AP English Literature Terms Flashcards
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| 4884015324 | Allegory | A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. | 0 | |
| 4884015325 | Alliteration | same constant at the beginning of words ex. Marilyn Monroe | 1 | |
| 4884015326 | Ambiguity | When the author is unclear/leaves out an event, so the reader fills it in with their imagination | 2 | |
| 4884015327 | Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of lines of a poem ""We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France" | 3 | |
| 4884015328 | Anecdote | a short story or joke at beginning of speech to catch attention of audience | 4 | |
| 4884015329 | Antagonist | A character or force in conflict with the main character. | 5 | |
| 4884015330 | Anti-Climactic | when the ending of the plot is unfulfilling or lackluster | 6 | |
| 4884015331 | Apostrophe | when a character speaks to a character or object that is not present/unable to respond A prayer like figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee." Another example is Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn," in which Keats addresses the urn itself: rarely on an AP exam, but important when there. ALWAYS Pathos | 7 | |
| 4884015332 | Assonance | repetition of the same vowel sound "Hear the mellow wedding bells" by Edgar Allen Poe | 8 | |
| 4884015333 | Blank Verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter. an iamb is a metrical foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. In iambic pentameter there are five iambs per line making ten syllables. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall. That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun" | 9 | |
| 4884015334 | Climax | turning point, hight point of action | 10 | |
| 4884015335 | Colloquial language | informal, conversational language./ colloquialisms are phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region. slang. ex. go bananas | 11 | |
| 4884015336 | Connotation | the suggested meaning of a word or phrase ex.bats=scary and evil | 12 | |
| 4884015337 | Convention | an understanding between the writer and the reader about certain details of a story that do not need to be explained | 13 | |
| 4884015338 | Consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry chuckle, fickle, and kick - "ck" | 14 | |
| 4884015339 | Couplet | two rhyming lines in poetry "The time is out of joint, O cursed spite That ever I was born to set it right!" | 15 | |
| 4884015340 | Deus ex machina | character or force at the end of the story or play to help resolve conflict. "god from a machine". Any turn of events that solve the character's problems in an unexpected way | 16 | |
| 4884015341 | Diction | The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing | 17 | |
| 4884015342 | Denouement (day-new-mon) | the final resolution of a dramatic plot | 18 | |
| 4884015343 | Doppelganger | the alter ego of a character/the ghostly double ex. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | 19 | |
| 4884015344 | Elegy | a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. | 20 | |
| 4884015345 | Emotive Language | specific use of language to instill a feeling(emotion) or an image | 21 | |
| 4884015346 | Enjambment | The continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next without pause | 22 | |
| 4884015347 | Epic | An extended narrative poem with elevated language to celebrate the feats of a legendary or traditional hero | 23 | |
| 4884015348 | Epilogue | poem or speech spoken directly to audience at the end of a play, or the explanation at the end of a book that explains what happens after the plot ends | 24 | |
| 4884015349 | Epiphany | sudden enlightenment or realization, a profound new outlook about the world | 25 | |
| 4884015350 | Epistolary | a novel that tells a story through letters written from one character to another | 26 | |
| 4884015351 | Euphemism | substituting words or phrases in order to be politically correct ex. short--> Vertically Challenged | 27 | |
| 4884015352 | Euphony | a succession of words which are pleasing to the ear -may include alliteration, consonance, or assonance | 28 | |
| 4884015353 | Expansion | Ads an unstressed syllable and a contraction or elision removes an unstressed syllable in order to maintain the rhythmic meter of a line. ex. using th' instead of the, o'er instead of over, 'tis or 'twas instead of it is or it was | 29 | |
| 4884015354 | Fable | short narrative to teach a lesson or to stress a cautionary point; usually uses animals that speak like humans | 30 | |
| 4884015355 | Feminine Ending | An unstressed Extra Syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter` ex. Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. | 31 | |
| 4884015356 | Figurative Language | speech or writing using figures of speech; a form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. | 32 | |
| 4884015357 | Flashback | when a character remembers past events relative to the present | 33 | |
| 4884015358 | Flat Character | character defined by one or two traits and does not change throughout the story. minor characters | 34 | |
| 4884015359 | Foil | a character that by contrast enhances the distinctive characteristics of another character. ex. good cop bad cop | 35 | |
| 4884015360 | Folklore | The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally | 36 | |
| 4884015361 | Foot | -unit of measure in poetry that determines the metrical length of a line -usually two or three syllables with one stressed syllable 1 foot-manometer 2 foot - dimeter 3 foot- trimeter 4 foot- tetrameter 5 foot-pentameter 6 foot-hexameter 7 foot-heptameter | 37 | |
| 4884015362 | Iamb | a type of foot with two syllables, the first Unstressed and the second Stressed, most common foot in poetry(english) http://study.com/academy/lesson/iambic-pentameter-definition-examples-quiz.html But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? | 38 | |
| 4884015363 | Trochee | a type of foot with two syllables, the first is Stressed and the second is Unstressed Why so pale and wan, fond Lover? | 39 | |
| 4884015364 | Dactyl | a type of foot with three syllables, the first is Stessed and the second and third are Unstressed | 40 | |
| 4884015365 | Anapest | a type of foot with three syllables, the first two are Unstressed and the third is Stressed | 41 | |
