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AP Literature Flashcards

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5617801035alliterationseveral consecutive words w/the same sound ("The twisting trout twinkled below.")0
5617808471allusionA mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing ("He met his Waterloo.")1
5617814816antithesisstructurally parallel words, phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast ("Sink or swim.")2
5617830457apostropheabsent or dead are spoken to as if present ("Michael Jackson, you sure can dance!")3
5617835574assonancevowel sounds in a series of words ("cry" and "side")4
5617839717consonanceconsonant sound w/in a series of words ("She sells seashells by the seashore.")5
5617845359dictionword choice6
5617848340foreshadowinghints in a narrative to suggest future action7
5617851762hyperboleintentional exaggeration for effect ("The shot heard 'round the world.")8
5617858981verbal ironya speaker says one thing while meaning the opposite ("It is easy to stop smoking. I've done it many times.")9
5617865666situational ironywhen a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect - though often the twist is oddly appropriate (a deep sea diver drowning in a bathtub)10
5617876809dramatic ironya character says something that has different meanings from what he thinks, though the audience knows what's up (In a scary movie, a character goes into a house, but the audience knows that the killer is in the house.)11
5617887517metaphorcomparison of two unlike things not using "like" or "as" ("Time is money.")12
5617894842onomatopoeiause of words that mimic the sounds they describe ("buzz")13
5617905476oxymoroncombines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression ("sweet sorrow")14
5617923792paradoxa statement contradict each other; although the statement may appear illogical, it turns out to have a coherent meaning ("Youth is wasted on the young.")15
5617937471personificationinanimate objects or abstract ideas with human characteristics ("The wind cried in the dark.")16
5617945412prosodystudy of sound and rhythm in poetry17
5617948150punplay on words ("Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.")18
5617963360end rhymeoccurs at the end of lines19
5617966659internal rhymewithin a line20
5617966660slant rhymeapproximate rhyme21
5617970695rhyme schemepattern of end rhymes22
5617974604similecomparison of two different things using "like" or "as" ("The warrior fought like a lion.")23
5617980178suspensea quality that makes the audience tense24
5617984480synecdoche (metonymy)a part of something is used to signify the whole ("All hands on deck.") a whole can represent a part ("Canada played the U.S. in the Olympic hockey finals.") container representing the thing being contained ("The pot is boiling.") material stands for the object itself ("The quarterback tossed the pigskin.")25
5618006640metonymyname of one thing is applied to another thing with which it is closely associated ("I love Shakespeare.")26
5618012666understatement (meiosis litotes)irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is ("I could probably manage to survive on a salary of two million dollars per year.")27

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