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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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8651158054AbstractComplex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, seldom uses examples to support its points.0
8651158055AcademicDry and rhetorical writing; sucking all the life out of its subject with analysis.1
8651158056AccentIn poetry, the stressed portion of a word.2
8651158057AestheticAppealing to the senses; a coherent sense of taste.3
8651158058AllegoryA story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself.4
8651158059AlliterationThe repetition of initial consonant sounds.5
8651158060AllusionA reference to another work or famous figure.6
8651158061Anachronism"Misplaced in time." An aspect of a story that doesn't belong in its supposed time setting.7
8651158062AnalogyA comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship.8
8651158063AnecdoteA Short Narrative9
8651158064AntecedentThe word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to.10
8651158065AnthropomorphismWhen inanimate objects are given human characteristics. Often confused with personification.11
8651158066AnticlimaxOccurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect.12
8651158067AntiheroA protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities.13
8651158068AphorismA short and usually witty saying.14
8651158069ApostropheA figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman.15
8651158070ArchaismThe use of deliberately old-fashioned language.16
8651158071AsideA speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage.17
8651158072AspectA trait or characteristic18
8651158073AssonanceThe repeated use of vowel sounds: "Old king Cole was a merry old soul."19
8651158074AtmosphereThe emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene20
8651158075BalladA long, narrative poem, usually in meter and rhyme. Typically has a naive folksy quality.21
8651158076BathosWriting strains for grandeur it can't support and tries too hard to be a tear jerker.22
8651158077PathosWriting evokes feelings of dignified pity and sympathy.23
8651158078Black humorThe use of disturbing themes in comedy.24
8651158079BombastPretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.25
8651158080BurlesqueBroad parody, one that takes a style or form and exaggerates it into ridiculousness.26
8651158081CacophonyIn poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds.27
8651158082CadenceThe beat or rhythm or poetry in a general sense.28
8651158083CantoThe name for a section division in a long work of poetry.29
8651158084CaricatureA portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality.30
8651158085CatharsisDrawn from Aristotle's writings on tragedy. Refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences during a play31
8651158086ChorusIn Greek drama, the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it.32
8651158087ClassicTypical, or an accepted masterpiece.33
8651158088Coinage (neologism)A new word, usually one invented on the spot.34
8651158089ColloquialismA word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "school-book" English.35
8651158090Complex (Dense)Suggesting that there is more than one possibility in the meaning of words; subtleties and variations; multiple layers of interpretation; meaning both explicit and implicit36
8651158091Conceit (Controlling Image)A startling or unusual metaphor, or to a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines.37
8651158092DenotationA word's literal meaning.38
8651158093ConnotationEverything other than the literal meaning that a word suggests or implies.39
8651158094ConsonanceThe repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings)40
8651158095CoupletA pair of lines that end in rhyme41
8651158096DecorumA character's speech must be styled according to her social station, and in accordance to the situation.42
8651158097DictionThe words an author chooses to use.43
8651158098SyntaxThe ordering and structuring of words.44
8651158099DirgeA song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, depressed, and melancholy45
8651158100DissonanceRefers to the grating of incompatible sounds.46
8651158101DoggerelCrude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme, like limericks.47
8651158102Dramatic IronyWhen the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not48
8651158103Dramatic MonologueWhen a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience.49
8651158104ElegyA type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner.50
8651158105ElementsBasic techniques of each genre of literature51
8651158106EnjambmentThe continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.52
8651158107EpicA very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style; typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter.53
8651158108EpitaphLines that commemorate the dead at their burial place.54
8651158109EuphemismA word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality.55
8651158110EuphonyWhen sounds blend harmoniously.56
8651158111ExplicitTo say or write something directly and clearly.57
8651158112FarceExtremely broad humor; in earlier times, a funny play or a comedy.58
8651158113Feminine rhymeLines rhymed by their final two syllables. Properly, the penultimate syllables are stressed and the final syllables are unstressed.59
8651158114FoilA secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast.60
8651158115FootThe basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed.61
8651158116ForeshadowingAn event of statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later.62
8651158117Free versepoetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern63
8651158118GenreA sub-category of literature.64
8651158119GothicA sensibility that includes such features as dark, gloomy castles and weird screams from the attic each night.65
8651158120HubrisThe excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall66
8651158121HyperboleExaggeration or deliberate overstatement.67
8651158122ImplicitTo say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly.68
8651158123In media resLatin for "in the midst of things," i.e. beginning an epic poem in the middle of the action.69
8651158124Interior MonologueRefers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character's head; tends to be coherent.70
