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AP Literature Terms Flashcards

The Glossary of Literary Terms for the AP English Literature and Composition Test

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7364062271AestheticAppealing to the senses and qualities of beauty.0
7364062272AllegoryA story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself.1
7364062273AlliterationThe repetition of sounds at the beginning of words.2
7364062274AllusionA reference to another work or famous figure.3
7364062275Anachronism"Misplaced in time." An aspect of a story that doesn't belong in its supposed time setting.4
7364062276AnalogyA comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship.5
7364062277AnecdoteA short story; usually interesting or amusing to make some point.6
7364062278AntecedentThe word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to.7
7364062279AnthropomorphismWhen inanimate objects are given human characteristics. Often confused with personification.8
7364062280AnticlimaxOccurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect.9
7364062281AntiheroA protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities. Consider Winston in 1984.10
7364062282AphorismA short and usually witty saying.11
7364062283ApostropheA figure of speech wherein the speaker addresses someone or something that is not present; often abstract. Usually begins with "O...".12
7364062284ArchaismThe use of deliberately old-fashioned language.13
7364062285AsideA speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage.14
7364062286AssonanceThe repeated use of vowel sounds: "Old king Cole was a merry old soul."15
7364062287BalladA long, narrative poem, usually in meter and rhyme. Typically has a naive folksy quality.16
7364062288BombastPretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.17
7364062289CacophonyIn poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds.18
7364062290CaricatureA portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality.19
7364062291CatharsisA release of strong emotions. Refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences during a play.20
7364062292ChorusIn Greek drama, the group of citizens who act as the common man and provide "voice of reason" and commentary on the play.21
7364062293NeologismA new word, usually one invented on the spot.22
7364062294ColloquialismA word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "school-book" English. Informal diction.23
7364062295Conceit (Controlling Image)A startling or unusual metaphor, or to a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines.24
7364062296DenotationA word's literal meaning.25
7364062297ConnotationEverything other than the literal meaning that a word suggests or implies.26
7364062298ConsonanceThe repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words words (rather than at their beginnings)27
7364062299CoupletA pair of lines that end in rhyme28
7364062300DictionThe words an author chooses to use.29
7364062301SyntaxThe ordering and structuring of words within a sentence; also consider punctuation.30
7364062302DirgeA song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, depressed, and melancholy31
7364062303DoggerelCrude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme, like limericks. Subject matter is tired and trite, sounds heavy-handed.32
7364062304Dramatic IronyWhen the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not.33
7364062305ElegyA type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful, usually mournful manner.34
7364062306EnjambmentThe continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.35
7364062307EpicA very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style; typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter.36
7364062308EpitaphLines that commemorate the dead at their burial place.37
7364062309EuphemismA word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality.38
7364062310EuphonyWhen sounds blend harmoniously.39
7364062311ExplicitTo say or write something directly and clearly.40
7364062312Feminine rhymeLines rhymed by their final two syllables. Properly, the penultimate syllables are stressed and the final syllables are unstressed.41
7364062313FoilA secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast.42
7364062314FootThe basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed.43
7364062315ForeshadowingAn event of statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later.44
7364062316Free versepoetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern45
7364062317HubrisExcessive pride or arrogance.46
7364062318HyperboleExaggeration or deliberate overstatement.47
7364062319ImplicitTo say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly.48
7364062320In media resLatin for "in the midst of things," i.e. beginningin the middle of the action.49
7364062321InversionSwitching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase. Inverted syntax is common in Shakespeare.50
7364062322Verbal ironyA statement made in which the speaker intentionally says the opposite of what they mean.51
7364062323Masculine rhymeA rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable (regular old rhyme)52
7364062324MelodramaA form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure.53
7364062325MetaphorA comparison or analogy that states one thing IS another.54
7364062326SimileA comparison or analogy that typically uses like or as.55
7364062327MetonymyA word (a part) that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with (the whole). Ex: All hands on deck! Ex: Go check out John's new wheels!56
7364062328NemesisThe protagonist's arch enemy or supreme and persistent difficulty.57
