AP Literature: Key Terminology Flashcards

2472985649	Allegory	a prose or narrative that demonstrates multilevels of meaning and significance.	0
2472987409	Alliteration	the repetition of a similar sound that is usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables	1
2472998766	Allusion	a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place.	2
2472999010	Anaphora	the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses	3
2472999856	Anecdote	a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.	4
2473002143	Antagonist	any force that is in opposition to the main character	5
2473002380	Antithesis	the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas	6
2473002687	Apostrophe	an address to something that is inanimate	7
2473002982	Archetype	recurrent concepts which are identifiable in a wide range of literature	8
2473003330	Assonance	a repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds	9
2473004053	Asyndeton	a style in which conjunctions are omitted	10
2473004860	Attitude	a disposition towards a subject	11
2473005850	Ballad	a narrative poem that is meant to be sung	12
2473006121	Ballad stanza	a common stanza form consisting of a quatrain that alternate four-beat and three-beat lines.	13
2473007775	Blank verse	a verse form that consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter	14
2473008367	Caesura	a pause in a line or verse	15
2473008368	Caricature	a depiction in which a character's features are deliberately exaggerated	16
2473008921	Chiasmus	A figure of speech in which words or concepts are repeated in reverse order	17
2473009227	Colloquial	ordinary language, the vernacular	18
2473009487	Conceit	an extended metaphor	19
2473009655	Connotation	meaning implied by a word	20
2473009863	Consonance	the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds	21
2473010140	Couplet	two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter	22
2473010502	Dactylic	a metrical pattern in which each foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones.	23
2473011311	Denotation	a direct and specific meaning	24
2473011483	Dialect	the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group	25
2473011836	Diction	word choice	26
2473012146	Dramatic monologue	a monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience	27
2473012659	Elegy	a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person	28
2473013360	Enjambment	the continuation of a sentence from one line to the next	29
2473013857	Epic	a poem that celebrate the achievements of heroes and heroines.	30
2473014186	Exposition	the structure that establishes the situation at the beginning of a play or story	31
2473015207	Extended metaphor	a metaphor that extends over a long section of a work	32
2473015744	Falling action	the plot structure in which the complications of the rising action are untangled	33
2473016152	Farce	a play or scene that is characterized by broad humor	34
2473016373	Foreshadowing	a hint at an indication of the future beforehand	35
2473016899	Formal diction	language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal	36
2473017102	Flashback	an earlier event inserted into the normal chronology of a narrative	37
2473017652	Free verse	poetry that is characterized by its lack of traditional meter and varying lengths of non-rhyming lines	38
2473019083	Genre	a type or class of literature	39
2473019084	Hyperbole	overstatement characterized by exaggerated language	40
2473019597	Iambic	a metrical pattern in which each foot consists of a unstressed syllable followed by stressed one	41
2473020503	Imagery	any sensory detail or evocation in a work	42
2473020731	Informal diction	language that is not lofty, dignified, or impersonal	43
2473021619	In medias res	refers to opening a story in the middle of the action	44
2473021832	Irony	a figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ	45
2473022625	Jargon	specialized or technical language	46
2473023096	Juxtaposition	the location of one thing being adjacent or juxtaposed with another	47
2473023705	Limited point of view	a perspective limited to one person	48
2473024076	Litote	a figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement	49
2473024904	Loose sentence	a sentence that is grammatically complete before the end	50
2473025292	Lyric	any short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion	51
2473025691	Message	the central idea or statement of a story or explanation	52
2473025948	Metaphor	one thing described as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them.	53
2473027075	Meter	the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry	54
2473028261	Metonymy	a figure of speech in which an attribute is used to name or designate something	55
2473028911	Mood	a feeling or ambiance resulting from a piece of literature	56
2473029434	Motif	a recurrent concept that serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event	57
2473029781	Narrative structure	a textual organization based on sequences of connected events	58
2473030994	Narrator	the "character" who "tells" the story	59
2473031362	Occasional poem	a poem written about or for a specific occasion	60
2473031634	Ode	a lyrical poem that praises or exalt something	61
2473031978	Omniscient point of view	a perspective that can be seen from more than one character	62
2473032429	Onomatopoeia	a word capturing the sound of what it describes	63
2473032843	Overstatement	exaggerated language	64
2473033378	Oxymoron	a figure of speech that combines two contradictory elements	65
