AP English Literature Vocabulary
Study Guide Exam and Actual
Answers 2025-2026 Updated.
foreshadowing - Answer to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand
enjambment - Answer the continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to the next
pastoral - Answer a work that describes the simple life of country folk who live in a timeless,
painless life in a world full of beauty, music and love; bucolic, idyll
ode - Answer a lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style
and sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure, which is often patterned in sets of three
antithesis - Answer the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel
words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas
apostrophe - Answer an address or invocation to something that is inanimate
denotation - Answer a direct and specific meaning, often reffered to as the dictionary
definition of a word
blank verse - Answer the verse form consisting of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter
caesura - Answer pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due
to specific metrical patterns
antagonist - Answer any force that is in opposition to the main character
colloquial - Answer ordinary language, the vernacular
theme - Answer a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the dominant idea or concern of a work
, dialect - Answer the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of
people
synechdoche - Answer when a part is used to signify a whole, as in "All hands on deck!"-
hands= sailors
diction - Answer the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose,
or effect
syntax - Answer the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences
flashback - Answer retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal
chronology of the narrative
elegy - Answer a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in
consolation
epic - Answer a poem that celebrates, in a continuou narrative, the achievements of mighty
heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture
allusion - Answer a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place
extended metaphor - Answer a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long
section of a work; also called a conceit
farce - Answer a play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild
antics, and often slapstick and physical humor
in-medis-res - Answer refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filing
in past details by exposition or flashback; literally, "in the midst of things"
formal diction - Answer language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal
exposition - Answer that part of the structure of a plot that sets the scene, introduces and
Study Guide Exam and Actual
Answers 2025-2026 Updated.
foreshadowing - Answer to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand
enjambment - Answer the continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to the next
pastoral - Answer a work that describes the simple life of country folk who live in a timeless,
painless life in a world full of beauty, music and love; bucolic, idyll
ode - Answer a lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style
and sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure, which is often patterned in sets of three
antithesis - Answer the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel
words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas
apostrophe - Answer an address or invocation to something that is inanimate
denotation - Answer a direct and specific meaning, often reffered to as the dictionary
definition of a word
blank verse - Answer the verse form consisting of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter
caesura - Answer pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due
to specific metrical patterns
antagonist - Answer any force that is in opposition to the main character
colloquial - Answer ordinary language, the vernacular
theme - Answer a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the dominant idea or concern of a work
, dialect - Answer the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of
people
synechdoche - Answer when a part is used to signify a whole, as in "All hands on deck!"-
hands= sailors
diction - Answer the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose,
or effect
syntax - Answer the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences
flashback - Answer retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal
chronology of the narrative
elegy - Answer a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in
consolation
epic - Answer a poem that celebrates, in a continuou narrative, the achievements of mighty
heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture
allusion - Answer a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place
extended metaphor - Answer a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long
section of a work; also called a conceit
farce - Answer a play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild
antics, and often slapstick and physical humor
in-medis-res - Answer refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filing
in past details by exposition or flashback; literally, "in the midst of things"
formal diction - Answer language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal
exposition - Answer that part of the structure of a plot that sets the scene, introduces and
