AP Literature Terms Flashcards

4272831770	alliteration	repetition of sounds at the beginning of words that are close to each other	0
4272833933	allusion	reference in literature or art to previous literature, history, pop culture, Bible...	1
4272838044	ambiguity	quality of being intentionally unclear; can be interpreted in more than one way	2
4272841368	anachronism	element in a story that is out of its time frame	3
4272843713	analogy	clarifies or explains an unfamiliar concept or object by comparing it with one that is familiar	4
4272846567	analysis	process of examining the components of a literary work	5
4272849157	anapest	the poetic foot/measure that follows the pattern unaccented, unaccented, accented (lemonade)	6
4272851829	anecdote	short and often personal story used to emphasize a point, to develop a character or a theme, or to inject humor	7
4272855841	antagonist	the character who functions as a resisting force to the goals of the protagonist	8
4272858312	antecedent	word/phrase to which a pronoun refers	9
4272860166	anticlimax	disappointing, sudden end to an intense situation	10
4272862244	antihero	protagonist who carries the action but doesn't have classic characteristics (Gatsby)	11
4272866835	antithesis	concept directly opposed to a previous idea	12
4272875949	aphorism	statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle	13
4272877713	apostrophe	rhetorical figure of direct address to a person, object, or entity	14
4272886631	archetype	recurrent character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures	15
4272889326	aside	short speech or remark made by an actor to the audience rather than the characters	16
4272892914	assonance	repeated use of a vowel sound	17
4272892915	ballad	folk song or poem passed down orally that tells a story or legend; four-line stanzas	18
4272898035	blank verse	unrhymed poetry of iambic pentameter	19
4272902006	cacophony	harsh, unpleasant sounds to the ear	20
4272904449	carpe diem	seize the day, only have one life to live	21
4272907344	chiasmus	opposite of parallel construction for dramatic effect	22
4272909360	colloquial	slang or regional dialect used in everyday conversation	23
4272915962	comic relief	humor that provides a break from a more serious episode	24
4272920669	connotation	association that a word calls to mind	25
4272922647	conventional character	character with traits that are expected or traditional (heroes)	26
4272927254	couplet	two rhyming lines with the same number of syllables	27
4272929813	dactyl	foot of poetry with stressed and two unstressed syllables (strawberry)	28
4272937158	denouement	outcome or clarification at the end of a story/play	29
4272938911	denotation	dictionary/literal meaning	30
4272940977	deus ex machina	god's intervene at a story's end or resolve conflict	31
4272942447	diction	words choice	32
4272944285	didactic	purpose to instruct	33
4272945715	distortion	exaggeration or stretching of the truth to achieve a desired effect	34
4272949183	enjambment	running over of a sentence form one verse to the next	35
4272953425	epigram	short, clever poem with a witty turn of thought	36
4272958488	epiphany	brief quotation found at beginning of literary work, achieves realization	37
4272960115	epistolary novel	letter novel	38
4272962057	euphemism	substitution of an inoffensive word to make it sound better	39
4272963969	farce	comedy that depends on exaggerated or improbably situations	40
4272966243	figurative language	figures of speech at appeal to the senses	41
4272968052	first person	character in the story tells the story	42
4272972347	flashback	interruption of a narrative by an earlier event	43
4272974356	flat character	simple, 1D character who remains the same	44
4272976914	foil	character whose personal characteristics contrast with the main character	45
4272994707	foreshadow	hints as what is to come	46
4272996495	free verse	poetry without regular rhyme or rhythm	47
4272997605	genre	category into which a piece of writing can be classified	48
4273000088	heroic couplet	rhymed couplet written in iambic pentameter	49
4273002002	hubris	insolence, arrogance, or pride; common tragic flaw in Greek tragedy	50
4273005960	hyperbole	extreme exaggeration for a literary effect	51
4273012196	iambic pentameter	five-foot line of poetry made up of unaccented, accented syllables	52
4273014083	imagery	anything that affects or appeals to the reader's senses	53
4273018945	in media res	work that begins in the middle of the story	54
4273020090	interior monologue	reveals character's unspoken thoughts and feelings	55
4273022637	internal rhyme	rhyme within the line	56
4273024114	inversion	switch in the normal word order	57
4273025842	litotes	affirmation of an idea by using a negative undrstatement	58
4273027777	lyric poem	short, emotionally expressive poem	59
4273032473	metamorphosis	radical change, either physical or mental, in a character	60
4273034664	metaphor	comparison of two unlike things	61
4273034665	meter	rhythmical pattern of a poem	62
4273036940	metonymy	replaces the name of something with a word or phrase closely associated with it	63
4273039352	myth	story that explains the origins of gods, heroes, or natural phenomena	64
4273043468	narrative poem	poem that tells a story	65
4273046107	onomatopoeia	words that imitate sounds	66
4273048330	oxymoron	combines two contradictory words	67
4273048331	parable	short story illustrating a moral or religious lesson	68
4273050661	paradox	statement/situation which seems improbable but eventually reveals meaning	69
4273054714	parallelism	repeated use of the same grammatical structure in sentences	70
4273058610	parody	comical imitation of a serious piece; ridicules author or his work	71
4273060134	pastoral	poem, play or story that idealizes the simple life of shepherds	72
4273063009	pathos	appeals to emotions	73
4273065784	periodic sentence	delivers main point at end	74
4273067410	personification	attribute human characteristics to animal or object	75
4273069488	point of view	perspective of speaker/narrator	76
4273072112	protagonist	main character	77
4273073455	pun	humorous play on words that have several meanings	78
4273075191	quatrain	four-line stanza	79
4273075192	refrain	repetition of a line, stanza, or phrase	80
4273076986	rhetorical question	question with an obvious answer with no response needed; used to make a point	81
4273080369	satire	use of humour to ridicule the shortcomings of society, individuals, and institutions in hopes of reform	82
4273085722	sestet	six-line stanza of poetry	83
4273087164	shift	movement from one thought or idea to another	84
4273088642	simile	comparison of unlike things using like or as	85
4273090337	soliloquy	character's speech to audience in which emotions are revealed	86
4273092178	stanza	grouping of poetic lines	87
4273093781	stock character	stereotypical character	88
4273096275	stream of consciousness	from of writing which replicates the way the human mind works	89
4273099712	symbol	concrete object/scene/action which has deeper significance	90
4273103260	synecdoche	figure of speech where one part represents the entire object	91
4273104834	syntax	word order	92
4273106923	theme	central idea	93
4273106924	tone	author's attitude toward a subject	94
4273108788	tongue in cheek	appears sincere but actually joking	95
4273110462	tragic flaw	defect in a hero that leads to downfall	96
4273114627	transition	way of smoothly connecting different parts of a work	97
4273115868	anaphora	rep of first part of sentence	98
4273118283	context	parts that surround a word that helps determine meaning	99

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AP Literature Terms Flashcards

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