AP Literature Lit Terms Flashcards

4386717698	allusion	a reference in a work of literature to something outside of the work, especially a well known historical or literary person, event, or work.	0
4386726567	attitude	the disposition toward or opinion of a subject by a speaker, author, or character	1
4386740276	details (choice of details)	the individual items or parts that make up a larger picture or story	2
4386747535	devices of sound	the techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry (rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia) they are used for many reasons, including to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning	3
4386782614	diction	word choice	4
4386790037	figurative language	writing that uses figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, and irony. uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning	5
4386800060	imagery	the images created by a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. the visual, auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work, and the images that figurative language evokes	6
4386819843	irony	a figure of speech in which the intended meaning and the actual meaning differ, characteristically using praise to indicate blame or using blame to indicate praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning	7
4386830051	metaphor	a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of comparative terms like "as," "like," or "than."	8
4386842797	narrative techniques	the methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts. asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story	9
4386851090	omniscient point of view	the vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses	10
4386857846	point of view	any of several possible vantage points from which a story is told. may be omniscient, limited to several characters, or to just a single character	11
4386865420	resources of language	a general phrase for the linguistic devices or techniques that a writer can use. asks you to discuss the style and rhetoric of a passage. (examples: diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery)	12
4386879081	rhetorical techniques	the devices used in effective or persuasive language (contrast, repetition, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, and rhetorical question	13
4386887234	satire	writing that uses ridicule to arouse a reader's disapproval of the subject. comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correct vice and folly	14
4386908519	setting	the background of a story; the physical location of a play, story , or novel. includes both time and place	15
4386923672	simile	a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with like or as or than.	16
4386929029	strategy (rhetorical strategy)	the management of language for a specific effect. the planned placing of elements to achieve an effect	17
4386951062	structure	the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work	18
4386962174	style	the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author. can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone	19
4386979502	symbol	something that is simultaneously itself and also a sign of something else	20
4386983745	syntax	the structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. could include the length or brevity of sentences, and the kinds of sentences. (questions, exclamations, declarative, rhetorical questions, periodic or loose sentences, and simple, complex, or compound sentences	21
4386998918	theme	the main thought expressed by a work	22
4387009113	tone	the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. it is described by adjectives. it is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, and style	23
4387032396	allegory	a story in which the people, things, and events have another extended, frequently abstract, meaning	24
4387036937	ambiguity	multiple meanings that a literary work may communicate, especially when two meanings are incompatible	25
4387094373	apostrophe	direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present	26
4387098020	connotation	the implications of a word or phrase, or the emotions associated with it, as opposed to its exact meaning	27
4387107599	convention	a device or style or subject matter that is used so often that it becomes a recognized means of expression. For example, a character observing the literary conventions of an impassioned lover cannot eat, or sleep, and he grows pale and lean	28
4387127933	denotation	the specific, literal meaning of a word to be found in a dictionary, as opposed to connotation	29
4387131873	didactic	explicitly instructive	30
4387133916	digression	the inclusion of material unrelated to the actual subject of a work	31
4387145640	epigram	a pithy staying, often employing contrast. also a verse form that is brief and pointed	32
4387155914	euphemism	a figure of speech utilizing indirection to avoid offensive bluntness, such as "deceased" for "dead" or "remains" for "corpse"	33
4387163764	grotesque	characterized by distortions or incongruities	34
4387167103	hyperbole	deliberate exaggeration, overstatement. it is self conscious with the intention of not being accepted literally	35
4387172602	jargon	the specialized language or a profession or group may be evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders	36
4387182093	literal	the precise, explicit meaning; accurate to the letter; a matter of fact, as opposed to figurative language	37
4387186941	lyrical	songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination	38
4387195281	oxymoron	a combination of juxtaposition of opposites; a union of contradictory terms "bright smoke" "feather of lead" "cold fire"	39
4387201127	parable	a story designed to suggest a principle, to illustrate a moral, or to answer a question. they are allegorical stories	40
4387205457	paradox	a statement that seems to be self-contradictory but is in fact, true. "chaste but you ravish me" "fair is foul and foul is fair"	41
4387215376	parody	a composition that imitates the style of another composition, normally done for comic effect	42
4387223698	personification	a figurative use of language that endows the nonhuman (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics	43
4387251663	reliability	a quality of some fictional narrators in whose word the reader can place his trust. There are both reliable and unreliable narrators, that is, tellers of a story who should or should not be trusted	44
4387263015	rhetorical question	a question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply. a reply is not expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer	45
4387269860	soliloquy	a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud.	46
4387275589	stereotype	a conventional pattern, expression, character, or idea	47
4387279757	syllogism	a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. "all tragedies end unhappily. hamlet is a tragedy. therefore, hamlet ends unhappily	48
4387288096	thesis	the theme, meaning, or position that a writer endeavors to prove or support	49
4387295735	alliteration	the repetition of similar or identical consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of the words. "Gnus never know pneumonia" (all have the n sound)	50
4387302297	assonance	the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. "a land laid waste with all its young men slain" repeats the same a sound in laid, waste, and slain	51
4387310166	ballad meter	a four-line stanza rhymed abcb in which lines one and three have four feet and lines two and four have three feet	52
4387322517	blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter (meter of most of Shakespeare's plays)	53
4387328019	dactyl	a metrical foot of three syllables, including an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables	54
4387333318	end-stopped	a line with a pause at the end. lines that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark	55
4387339285	free verse	poetry that is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical	56
4387345020	heroic couplet	two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc, usually containing a complete thought in the two-line unit	57
4387357169	hexameter	a line containing six feet	58
4387358940	iamb	a two-syllable foot with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. most common foot in English poetry	59
4387362158	internal rhyme	rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end	60
4387370679	onomatopoeia	the use of words whose very sound suggests their actual meaning. buzz, hiss, honk	61
4387373386	pentameter	a line containing five feet. the iambic pentameter is the most common line used in English verse before 1950	62
4387378956	rhyme royal	a seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc	63
4387384985	sonnet	a poem written in iambic pentameter, normally composed of 14 lines. Italian/Petrarchan is abba abba cde cde. English/Shakespearean is abab cdcd efef gg	64
4387397258	stanza	a repeated grouping of three or more lines, usually with the same meter and rhyme scheme	65
4387401389	terza rima	a three-line stanza rhymed aba bcb cdc	66
4387404206	tetrameter	a line of four feet	67
4387415776	antecedent	that which has gone before, especially the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers. "the witches cast their spells" the antecedent of the pronoun their is the noun witches	68
4387424897	clause	a group of words containing a subject and its verb that may or may not form a complete sentence	69
4387429882	ellipsis	a phrase that omits some words that would be necessary for a complete construction, yet which is still understandable. "if rainy, bring an umbrella"	70
4387436351	modify	to restrict or limit in meaning. in the phrase "large, shaggy dog," the two adjectives modify the noun.	71
4387441021	parallel structure	a similar grammatical structure within a sentence or within a paragraph	72
4387448655	periodic sentence	a sentence that becomes grammatically complete only at the end. "when conquering love did first my heart assail, unto mine aid I summoned every sense"	73
4387452839	loose sentence	grammatically complete before the period "fair is my love, and cruel as she's fair"	74
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