| 4884015366 | Foreshadowing | A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anticipation in the reader. | 42 | |
| 4884015367 | Free verse | Type of poetry that has a variety of line lengths, is unrhymed, and lacks traditional meter | 43 | |
| 4884015368 | Genre | A category or type of literature (or of art, music, etc.) characterized by a particular form, style, or content. | 44 | |
| 4884015369 | Gothic Novel | genre of fiction, characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting | 45 | |
| 4884015370 | Heroine | a Women noted for courage and daring action(the female protagonist) | 46 | |
| 4884015371 | Hubris | when pride leads to downfall (Greek tragedies) | 47 | |
| 4884015372 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech in which extreme exaggeration is used for comic/dramatic effect | 48 | |
| 4884015373 | Illocution | Language that avoids meaning of the words. When we speak, sometimes we conceal intentions or side step the true subject of a conversation. Writing this expresses two stories, one of which is not apparent to the characters, but is apparent to the reader. For example, if two characters are discussing a storm on the surface it may seem like a simple discussion of the weather, however, the reader should interpret the underlying meaning-that the relationship is in turmoil, chaos, is unpredictable. As demonstrated the story contains an underlying meaning or parallel meanings. | 49 | |
| 4884015374 | Imagery | vivid or figurative language that represents objects, actions, or ideas. Description that appeals to the senses | 50 | |
| 4884015375 | In medias res | a story that begins in the middle of things | 51 | |
| 4884015376 | Inversion | an intentional digression from ordinary word order in order to maintain regular meters ex. instead of saying the rain came, they say came the rain -they may also use a pause to maintain meters | 52 | |
| 4884015377 | Irony | A contrast between expectation and reality | 53 | |
| 4884015378 | Masculine Ending | stressed extra syllable at the end of a line And things are not what they seem. | 54 | |
| 4884015379 | Memoir | an account of the personal experiences of an author | 55 | |
| 4884015380 | Meter | the measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line | 56 | |
| 4884015381 | Metaphor | a figure of speech that is a comparison without using like or as, uses a word to designate one thing that usually designates another thing. | 57 | |
| 4884015382 | Metonymy | the use of a word or phrase to stand in for another word in which it represents ex. Lamb fill in for Jesus | 58 | |
| 4884015383 | Motif | a dominant theme or central idea | 59 | |
| 4884015384 | Narrator | someone who tells a story | 60 | |
| 4884015385 | Novella | short novel <100 pages | 61 | |
| 4884015386 | Neutral Language | language opposite of emotive language, literal and objective language | 62 | |
| 4884015387 | Oblique Rhyme | imperfect rhyme scheme aka. half rhyme/slant rhyme ex. If love is like a bridge, or maybe like a grudge | 63 | |
| 4884015388 | Ode | a lyric poem of some length, serious or meditative nature, elevated style, formal structure, celebrates something, John Keats | 64 | |
| 4884015389 | Onomatopoeia | actually spelling out the sound, ex. buzz, bang, boom represent the action they refer too ex.bee, gun, cannon | 65 | |
| 4884015390 | Paradox | statement that contradicts itself | 66 | |
| 4884015391 | Parody | a literary or artistic work that imitates another work for comedy or ridicule | 67 | |
| 4884015392 | Personification | when inanimate objects or animals are given human qualities or human form | 68 | |
| 4884015393 | Poetic Justice | the rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice in the resolution of a plot. The characters get what they deserve at the end of the poem. | 69 | |
| 4884015394 | Prequel | A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel. | 70 | |
| 4884015395 | Prologue | an introduction of preface, a poem recited to introduce a play | 71 | |
| 4884015396 | Prose | ordinary writing without metrical structure(not a poem), written in paragraph form ex.novels and short stories | 72 | |
| 4884015397 | Protagonist | the main character in a drama or literary work | 73 | |
| 4884015398 | Pun | play on words, when two words have multiple meanings and spellings and are used in humorous manner |  | 74 |
| 4884015399 | Rhyme | the repetition of sounds in words | 75 | |
| 4884015400 | Rhyme Scheme | the act of assigning letters to the lines of a poem to demonstrate the rhyming lines | 76 | |
| 4884015401 | Rising Action | the events of a narrative leading up to the climax | 77 | |
| 4884015402 | Rites of Passage | an incident that creates tremendous growth signifying a transition from adolescence to adulthood | 78 | |
| 4884015403 | Round Character | a character who develops throughout the book, usually main character | 79 | |
| 4884015404 | Resolution | solution to the conflict in literature | 80 | |
| 4884015405 | Satire | a literary work in which the negative actions of humans(human vice) are attacked through irony, derision, and wit in order to change the negative behavior. Jonathan Swift and George Orwell | 81 | |
| 4884015406 | Simile | a figure of speech using like or as to compare two essentially unrelated things. | 82 | |
| 4884015407 | Slang | a language occurring in casual, playful speech adds raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect | 83 | |
| 4884015408 | Soliloquy | when a character talks to themselves in a long, dramatic speech and reveals somethings about themselves and their thought without addressing the listener. Typical in plays | 84 | |
| 4884015409 | Sonnet | a poem with Fourteen lines Italian=subdivided into two quatrains and two tercets English=three quatrains and one couplet Voltra=sudden change of thought common in sonnets | 85 | |
| 4884015410 | Style | the combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era | 86 | |
| 4884015411 | Symbolism | the use of something(an object) to represent something else | 87 | |
| 4884015412 | Tragedy | a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow usually due to a flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with their unfavorable circumstances | 88 | |
| 4884015413 | Tone | -reflects how the author feels about the subject matter, or the feeling the author wants to instill in the reader. -A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels. | 89 |
