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AP Literature Terms Flashcards

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10243901820AllegoryA narrative or description having a second or symbolic meaning beneath the surface one.0
10243946124AllusionA reference, explicit or implicit. to something in previous literature or history.1
10243950549AnecdoteA short account of an interesting or humorous incident.2
10243956246Artistic UnityThe condition of a successful literary work whereby all its elements work together for the achievement of its central purpose.3
10243962776CacophonyA harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds.4
10243969958EuphonyA smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of words.5
10243974763GenreA type or class, as poetry, drama, etc.6
10243976930ImageryThe representation through language of sensory experience.7
10243981328MoodThe pervading impression of a work.8
10243982663MoralA rule of conduct or maxim for living expressed or implied as the "point" of a literary work.9
10243988981ProseNon-metrical language; the opposite of verse.10
10243992388ThemeThe main idea, or message, of a literary work. They often explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather than stated explicitly.11
10244004007ToneThe writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience, or herself or himself; the emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, or a work.12
10244009631TopicThe subject matter or area of a literary work.13
10244013473SettingThe context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs.14
10244018004SymbolSomething that means more than what it is; an object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning suggests other meaning as well, a figure of speech which may be read both literally and figuratively.15
10244030636VerseMetrical language; the opposite of prose.16
10244033539VoiceThe distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book.17
10244038273AntagonistCharacter in a story or poem who opposes the main character (protagonist). Sometimes the antagonist is an animal, an idea, or a thing.18
10244043401Character1) Any of the persons involved in a story or play. 2) The distinguishing moral qualities and personal traits of a character.19
10244053312CharacterizatonThe process of conveying information about characters.20
10244060147DeuteragonistThe second most important character, after the protagonist, often a foil or eventual antagonist.21
10244073023Direct Presentation of CharacterA method of characterization in which the author, by exposition or analysis, tells us directly what a character is like, or has someone else in the story do so.22
10244075343Dynamic CharacterA character who during the course of a story undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of character or outlook.23
10244079623Flat CharacterA character whose character is summed up in one or two traits.24
10244083135FoilA character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character's personality, throwing these characteristics into sharper focus.25
10244084865HeroA man who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for bold exploits, and favored by the gods .26
10244087707HubrisOverbearing and excessive pride.27
10244090137Indirect Presentation of CharacterThe method of characterization in which the author shows us a character in action, compelling us to infer what the character is like from what is said or done by the character.28
10244093843ProtagonistThe main character of a novel, play, or film.29
10244095162Round CharacterA character whose character is complex and many sided.30
10244097144Static CharacterA character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as at the beginning.31
10244099259Stock CharacterA stereotyped character.32
10244100355Tragic FlawA flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.33
10244101779AsideA brief speech in which a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience; a dramatic device for letting the audience know what a character is really thinking or feeling as opposed to what the character pretends to think or feel.34
10244105116ColloquialInformal, conversational language.35
10244106613Dialogue(1) Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. (2) A literary work written in the form of a conversation.36
10244107999DialectA regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.37
10244109648DictionWord choice.38
10244110592EuphemismSubstituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for a harsh, blunt, or offensive one.39
10244112894Figure of SpeechBroadly, any way of saying something other that the ordinary way; more narrowly (and for the purposes of this class) a way of saying one thing and meaning another.40
10244114723HyperboleA figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth.41
10244116741InvectiveDenunciatory or abusive language.42
10244122832Monologue(1) A dramatic soliloquy. (2) A literary composition in such form.43
10244124006ProverbA short, pithy saying that expresses a basic truth or practical precept.44
10244125560PunA play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.45
10244127196SarcasmBitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed.46
10244128566SoliloquyA device often used in drama where by a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters.47
10244130156SlangA kind of language esp. occurring in casual or playful speech, usu. made up of short-lived coinages and figures of speech deliberately used in place of standard terms.48
10244133104UnderstatementA figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.49
10244133860ExpositionThe part of a play (usually at the beginning) that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the actions.50