2473033613	Parable	a short fiction that illustrate moral lessons through the use of analogy	66
2473034018	Paradox	a contradictory statement	67
2473036931	Parody	a work that imitates another work for comic effect	68
2473037128	Parallel structure	A similar grammatical structure within a sentence or paragraph	69
2473037962	Pastoral	a poem that describes the simple life of country folk	70
2473039169	Periodic sentence	a sentence that is not grammatically complete before the end	71
2473039396	Persona	the voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story	72
2473040765	Personification	treating a nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human qualities	73
2473042050	Petrarchan sonnet	a sonnet that divides the poem into one section of eight lines and a second section of six lines. Rhyme scheme is abba abba cde cde	74
2473042480	Plot	the arrangement of the narration	75
2473042962	Protagonist	the main character in a work	76
2473043340	Quatrain	a poetic stanza of four lines	77
2473043642	Realism	the practice of describing nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail	78
2473044024	Refrain	a repeated stanza or line in a poem or song	79
2473044662	Rising action	the development of action in a work	80
2473045028	Rhyme	the repetition of the same or similar sounds	81
2473045814	Rhythm	the modulation of weak and strong elements in the flow of speech	82
2473046074	Sarcasm	a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually critical	83
2473047108	Satire	a literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure	84
2473047642	Scansion	the analysis of verse to show its meter	85
2473047901	Setting	the time and place of the action	86
2473048386	Shakespearean sonnet	a sonnet that divide the poem into three units of four lines each and a final unit of two lines	87
2473049352	Shaped verse	poetry that is shaped to look like an object	88
2473049563	Simile	a direct comparison of one thing to another	89
2473050175	Soliloquy	a monologue in which a character in a play is alone and speaking to himself or herself	90
2473050518	Speaker	the person who is the voice of the poem	91
2473053233	Stanza	a section of a poem separated by extra line spacing	92
2473056282	Stereotype	a characterization based on assumptions	93
2473059194	Stock character	one who appears in a number of stories or plays	94
2473059885	Structure	the organization of various elements in a work	95
2473060243	Style	a distinctive manner of expression	96
2473060685	Symbolism	a concept in a literary work that figuratively represents something else	97
2473061725	Synecdoche	when a part is used to signify a whole	98
2473062355	Syntax	the way words are put together	99
2473062824	Terza rima	A three-line stanza rhymed aba bcb cdc	100
2505110070	Antecedent	The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun	101
2473065022	Theme	the main thought expressed by a work	102
2473065993	Tone	the manner in which attitude is expressed	103
2473066803	Tragedy	a drama in which a character is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force	104
2473067203	Trochee	a metrical pattern in which a foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.	105
2473067993	Turning point	the point at which the action stops rising and begins falling or reversing	106
2505005516	Detail	items or parts that make up a larger picture or story	107
2505008905	Devices of sound	the techniques of deploying the sound of words	108
2505011801	Figurative language	writing that uses figures of speech	109
2505016407	Narrative techniques	the methods involved in telling a story	110
2505019490	Point of view	Any possible vantage points from which a story is told	111
2505022037	Resources of language	A general phrase for the linguistic techniques that a writer can use	112
2505024797	Rhetorical techniques	The devices used in effective or persuasive language	113
2505027226	Strategy	The management of language for a specific effect	114
2505031901	Symbol	Something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else	115
2505034400	Ambiguity	Multiple meanings a literary work may communicate	116
2505036867	Convention	A subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression	117
2505045483	Didactic	Explicitly instructive	118
2505049083	Digression	The use of material unrelated to the subject of the work	119
2505052368	Epigram	A pithy saying, often using contrast	120
2505057065	Euphemism	A figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness	121
2505058758	Grotesque	Characterized by distortions or incongruities	122
2505061636	Reliability	The level of trust that a reader can invest in a character	123
2505065267	Rhetorical question	A question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply	124
2505067229	Syllogism	A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them	125
2505071849	Thesis	The theme, meaning, or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support	126
2505076643	End-stopped	A line with a pause at the end	127
2505078470	Heroic couplet	Two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines that rhyme	128
2505081083	Internal rhyme	Rhyme that occurs within a line	129
2505083586	Rhyme royal	A 7-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc	130
2505118474	Clause	A group of words that contains a subject and a verb	131
2505120365	Ellipsis	The omission of word(s)	132
2505123098	Imperative	The mood of the verb that gives an order	133
2505124133	Modify	To restrict or limit in meaning	134