t seem like much, but with each repetition the undertone of irony becomes ever more insistent.
*Juxtaposition: the act or instance of placing two things close together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. In literature, a juxtaposition occurs when two images that are otherwise not commonly brought together appear side by side or structurally close together, thereby forcing the reader to stop and reconsider the meaning of the text through the contrasting images, ideas, motifs, etc. For example, "He was slouched alertly" is a juxtaposition.
*Lament: A poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over some other intense loss.
*Lampoon: A satire.
*Limerick: a humorous 5 line poem. Most follow the rhyme scheme of aabba.
Seniors take AP English to learn.
A book is to read and not to burn.
Your teacher is Mr. Evans.
At the end of the year, you'll say "thank heavens."
Do homework early so your stomach will not turn.
*Litotes: an understatement, where the speaker or writer uses a negative of a word ironically, to mean the opposite. Litotes is to be found in English literature right back to Anglo-Saxon times. She's not the friendliest person I know. ***Thus, she's an unfriendly person).
*Loose and periodic sentences: A loose sentence is complete before its end. A periodic sentence is not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase.
Loose sentence: Jack loved Barbara despite her irritating snorting laugh, her complaining, and her terrible taste in shoes.
Periodic sentence: Despite Barbara’s irritation at Jack’s peculiar habit of picking between his toes while watching MTV and his terrible haircut, she loved him.
*Lyric: A type of poetry that explores the poet’s personal interpretation of and feelings about the world (or the part that his poem is about). When the word lyric is used to describe a tone it refers to a sweet emotional melodiousness.
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