10244135391ConflictA clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story or drama. Conflict may exist between the main character and some other person or persons; between the main character and some external force—physical nature, society, or "fate"; or between the main character and some destructive element in his or her own nature. A struggle that takes place in a character's mind is called internal conflict.51
10244143169Rising ActionThat development of plot in a story that precedes and leads up to the climax.52
10244143729ClimaxThe turning point or high point of a plot.53
10244145384Falling ActionThe falling action immediately follows the climax and shows the aftereffects of the events in the climax.54
10244147139Denouement(Also called the resolution) the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis for them and the reader. Sometimes a hint as to the characters' future is given Irony.55
10244150237IronyA situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy.56
10244154384Dramatic IronyAn incongruity of discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives and what the author intends the reader to perceive).57
10244156658Irony of SituationA situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfillment, or between the actual situation and what would seem appropriate.58
10244159419Verbal IronyA figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.59
10244175240Epistolary NovelA novel written as a series of documents.60
10244178503First Person Point of ViewThe story is told by one of its characters, using the first person.61
10244179763FlashbackA literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative.62
10244180881FlashforwardA literary device in which a later event is inserted into a narrative.63
10244184010In Medias Res(Into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning, establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations.64
10244187194Limited Omniscient Point of ViewThe author tells the story, using the third person, but is limited to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tells us only what that one character thinks, feels, sees, or hears.65
10244188880Linear StructureA plot that follows a straight-moving, cause and effect, chronological order.66
10244193933Objective Point of ViewThe author tells the story, using the third person, but is limited to reporting what the characters say or do; the author does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings.67
10244197587Omniscient Point of ViewThe author tells the story, using the third person, knowing all and free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.68
10244207268NarratorThe speaker or the "voice" of an oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is not usually the same person as the author. The narrator is one of three types of characters in a given work, (1) participant (protagonist or participant in any action that may take place in the story), (2) observer (someone who is indirectly involved in the action of a story), or (3) non participant (one who is not at all involved in any action of the story). The narrator is the direct window into a piece of work.69
10244211874Nonlinear StructureWhen the plot is presented in a non-causal order, with events presented in a random series jumping to and from the main plot with flashbacks or flashforwards; or in any other manner that is either not chronological or not cause and effect, for example, in medias res.70
10244215245Point of ViewThe angle of vision from which a story is told.71
10244217158Stream of ConsciousnessNarrative which presents the private thoughts of a character without commentary or interpretation by the author.72
10244218534Unreliable narratorA narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators.73
10244221693Plot AnticlimaxA sudden descent from the impressive or significant to the ludicrous or inconsequential.74
10244222927CatastropheThe concluding action of a classical tragedy containing the resolution of the plot.75
10244225071Comic ReliefA humorous incident introduced into a serious literary work in order to relieve dramatic tension or heighten emotional impact.76
10244228134DilemmaA situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.77
10244230454Deus Ex Machina(God from the machine) The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence (so named from the practice of some Greek dramatists of having a god descend from heaven at the last possible minute—in the theater by means of a stage machine—to rescue the protagonist from an impossible situation).78
10244231687Indeterminate EndingAn ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved.79
10244245735InversionA reversal in order, nature, or effect.80
10244245736MotivationAn emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action.81
10244245737MysteryAn unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation; used to create suspense.82
10244245738ParadoxA statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.83
10244246495PlotThe sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed.84
10244246496Plot MinipulatuionA situation in which an author gives the plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved.85
10244247232Plot DeviceAn object, character, or event whose only reason for existing is to advance the story. Often breaks suspension of disbelief.86
10244247233PrologueAn introduction or a preface, esp. a poem recited to introduce a play.87
10244247234Red HerringA literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item or person of significance.88
10244248794SceneA subdivision of an act in a dramatic presentation in which the setting is fixed and the time continuous.89
10244249450SuspenseThat quality in a story that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end.90
10244251674Suspension of DisbeliefAn unspoken agreement between writer and reader: "I agree to believe your make-believe if it entertains me."91
10244251675SubplotA plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work.92
