6255119131 | Alliteration | repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together. | 0 | |
6255121367 | Allusion | reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. | 1 | |
6255126618 | Ambiguity | deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way. | 2 | |
6255133520 | Analogy | Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike | 3 | |
6255138574 | Anastrophe | Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion. | 4 | |
6255142807 | Anecdote | Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual | 5 | |
6255148765 | Antithesis | Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure. | 6 | |
6255152829 | Aphorism | brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth | 7 | |
6255154859 | Apostrophe | calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation | 8 | |
6255160524 | Assonance | the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together. | 9 | |
6255167428 | Characterization | the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character | 10 | |
6255174216 | Indirect Characterization | the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character's private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the character's effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character in action. | 11 | |
6255178523 | Direct Characterization | the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style literature relied more heavily on this form. | 12 | |
6255181305 | Protagonist | the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. | 13 | |
6255186851 | Hamartia | tragic flaw in a character which will lead to their downfall. | 14 | |
6255193545 | Antagonist | opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story. | 15 | |
6255197727 | Antihero | Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples. | 16 | |
6255200570 | Foil | A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny sidekick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero. | 17 | |
6255203523 | Static Character | a character who does not change much in the course of a story. | 18 | |
6255209124 | Dynamic Character | a character who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action. | 19 | |
6255217179 | Flat Character | a character that has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase. | 20 | |
6255219896 | Round Character | a character that has more dimensions to their personalities---they are complex, just a real people are. | 21 | |
6255224566 | Cliche | is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. | 22 | |
6255228915 | Colloquialism | a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. | 23 | |
6255232331 | Conflict | the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story. | 24 | |
6255236891 | External Conflict | conflicts that exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person a whole societ | 25 | |
6255242005 | Internal Conflict | a conflict involving opposing forces within a person's mind. | 26 | |
6255244160 | Connotation | the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition. | 27 | |
6255246519 | Diction | a speaker or writer's choice of words. | 28 | |
6255251542 | Epigraph | a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme. | 29 | |
6255458330 | Explication | act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language. | 30 | |
6255460829 | Farce | a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations. | 31 | |
6255463800 | Figurative Language | Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms. | 32 | |
6255466950 | Flashback | a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time. | 33 | |
6255469787 | Foreshadowing | the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot. GENRE | 34 | |
6255471827 | Allegory | story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities. i.e. Animal Farm | 35 | |
6255475739 | Comedy | in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters. | 36 | |
6255478033 | Parable | a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life. | 37 | |
6255480174 | Parody | a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style. | 38 | |
6255482030 | Romance | in general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful. | 39 | |
6255483868 | Satire | a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change. | 40 | |
6255485859 | Tall Tale | an outrageously exaggerated, humorous story that is obviously unbelievable | 41 | |
6255488211 | Tragedy | in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end. | 42 | |
6255490138 | Fable | a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life. | 43 | |
6255493543 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times...." | 44 | |
6255493544 | Imagery | the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person , a thing, a place, or an experience. | 45 | |
6255498116 | Irony | a discrepancy between appearances and reality. | 46 | |
6255498136 | Verbal Irony | occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else. | 47 | |
6255500572 | Situational Irony | takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen. | 48 | |
6255503049 | Dramatic Irony | is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better. | 49 | |
6255510436 | Juxtaposition | poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. | 50 | |
6255514486 | Metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles. | 51 | |
6255540804 | Implied Metaphor | does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison. | 52 | |
6255547023 | Extended Metaphor | is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it. | 53 | |
6255550791 | Dead Metaphor | is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: "The head of the house", "the seat of the government", "a knotty problem" | 54 | |
6255553092 | Mixed Metaphor | is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. "The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas." | 55 | |
6255558370 | Mood | An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected. | 56 | |
6255560387 | Motif | a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. | 57 | |
6255562964 | Motivation | the reasons for a character's behavior. | 58 | |
6255566686 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. "Pop." "Zap." | 59 | |
6255569417 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. "Jumbo shrimp." "Pretty ugly." "Bitter-sweet" | 60 | |
6255572912 | Paradox | a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth. | 61 | |
6255575688 | Personification | a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. | 62 | |
6255579234 | Plot | the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline. | 63 | |
6255579235 | Exposition | introduces characters, situation, and setting | 64 | |
6255581907 | Rising Action | complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well) | 65 | |
6255583981 | Climax | that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called "turning point" | 66 | |
6255586022 | Resolution | the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the denouement. | 67 | |
6255592947 | Point of View | the vantage point from which the writer tells the story. | 68 | |
6255595573 | First Person POV | one of the characters tells the story. | 69 | |
6255607256 | Third Person POV | an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character. | 70 | |
6255610942 | Omniscient POV | all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters. | 71 | |
6255615219 | Objective POV | a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events. | 72 | |
6255616808 | Pun | a "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things | 73 | |
6255619077 | Rhythm | a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language. | 74 | |
6255622352 | Rhetoric | Art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse. | 75 | |
6255624566 | Rhetorical Question | a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer. | 76 | |
6255626293 | Simile | a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles. | 77 | |
6255633547 | Soliloquy | a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage. | 78 | |
6255633548 | Stereotype | a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices. | 79 | |
6255636186 | Stream of Consciousness | a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind. | 80 | |
6255639140 | Style | the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax. | 81 | |
6255641023 | Symbol | a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself. | 82 | |
6255645085 | Suspense | a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story. | 83 | |
6255648707 | Theme | the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work. | 84 | |
6255651007 | Tone | the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization. | 85 | |
6255653821 | Unity | Unified parts of the writing are related to one central idea or organizing principle. | 86 | |
6255656101 | Vernacular | the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality. | 87 |
AP Literature Terms Flashcards
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