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AP Literature Terms Flashcards

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7160857023adage (noun)A saying/proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language.0
7160857024Aphorism (n)A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.1
7160857025Apollonian (adj)In contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior.2
7160857026Asyndeton (n)Omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses (as in "I came, I saw, I conquered")3
7160857027Bildungsroman (n)A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal; a coming-of-age story.4
7160857028Bathos (n)The use of insincere or overdone sentimentality; the sudden appearance of a silly or commonplace idea ir event in a book, movie, discussion, etc., that is serious in tone.5
7160857029Bombast (n)Inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects.6
7160857030cacophony (n)Grating, inharmonious sounds.7
7160857031Canto (n)A divider in long poems, much like chapters in a novel.8
7160857032Dionysian (adj)As distinguished from Apollonian, the word refers to sensual, pleasure seeking impulses.9
7160857033Doggerel (adj)Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme.10
7160857034Epitaph (n)Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place; usually a line or handful of lines, often serious or religious, but sometimes witty and even irreverent.11
7160857035epigram (n)A concise but ingenious, witty and thoughtful statement.12
7160857036Eponymous (adj)A term for the title character of a work of literature; of, relating to, or being the person or thing for whom or which something is named.13
7160857037Exegesis (n)A detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature.14
7160857038In Medias ResLatin for "in the midst of things"; a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.15
7160857039archetype (n)An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model/form.16
7160857040Black Humor (n)This is the use of disturbing themes in comedy .e.g. two tramps comically debating over which should commit suicide first, and whether the branches of a tree will support their weight.17
7160857041Classicism (n)Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity and restraint.18
7160857042Conceit (n)A diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language; a startling or unusual metaphor, or a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines.19
7160857043Denouement (n)The resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work or fiction.20
7160857044Deus Ex Machina (n)In literature, a character or thing that suddenly enters the story in a novel, play, movie, etc., and solves a problem that had previously seemed impossible to solve.21
7160857045harangue (n)A forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade.22
7160857046Lampoon (n)A satire.23
7160857047Litotes (n)A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity.24
7160857048motif (n)A phrase, idea, event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.25
7160857049Non Sequitur (n)A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before.26
7160857050pathetic fallacy (n)Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.27
7160857051Rhetoric (n)The language of a work and it's style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience.28
7160857052Stock Characters (n)Standard character types; the drunk, the miser, the foolish girl, etc.29
7160857053Subtext (n)The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature.30
7160857054Synecdoche (n)A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part.31

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