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AP Literature Terms 2 Flashcards

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7295294418AestheticAppealing to the senses and qualities of beauty.0
7295294419AllegoryA story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.1
7295294420AlliterationThe repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.2
7295294421AllusionA direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical.3
7295294422Anachronism"Misplaced in time." An aspect of a story that doesn't belong in its supposed time setting.4
7295294423Anapest3 syllables foot - stress on the last5
7295294424AnalogyA comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship.6
7295294425AnecdoteA short story; usually interesting or amusing to make some point.7
7295294426AnthropomorphismWhen inanimate objects are given human characteristics. Often confused with personification.8
7295294427AnticlimaxOccurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect.9
7295294428AntiheroA protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities.10
7295294429AntithesisA statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced11
7295294430AphorismA brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.12
7295294431ApostropheA figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.13
7295294432AssonanceRepetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity14
7295294433ArchetypeA detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response15
7295294434ArchaismThe use of deliberately old-fashioned language.16
7295294435AsideA speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage.17
7295294436AsyndetonThe absence or omission of conjunctions (and, but, yet, etc.) between parts of a sentence.18
7295294437BalladA long, narrative poem, usually in meter and rhyme. Typically has a naive folksy quality.19
7295294438Ballad stanzaA four-line stanza, known as a quatrain, consisting of alternating eight- and six-syllable lines.20
7295294439Blank verseUnrhymed iambic pentameter21
7295294440BombastPretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.22
7295294441CaesuraA pause in a line of poetry as evidenced by punctuation (commas, colons, semicolons, etc.).23
7295294442CacophonyIn poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds.24
7295294443CaricatureA portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality.25
7295294444CatharsisA release of strong emotions. Refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences during a play.26
7295294445ColloquialismA word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "school-book" English. Informal diction.27
7295294446ConceitA fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.28
7295294447ConnotationEverything other than the literal meaning that a word suggests or implies.29
7295294448CoupletTwo consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme30
7295294449Dactyl3 syllables - stress on the first31
7295294450ConsonanceThe repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words words (rather than at their beginnings)32
7295294451DenotationA word's literal meaning.33
7295294452Dimetertwo foot line34
7295294453DictionThe words an author chooses to use.35
7295294454DirgeA song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, depressed, and melancholy36
7295294455Dramatic IronyWhen the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not.37
7295294456ElegyA type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful, usually mournful manner.38
7295294457EnjambmentA run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next.39
7295294458EpitaphLines that commemorate the dead at their burial place.40
7295294459English Sonnet (Shakespeare)a poem that is fourteen lines in length. It is divided into three quatrains and a concluding couplet, which has a rhyme scheme a-b-a-b c-d-c-d e-f-e-f g-g. The units marked off by the rhymes and the development of the thought often correspond.41
7295294460EuphemismA word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality.42
7295294461Feminine rhymelast two syllables rhyme (lawful and awful) more complex43
7295294462EuphonyWhen sounds blend harmoniously.44
7295294463FoilA secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast.45
7295294464FootThe basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed.46
7295294465ForeshadowingAn event of statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later.47

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