8651158125InversionSwitching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase.71
8651158126IronyA statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean; uses an undertow of meaning, sliding against the literal a la Jane Austen.72
8651158127LamentA poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over some other intense loss.73
8651158128LampoonA satire.74
8651158129Loose sentenceA sentence that is complete before its end: Jack loved Barbara despite her irritating snorting laugh.75
8651158130Periodic SentenceA sentence that is not grammatically complete until it has reached it s final phrase: Despite Barbara's irritation at Jack, she loved him.76
8651158131LyricA type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world.77
8651158132Masculine rhymeA rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable (regular old rhyme)78
8651158133MeaningWhat makes sense, what's important.79
8651158134MelodramaA form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure.80
8651158135MetaphorA comparison or analogy that states one thing IS another.81
8651158136SimileA comparison or analogy that typically uses like or as.82
8651158137MetonymyA word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with.83
8651158138NemesisThe protagonist's arch enemy or supreme and persistent difficulty.84
8651158139ObjectivityTreatment of subject matter in an impersonal manner or from an outside view.85
8651158140SubjectivityA 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.86
8651158141OnomatopoeiaWords that sound like what they mean87
8651158142OppositionA pairing of images whereby each becomes more striking and informative because it's placed in contrast to the other one.88
8651158143OxymoronA phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction.89
8651158144ParableA story that instructs.90
8651158145ParadoxA situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not.91
8651158146ParallelismRepeated syntactical similarities used for effect.92
8651158147ParaphraseTo restate phrases and sentences in your own words.93
8651158148Parenthetical phraseA phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail.94
8651158149ParodyThe work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness.95
8651158150PastoralA poem set in tranquil nature or even more specifically, one about shepherds.96
8651158151PersonaThe narrator in a non first-person novel.97
8651158152PersonificationWhen an inanimate object takes on human shape.98
8651158153PlaintA poem or speech expressing sorrow.99
8651158154Point of ViewThe perspective from which the action of a novel is presented.100
8651158155OmniscientA third person narrator who sees into each character's mind and understands all the action going on.101
8651158156Limited OmniscientA Third person narrator who generally reports only what one character sees, and who only reports the thoughts of that one privileged character.102
8651158157ObjectiveA 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.103
8651158158First personA narrator who is a character in the story and tells the tale from his or her point of view.104
8651158159Stream 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.105
8651158160PreludeAn introductory poem to a longer work of verse106
8651158161ProtagonistThe main character of a novel or play107
8651158162PunThe usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings108
8651158163RefrainA line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.109
8651158164RequiemA song of prayer for the dead.110
8651158165RhapsodyAn intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise.111
8651158166Rhetorical questionA question that suggests an answer.112
8651158167SatireAttempts to improve things by pointing out people's mistakes in the hope that once exposed, such behavior will become less common.113
8651158168SoliloquyA speech spoken by a character alone on stage, meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts.114
8651158169StanzaA group of lines roughly analogous in function in verse to the paragraphs function in prose.115
8651158170Stock charactersStandard or cliched character types.116
8651158171Subjunctive MoodA grammatical situation involving the words "if" and "were," setting up a hypothetical situation.117
8651158172SuggestTo imply, infer, indicate.118
8651158173SummaryA simple retelling of what you've just read.119
8651158174Suspension of disbeliefThe demand made of a theater audience to accept the limitations of staging and supply the details with their imagination.120
8651158175SymbolismA device in literature where an object represents an idea.121
8651158176TechniqueThe methods and tools of the author.122
8651158177ThemeThe main idea of the overall work; the central idea.123
8651158178ThesisThe main position of an argument. The central contention that will be supported.124
8651158179Tragic flawIn a tragedy, this is the weakness of a character in an otherwise good (or even great) individual that ultimately leads to his demise.125
8651158180TravestyA grotesque parody126
8651158181TruismA way-too obvious truth127
8651158182Unreliable narratorWhen the first person narrator is crazy, a liar, very young, or for some reason not entirely credible128
8651158183UtopiaAn idealized place. Imaginary communities in which people are able to live in happiness, prosperity, and peace.129
8651158184ZeugmaThe use of a word to modify two or more words, but used for different meanings. He closed the door and his heart on his lost love.130
8651158185OdeA poem in praise of something divine or noble131
8651158186IambA poetic foot -- light, heavy132
8651158187TrocheeA poetic foot -- heavy, light133
8651158188SpondeeA poetic foot -- heavy, heavy134
8651158189PyrrhieA poetic foot -- light, light135
8651158190AnapestA poetic foot -- light, light, heavy136
8651158191AmbibranchA poetic foot -- light, heavy, light137
8651158192DactylA poetic foot -- heavy, light, light138
8651158193ImperfectA poetic foot -- single light or single heavy139
8651158194PentameterA poetic line with five feet.140
8651158195TetrameterA poetic line with four feet141
8651158196TrimeterA poetic line with three feet142
8651158197Blank Verseunrhymed iambic pentameter.143

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