10244251676SupriseAn unexpected turn in the development of a plot.93
10244253660ComedyA type of drama, opposed to tragedy, having usually a happy ending, and emphasizing human limitation rather than human greatness.94
10244253661Comedy of MannersComedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social customs, etc.) of a certain segment of society.95
10244253662SatireA kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice.96
10244254623Scornful ComedyA type of comedy whose main purpose is to expose and ridicule human folly, vanity, or hypocrisy.97
10244254624Romantic ComedyA type of comedy whose likable and sensible main characters are placed in difficulties from which they are rescued at the end of the play.98
10244254625FarceA type of comedy that relies on exaggeration, horseplay, and unrealistic or improbable situations to provoke laughter.99
10244255453Escapist LiteratureLiterature written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life orbehavior.100
10244255454FableA short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing animal characters that act like human beings.101
10244255455FantasyA kind of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality.102
10244256261Interpretive literatureLiterature that provides valid insights into the nature of human life or behavior.103
10244257727MythAny story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is. Myths are stories that are passed on from generation to generation and normally involve religion. Most myths were first spread by oral tradition and then were written down in some literary form. Many ancient literary works are, in fact, myths as myths appear in every ancient culture of the planet.104
10244257728NovelA book of long narrative in literary prose.105
10244257729Novella(Also called a short novel), a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel.106
10244258273ParableA simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.107
10244258274TragedyDrama in which a noble protagonist — a person of unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding abilities — falls to ruin during a struggle caused by a tragic flaw (or hamartia) in his character or an error in his rulings or judgments.108
10244259269ApostropheA figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.109
10244259270ConnotationWhat a word suggests beyond its basic definition; a word's overtones of meaning.110
10244259271DenotationThe basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word.111
10244260407EkphrasisThe poetic representation of a painting or sculpture in words.112
10244260408Epigram(1) A short, witty poem expressing a single thought or observation. (2) A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement.113
10244260979Extended Figure(also knows as sustained figure) A figure of speech (usually metaphor, simile, personification, or apostrophe) sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.114
10244260980Figurative LanguageLanguage employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally.115
10244263745JuxtapositionPositioning opposites next to each other to heighten the contrast.116
10244268153MetaphorA figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike.117
10244268154MetonmyA figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.118
10244269060OnomatopoeiaThe use of words that supposedly mimic their meaning in their sound (for example, boom, click, plop).119
10244269061PersonificationA figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.120
10244269897RhythmAny wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.121
10244269898SentimentalityUnmerited or contrived tender feeling; that quality in a story that elicits or seeks to elicit tears through an oversimplification or falsification of reality.122
10244270894SimileA figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. The comparison is made explicit by the use of some such word or phrase as like, as, than, similar to, resembles, or seems.123
10244270895SynechdoteA figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole. In this class it is subsumed under the term Metonymy.124
10244271823SyntaxWord organization and order.125
10244271824AlliterationThe repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (for example, map-moon, kill-code, preach-approve).126
10244271825AnapestA metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable (for example, understand).127
10244274402Anapestic MeterA meter in which a majority of the feet are anapests.128
10244274403Approximate Rhyme(also known as imperfect rhyme, near rhyme, slant rhyme, or oblique rhyme) A term used for words in a rhyming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but are not perfect rimes (for example, arrayed-said).129
10244275689AssonanceThe repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words (for example, hat-ran-amber, vein-made).130
10244275690Ballad MeterStanzas formed of quatrains of iambs in which the first and third lines have four stresses (tetrameter) and the second and fourth lines have three stresses (trimeter). Usually, the second and fourth lines rhyme (abcb), although ballad meter is often not followed strictly.131
10244276810Blank VersePoetry with a meter, but not rhymed, usually in iambic pentameter.132
10244276811ConsonanceThe repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (for example, bookplaque-thicker).133
10244277840CoupletTwo successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme.134
10244278968DactylA metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables (for example, merrily).135
10244278969Dactylic MeterA meter in which a majority of the feet are dactyls.136
10244280024End RhymeRhymes that occur at the ends of lines.137
10244281119End-Stopped LineA line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation — the opposite of enjambment.138
