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AP FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Flashcards

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4770368078Allegory:a type of symbolism. An allegory is a description or a narrative (poetry or prose) with a secondary, or underlying, meaning. An excellent example of allegory is George Orwell's Animal Farm. In that book, the situation, the characters, and the plot all have allegorical connections. (Briefly, they overthrow a cruel farmer - the farm's animals are meant to parallel the Russian Revolution where the proletariat revolted against their dictator.)0
4770368883Character allegory:In Dante's Inferno, characters often represent various ideal qualities. Virgil, for example, stands for human reason. This meaning extends throughout the epic. Human virtues and vices were common character allegories in medieval literature, though they were generalized and not necessarily a specific character.1
4770369475Apostrophe (related to personification):aaddressing something for someone (or someone) non-living or incapable of response as if it could hear and respond, such as "O, howling wind..."2
4770370078Irony:Irony exists when there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is real. There are three types of irony.3
4770370713Verbal irony:When what is said is different from what is meant.4
4770371266Dramatic irony:When the reader knows something a character does not know.5
4770371876Situational irony:When some aspect of the situation seems incongruous to either what seems appropriate or to what is expected.6
4770372576Metaphor:a comparison of two dissimilar things in order to see one in a new way.7
4770374342Metonymy:The use of a closely related detail for the thing actually meant, such as using The White House to refer to the president.8
4770375263Overstatement (hyperbole):Saying more than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates the truth.9
4770375689Paradox:A statement that consists of two contradictory or incompatible elements; paradoxical statements are startling and get us to think. They are a kind of metaphor that reveals the truth.10
4770377220Personification:Attributing human qualities or characteristics to non-living or non-human things in order to create empathy.11
4770377885Simile:Essentially a metaphor that uses "like" or "as."12
4770378597Synecdoche:The use of a part for the whole, such as "all hands on deck" or "the meeting can begin now that all the suits are here." Note that synecdoche is sometimes represented as metonymy.13
4770379249Symbol:A thing person, or idea that stands for something else. Some symbols become iconic; that is, so well-known that they're as accepted part of culture. Example: water is a symbol of purity and or rebirth.14
4770379907Understatement:Saying less than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates that truth.15

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