2839707430 | Comedy | The tone is for the most part light, the main effects are to engage and amuse the audience, the situations and characters tend to be drawn from ordinary life, as opposed to world-shaking events and noble or royal characters, and the resolution is happy, at least for major characters. Many traditional plots conclude with the marriage of one or more couples | 0 | |
2839710597 | Tragedy | The tone is serious, and often somber, the effect is to involve and move the audience; and the outcome is disastrous for the protagonist and, often, also for those associated with him or her. The resolution of the situation involves one or more deaths, in particular that of the protagonist, whose fate is the more moving. | 1 | |
2839704201 | Novel | Because of its greater length and scope, it has a lot of complexity. Its plot is typically more involved and multifaceted, its description of the social milieu more complete, and its depiction of characters' motive, feelings, and experiences more complex than the concise story allows | 2 | |
2839723169 | Short Story | It shares with the novel several characteristics of of fiction, but its more concentrated form results in some crucial different; a smaller cast of characters, often focusing on the protagonist; a simpler plot, usually centered on a single major conflict; a limited depiction of setting; and a more concentrated format, with the descriptive details and dialogue selected for maximum and significant effect | 3 | |
2839728649 | Novella | Falls between the novel and the short story in both length and complexity | 4 | |
2839729077 | Satire | A genre of comedy that is directed at ridiculing human foibles and vices, such as vanity, hypocrisy, stupidity, and greed. It differs from pure comedy in that the aim is not simply the evoke laughter, but to expose and censure such faults, often with the aim of correcting them | 5 | |
2839732623 | Connotation | An additional sense or senses associated with or suggested by a word or phrase. Connotations are sometimes, but not always, fixed, and are often subjective | 6 | |
2839736059 | Denotation | The most specific or literal meaning of a word, as opposed to its figurative senses or connotations | 7 | |
2839737818 | Tenor | The literal subject that holds the meaning in a metaphor. In a simile, it is used with the vehicle | 8 | |
2839738243 | Vehicle | The analogy in a metaphor. In a simile, it is used with the tenor | 9 | |
2839742222 | Mixed Metaphor | When 2 or more incongruous vehicles are applied to the same tenor. Instead of clarifying some aspect of the subject, the figure confuses it by linking images that clash: "She felt a heavy burden of guilt, but she would not let is engulf her resolve." The word "burden" is already a vehicle for the tenor, her guilt; it clashes with the second vehicle, "engulf" | 10 | |
2839880609 | Extended Metaphor | A trope that is sustained through the several lines, ringing changes on the multiple relevance of the vehicle to the terror. Example: Hamlet's Polonius warns his daughter, Ophelia, not to trust the seductive lines of young lines of young men who are burning with passion | 11 | |
2839887114 | Allegory | An extended form of personification, in which an abstract concept is presenting as though it were a character who speaks and acts as an independent being | 12 | |
2839888311 | Pathetic Fallacy | A special type of personification, in which inanimate aspects of nature, such as the landscape or the weather, are represented as having human qualities or feelings. The term derives from the logical absurdity of supposing that nature can sympathize with (feel pathos for) human moods and concerns | 13 | |
2839890960 | Metonymy | A trope which substitutes the name for an entity with something else that is closely associated with it. For example, "the throne" is an example of "the king" and "press" for "media" | 14 | |
2839905144 | Diction | Denotes the word choice and phrasing in a literary work | 15 | |
2839908532 | Formal Language | Diction that consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone | 16 | |
2839914719 | Colloquial Language | Informal language that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions | 17 | |
2839915899 | Abstract Language | Terms that can't be touched...intangible? | 18 | |
2839916228 | Concrete Language | Terms that can be touched....objects? | 19 | |
2839916651 | Poetic Diction | A special kind of formality is created by this, which in a broad sense means phrasing and vocabulary that are characteristic or poetry, as distinguished from the informality of everyday speech. It uses such devices as antiquated words - for example "ne'er" instead of never. It has an emphasis on figurative , rather than literal language | 20 | |
2839930390 | Synecdoche | A figure of thought in which the term for part of something is used to represent the whole, or, less commonly, the terms for the whole is used to represent a part. For example, a fleet of ships may be described as "forty sails" | 21 | |
2839932558 | Motif | I distinctive recurring subject, theme, symbol, idea, action, etc. | 22 | |
2839933199 | Syntax | A term that loosely means sentences, punctuation, and grammar | 23 | |
2839934111 | Anaphora | Repetition of words beginning consecutive clauses, phrases, sentences, etc. EX: i like cheese. i like candy. i like you | 24 | |
2839935260 | Inverted Lines (Inversion) | An interchange of position of adjacent objects in a sequence, especially a change in word order, such as the placement of a verb before its subject | 25 | |
2839936824 | Asyndeton | The absence of conjunctions that connect words, and ideas in a single sentence. For example: "I bought cheese, milk, cheese, candy, chocolate, and lettuce" | 26 | |
