AP Literature Literary Terms Flashcards
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| 6688185292 | malapropism | the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with an unintentionally amusing effect | 0 | |
| 6688185293 | palindrome | a word, phrase, or sentence that is read the same forwards and backwards | 1 | |
| 6688185294 | epigraph | a short quotation at the beginning of a text that suggests the theme or mood of what's to come. | 2 | |
| 6688185295 | deus ex machina | "god of the machine"; a god introduced into a play to resolve the entanglements of the plot | 3 | |
| 6688185296 | understatement | the presentation of something as smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is | 4 | |
| 6688185297 | magical realism | a genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy | 5 | |
| 6688185298 | imagery | the use of language to describe objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses | 6 | |
| 6688185299 | enjambment | the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, stanza, or couplet | 7 | |
| 6688185300 | sibilance | strongly stressed consonants, typically "s", created deliberately by producing air from vocal tracts through the use of lips and tongue | 8 | |
| 6688185301 | irony | the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous effect | 9 | |
| 6688185302 | allegory | a work of art in which the characters, images, or events act as symbols of deeper meanings, a moral or spiritual truth, or political or historical situation | 10 | |
| 6688185303 | paradox | a seemingly contradictory statement that when investigated may prove to be well founded or true | 11 | |
| 6688185304 | heroic couplet | rhyming pairs of verse in iambic pentameter | 12 | |
| 6688185305 | epic | a long, narrative poem that is usually used to tell a story about a very courageous and brave person | 13 | |
| 6688185306 | anastrophe | the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses | 14 | |
| 6688185307 | idyll | a simple descriptive episode or scene often found in poetry or prose compositions suggesting a mood of peace and happiness, typically picturesque, idealized, and unsustainable | 15 | |
| 6688185308 | archetype | a typical character, an action or a situation that represents universal significant patterns of human nature (collective unconscious) | 16 | |
| 6688185309 | conceit | extended metaphors to compare two very different things often presenting striking juxtapositions and comparison | 17 | |
| 6688185310 | metonymy | the replacement of the name of a thing with the name of something else that is closely associated | 18 | |
| 6688185311 | synecdoche | use of a part to represent the whole or vice verse; ex. all hands on deck | 19 | |
| 6688185312 | litotes | intentional use of an understatement that renders an ironical effect | 20 | |
| 6688185313 | euphemism | the substitution of an inexplicit expression for a phrase considered to be too blunt, especially concerning something unpleasant or humiliating | 21 | |
| 6688185314 | chiasmus | a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or modified form | 22 | |
| 6688185315 | apostrophe | when the speaker addresses an absent person, abstract idea, or object | 23 | |
| 6688185316 | slant/off/half rhyme | words that almost rhyme or appear to the eye to do so | 24 | |
| 6688185317 | absurdism | the philosophical school of thought that holds that the human quest to find meaning in life will inevitably fail because of the abundance of information and lack of certainty; however, this should not discourage people from searching for meaning | 25 | |
| 6688185318 | theatre of the absurd | different from traditional theatre bc it demonstrates the randomness of human nature and often confuses people; expect the unexpected | 26 | |
| 6688185319 | metatheatre | "breaking the 4th wall" comments on its own drama or acting in general; addressing the audience | 27 | |
| 6688185320 | mise en scéne | expression that describes the design aspects of a production through direction to help convey the deeper theme of the work | 28 | |
| 6688185321 | in medias res | a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of the story, usually at some crucial point in the action | 29 | |
| 6688185322 | syllogism | the start of an argument with a reference to something general that then uses this to draw conclusions about something more specific | 30 | |
| 6688185323 | existentialism | theory that people are free agents who have control over their choices and actions | 31 | |
| 6688185324 | tragicomedy | genre that blends elements of both comedy and tragedy; usually found in dramatic literature describing either a tragic play which contains comic elements that lighten the overall mood or a serious play with a series of unfortunate events but ends happily | 32 | |
| 6688185325 | farce | a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay; typically includes crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations | 33 | |
| 6688185326 | non sequitur | a response or statement that has no apparent or logical relationship to what came before it and often sounds absurd | 34 |