7364062329ObjectivityTreatment of subject matter in an impersonal manner or from an outside view.58
7364062330SubjectivityA treatment of subject matter that uses the interior or personal view of a single observer and is typically colored with that observer's emotional responses.59
7364062331OnomatopoeiaWords that sound like what they mean60
7364062332JuxtaposeTo place things next to each other to invite contrast or dissimilarity.61
7364062333OxymoronWords that seem to be opposites of each other that work together in the broader context. Ex: jumbo shrimp; pretty ugly.62
7364062334ParableA simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.63
7364062335ParadoxA situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection reveals some sort of greater truth.64
7364062336ParaphraseTo restate phrases and sentences in your own words.65
7364062337Parenthetical phraseA phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail.66
7364062338ParodyThe work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness.67
7364062339PastoralA poem set in tranquil nature or even more specifically, one about shepherds.68
7364062340PersonaThe speaker created by the author that is not the author himself/herself. Consider "Death of The Ball Turret Gunner".69
7364062341PersonificationWhen an inanimate object takes on human shape.70
7364062342Point of ViewThe perspective from which the action of a novel is presented.71
7364062343Omniscient point of viewA third person narrator who sees into each character's mind and understands all the action going on.72
7364062344Limited Omniscient point of viewA third person narrator who generally reports only what one character sees (=limited), and who only reports the thoughts of that one privileged character.73
7364062345Third person objective point of viewA thrid person narrator who only reports on what would be visible to a camera. Does not know what the character is thinking unless the character speaks it.74
7364062346First personA narrator who is a character in the story and tells the tale from his or her point of view. Uses "I".75
7364062347Stream of ConsciousnessAuthor places the reader inside the main character's head and makes the reader privy to all of the character's thoughts as they scroll through her consciousness.76
7364062348ProtagonistThe main character of a novel or play77
7364062349PunThe usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings78
7364062350RefrainA line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.79
7364062351Rhetorical questionA question that suggests an answer.80
7364062352SoliloquyA speech spoken by a character alone on stage, meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts.81
7364062353StanzaA group of lines roughly analogous in function in verse to the paragraphs function in prose.82
7364062354Stock charactersStandard or cliched character types.83
7364062355SummaryA simple retelling of what you've just read.84
7364062356SymbolismA device in literature where an object represents an idea.85
7364062357TechniqueThe methods and tools of the author.86
7364062358ThemeA main idea of the overall work; a central idea.87
7364062359ThesisThe main position of an argument. The central claim that will be supported.88
7364062360Tragic flawIn a tragedy, this is the weakness of a character in an otherwise good (or even great) individual that ultimately leads to his demise.89
7364062361Unreliable narratorWhen the first person narrator is crazy, a liar, very young, or for some reason not entirely credible.90
7364062362UtopiaAn idealized place. Imaginary communities in which people are able to live in happiness, prosperity, and peace.91
7364062363OdeA poem in praise of something divine or noble92
7364062364IambA poetic foot -- light, heavy93
7364062365TrocheeA poetic foot -- heavy, light94
7364062366SpondeeA poetic foot -- heavy, heavy95
7364062367AnapestA poetic foot -- light, light, heavy96
7364062368DactylA poetic foot -- heavy, light, light97
7364062369PentameterA poetic line with five feet.98
7364062370TetrameterA poetic line with four feet99
7364062371TrimeterA poetic line with three feet100
7364062372Blank Verseunrhymed iambic pentameter.101
7364062373AsyndetonThe absence or omission of conjunctions (and, but, yet, etc.) between parts of a sentence.102
7364062374PolysyndetonWhen several coordinating conjunctions are used in close succession (ex: He went to the store, and bought some milk, and took it home, and fed the dog, and kissed his mom).103
7364062375ProsodyThe overall picture of rhythm/meter in a poem that includes the baseline rhythm/meter and mentions of variations.104
7364062376ScansionThe act of reading and measuring the stresses and un-stresses to find the rhythm & meter of a poem.105
7364062377MotifA repeating idea, image, word, etc., that supports the development of a theme.106
7364062378CaesuraA pause in a line of poetry as evidenced by punctuation (commas, colons, semicolons, etc.).107
7364062379imageryLanguage that strongly appeals to the 5 senses. Usually creates strong mental pictures or the sense that you can so clearly hear/touch/taste/smell whatever is being described.108
7364062380blank verseunrhymed iambic pentameter109
7364062381heroic coupleta couplet (two lines) of rhymed iambic pentameter110
7364062382situational ironyWhen the outcome is the opposite of what is expected; a direct reversal.111
7364062383English sonnet3 quatrains and a couplet: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.112
7364062384Italian sonnetAn octave followed by a sestet: abba, abba, cd,cd,cd/cde,cde/cdc,cdc.113
7364062385Ballad stanzaA quatrain with alternating lines of 6 and 8 syllables: abcb.114

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