2839938872 | Monosyndeton | A single conjunction is used to connect words and ideas in a single sentence. EX: I like cheese and milk and cheese and candy and chocolate and lettuce | 27 | |
2839940521 | Situational Irony | When the situation itself has an unexpected outcome | 28 | |
2839940958 | Structural Irony & Unreliable Narrator | An implication of alternate or reversed meaning that pervades a work. A major technique for sustaining this type of irony is the use of a naive protagonist or unreliable narrator who continually interprets events and intentions in ways that the author signals are mistaken | 29 | |
2839950640 | Dramatic Irony | Occurs when the audience is privy to knowledge that one or more of the characters lacks. The technique may be used for comic or tragic events | 30 | |
2839953910 | Tragic Irony | When large scale dramatic irony occurs in tragedies EX: Romeo not knowing that Juliet is alive | 31 | |
2839955292 | Cosmic Irony | Refers to an implied worldview in which characters are left to embrace false hopes of aid or success, only to be defeated by some larger force, such as God or fate. For instance, Macbeth believes that he is protected by the weird sisters' prophecies, but he is betrayed by their fiendish duplicity | 32 | |
2839958583 | Romantic Irony | A kind of literary self-consciousness in which an author signals his or her freedom from the limits of a given work by puncturing its fictional illusion and exposing its process of composition as a matter of authorial whim. This is often a kind of protective self-mockery involving a playful attitude towards the conventions of the (normally attractive) genre | 33 | |
2839968904 | Omniscient POV | When the narrator is third-person and can enter the consciousness of any character, evaluate motives and explain feelings, and recount the background and predict the outcome of situations | 34 | |
2839970597 | Limited POV | When the narrator is third person but can only describe events from the perspective and with the understanding of one, or a few characters | 35 | |
2839971615 | Intrusive POV | An omniscient narrator that offers philosophical or moral commentary on the characters and the events he depicts | 36 | |
2839972546 | Objective POV | A third-person narrator whose presence is merely implied (not referred to as a narrator) | 37 | |
2839974156 | Stream of Consciousness POV | Technique used to replicate the thought processes of a character, with little or no intervention by the narrator | 38 | |
2839974863 | Dramatic Narrator | A character who stands outside the action and comments on the character and the events, addressing the audience directly | 39 | |
2839976529 | Second Person POV | This narrator addresses the audience directly using the pronoun "you" and assumes that the audience is experiencing the events along with the narrator. That implied audience may be the reader, a character who appears later in the story, or a listener who is never identified | 40 | |
2839978230 | Flat Character | A character that stays the same throughout the work | 41 | |
2839978759 | Round Character | A character subject to change/growth. Also may have inconsistencies like a real human being | 42 | |
2839979220 | Dynamic Character | A character that undergoes some kind of change because of the action in the plot | 43 | |
2839979785 | Static Character | A character that does not change throughout the story, and the reader's knowledge of that character does not grow | 44 | |
2839983046 | Foil | A character who contrasts with the protagonist in ways that bring out his or her moral, emotional, or intellectual qualities | 45 | |
2839983793 | Antihero | A protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. He or she may be bewildered, ineffectual, or merely pathetic. Often what antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all, is that the world isolates them in an existence devoid of God and absolute values | 46 | |
2839987208 | Archetype | Characters that are symbolic or reminiscent of certain types. These "types" are old and have been around for many years and have a range of associations in many cultures and time periods. For example, "the Christ Figure" shows up in literature often as the character who is sacrificed for the common good. Simon (LOTF). Or the "Knight in Shining Armor" or the "wise old woman" character | 47 | |
2839990931 | Verisimilitude | The appearance of being true or real - words and phrases that are characteristic of each speaker; eliminating the pauses, stammering, and irrelevancies that litter everyday talk; and pacing | 48 | |
2839991919 | Speech Headings | Descriptions of characters' vocal tones or gestures as they speak a line | 49 | |
2839993020 | Repartee | A rapid-fire exchange of witty remarks in which each speaker tries to score against an opponent in a verbal fencing match | 50 | |
2839993446 | Soliloquy | A monologue delivered by a character who is alone on stage. He or she may address the audience as though they are confidantes or simply seem to be thinking aloud, expressing thoughts that are too private or too risky to share with other characters. Soliloquies represent a break in the ongoing action and are reserved for major characters, usually the protagonist, for important revelations | 51 | |
2839993647 | Aside | A speech, usually brief, that, according to theatrical conventions, is heard only by the audience, or sometimes, is addressed privately, or, sometimes, is addressed privately to another character on stage | 52 |
AP Literature Terms Flashcards
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