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AP Literature Terms Flashcards

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7269905201allegory (n)The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. Ex: Animal Farm, animals are equal but a few are more equal than others. Russians Communist Revolution.0
7269905202Alliterationthe repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Ex: a red transport truck is in front of a roadside restaurant. Grapes of Wrath.1
7269905203allusion (n)A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as a book, event, myth, place, work of art. Ex: catcher in the Rye alluded to Jay Gatsby2
7269905204Ambiguity (n)The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of word, phrase, sentence, or passage. Ex: Catcher in the Rye, Holden's age Moby Dick, the whale3
7269905205analogy (n)A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. Ex: Romeo and Juliet act 2 scene 2, Romeo compares Juliet to a rose.4
7269905206AntecedentThe word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. Ex: Grapes of Wrath, when the Joads talk about the machines and those in charge they refer to them as they or monsters.5
7269905207Antithesisa person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else Ex: Mark Twain uses Jim in Huckleberry Finn to illustrate the advantages of slavery and it's social goodness.6
7269905208AphorismA thesis statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle Ex: Fitzgerald uses aphorism to make things symbolic in the Great Gatsby and states "time is money" or "the early bird catches the worm".7
7269905209ApostropheA figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman such as liberty or love Ex: o sinner! In the Crucible8
7269905210AtmosphereThe emotional rod created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the authors choice of objects that are described. Ex: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Hears tapping on the door but when he opens it finds nothing but darkness making it fearful.9
7269905211CaricatureA verbal description, the purpose of which is to exaggerate or distort, for comic effect, a persons distinctive physical features or other characteristics. Ex:10

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