10244281120EnjambmentOr run-on line, a line which has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line — the opposite of an end-stopped line.139
10244283890English (or Shakespearean) SonnetA sonnet rhyming ababcdcdefefgg. Its content or structure ideally parallels the rhyme scheme, falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet; but it is often structured, like the Italian sonnet, into octave and sestet, the principal break in thought coming at the end of the eighth line.140
10244283891Feminine RhymeA rhyme in which the stress is on the penultimate (second from last) syllable of the words (picky, tricky).141
10244284681FootThe basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables.142
10244284682Free VerseNon-metrical verse. Poetry written in free verse is arranged in lines, may be more or less rhythmical, but has no fixed metrical pattern or expectation.143
10244285535Half Rhyme(Sometimes called slant rhyme, sprung, near rhyme, oblique rhyme, off rhyme or imperfect rhyme), is consonance on the final consonants of the words involved.144
10244286704Heroic CoupletPoems constructed by a sequence of two lines of (usually rhyming) verse in iambic pentameter. If these couplets do not rhyme, they are usually separated by extra white space.145
10244286705LambA metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable (for example, rehearse).146
10244286706Lambic MeterA meter in which the majority of feet are iambs, the most common English meter.147
10244287971Internal RhymeA rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme-words occur within the line.148
10244289427Italian (or Petrarchan) SonnetA sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba and of a sestet using any arrangement of two or three additional rhymes, such as cdcdcd or cdecde.149
10244289428Masculine Rhyme(Also known as single rhyme) A rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words (rhyme, sublime).150
10244290356MeterRegularized rhythm; an arrangement of language in which the accents occur at apparently equal intervals in time.151
10244290357Octave(1) An eight-line stanza. (2) The first eight lines of a sonnet, especially one structured in the manner of an Italian sonnet.152
10244290358Perfect RhymeA rhyme in which is when the later part of the word or phrase is identical sounding to another. Types include masculine and feminine, among others.153
10244291560PentameterA metrical line containing five feet.154
10244291566Quatrain(1) A four-line stanza. (2) A four-line division of a sonnet marked off by its rhyme scheme.155
10244293036RefrainA repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanziac form.156
10244293037RhymeThe repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work. Lyricists may find multiple ways to rhyme within a verse. End rhymes have words that rhyme at the end of a verse-line. Internal rhymes have words that rhyme within it.157
10244293927Rhyme SchemesAny fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas.158
10244293928ScansionThe process of measuring verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern.159
10244294570Sestet(1) A six-line stanza (2) The last six lines of a sonnet structured on the Italian mode.160
10244294571SpondeeA metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented (for example, true-blue).161
10244295241StanzaA group of lines whose metrical pattern (and usually its rhyme scheme as well) is repeated throughout a poem.162
10244295242Terza RimaA three-line stanza form borrowed from the Italian poets. The rhyme scheme is: aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc.163
10244297038TetrameterA metrical line containing four feet.164
10244298534TrimeterA metrical line containing three feet.165
10244298535Triple MeterA meter in which a majority of the feet contain three syllables. (Actually, if more than 25 percent of the feet in a poem are triple, its effect is more triple than duple, and it ought perhaps to be referred to as triple meter.) Anapestic and dactylic are both triple meters.166
10244299603Trochaic MeterA meter in which the majority of feet are trochees.167
10244299604TrocheeA metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable (for example, barter.168
10244301626BalladA narrative folk song. The ballad is traced back to the Middle Ages. Ballads were usually created by common people and passed orally due to the illiteracy of the time. Subjects for ballads include killings, feuds, important historical events, and rebellion.169
10244301627ElegyA type of literature defined as a song or poem, written in elegiac couplets, that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died.170
10244301628EpicA long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic figures. These often come from an oral tradition of shared authorship or from a single, high-profile poet imitating the style.171
10244303182LyricA song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings of emotions or thought from a particular person, thus separating it from narrative poems. These poems are generally short, averaging roughly twelve to thirty lines, and rarely go beyond sixty lines. These poems express vivid imagination as well as emotion and all flow fairly concisely.172
10244303183Narrative PoemA poem that tells a story. A narrative poem can come in many forms and styles, both complex and simple, short or long, as long as it tells a story. A few examples of a narrative poem are epics, ballads, and metrical romances.173
10244303184OdeUsually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern. The ode often praises people, the arts of music and poetry, natural scenes, or abstract concepts.174
10244303810SonnetA fixed form of fourteen lines, normally iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme conforming to or approximating one of two main types—the Italian or the English.175

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