AP Literature Terms Flashcards

3421018941	Ode	lyric poem of some length, serious in subject and dignified in style	0
3421028518	Narrative verse	a poem that tells a story	1
3421028519	Motif	recurring image, character, verbal pattern, etc.	2
3421034280	Meter	pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables	3
3421039850	Tone	author's attitude toward subject and/or audience	4
3421048617	Terza rima	aba bcc cdc etc. rhyme scheme	5
3421058399	Tercet	a group of three lines rhyming together or connected by rhyme with the adjacent group or groups of three lines	6
3421089106	Syntax	the choice of words and their placement in sentences (actual order of words)	7
3421217818	Foot	group of syllables forming metrical unit	8
3421222218	Figurative language	makes use of figures of speech or literary devices	9
3421351401	Fable	narrative illustrating a moral truth	10
3421478550	Epithet	term used to characterize a person (Jack the Ripper)	11
3421664438	Epitaph	death inscription (as seen on tombstones)	12
3421699839	Epiphany	"showing forth" (Greek), an insight	13
3421710123	Epic	extended narrative poem, exalted in style and heroic in theme	14
3421753121	End-stopped line	end of phrase or sentence coincides with end of line in poetry	15
3421753122	Elegy	dignified poem mourning death	16
3421755175	Dissonance	juxtaposition of jarring sounds	17
3421755176	Diction	the choice of words and their placement in sentences (why the author chose specific words)	18
3421758072	Denouement	events following the climax and the falling action (resolution)	19
3422439772	Couplet	two lines of verse, usually rhymed and of same meter	20
3423738399	Consonance	close repetition of identical consonant sounds around different vowels (flip-flop) or at the end of hidden words (hid-bed)	21
3423747463	Caesura	pause in rhyme, dictated by rhythm	22
3423749397	Ballad	narrative poem, originally sung	23
3423752624	Assonance	repetition of vowel sounds	24
3423774313	Apostrophe	directly addressing an absent or imaginary person	25
3423774314	Allusion	a brief reference to familiar person/thing/incident (often Biblical, historical, mythological, or literary)	26
3423774315	Alliteration	close repetition of consonant sounds at beginning of words	27
3423776203	Metaphor	two unlike objects compared	28
3423805658	Metonymy	figure of speech, name of object substituted for another ("my light [vision] is spent"	29
3423815157	Litotes	understatement (aka meiosis)	30
3423817125	Imagery	language which evokes sensory experiences; engaging sight, smell, taste, sound, etc.	31
3423822374	Heroic couplet	pair of rhymed iambic pentameter lines	32
3423826250	Genre	literary type or class, specific or general	33
3423829712	Free verse	lacks regular meter and line length (relies on natural rhythm; most modern poetry)	34
3423836327	Form	fixed metrical arrangement	35
3423839212	Symbol	something that stands for something else, but also exists as an entity in itself	36
3423845148	Syllogism	a deductive logical argument, formulated around one major premise, one minor premise and a conclusion (All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.)	37
3423856985	Style	the qualities that make up a literary personality or way of writing	38
3423861735	Stanza	group of lines that form division of a poem	39
3423868353	Shakespearean sonnet	14 lines, iambic pentameter (abab cdcd efef gg or abba cddc effe gg)	40
3423872521	Rhyme royal	7-line stanza in iambic pentameter (ababbcc)	41
3423883453	Repetition	duplication of an element of language, such as a word, phrase, clause, etc.	42
3423900035	Spenserian sonnet	14 lines, iambic pentameter, with rhyme of abab bcbc cdcd ee	43
3423900036	Quatrain	stanza of four lines	44
3423906222	Petrarchan sonnet	14 lines divided into two parts, an octave (abbaabba) and sestet (cdecde)	45
3423910736	Persona	a "mask" which the author assumes to speak to the audience	46
3423915572	Pathos	quality which evokes feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, etc.	47
3423919867	Irony	writer expresses a meaning contradictory to stated or ostensible one	48
3423923481	Oxymoron	two apparently contradictory terms (cold fires)	49
3548496884	Synecdoche	part of something is used to represent the whole (i.e. cars as "wheels")	50
3549319400	Hyperbole	exaggeration to ridiculous level to create comedic or ironic effect	51
3549329101	Types of Irony: Situational, Dramatic & Verbal	when there is a statement or experience that seems to contradict itself	52
3549348269	Anaphora	repeated phrase for effect	53
3549389361	Onomatopoeia	sound of word that makes the same noise as the word's meaning	54
3553950423	Aside	when a character or speaker speaks to the audience when inner feeling or thought	55
3553991990	Antithesis	two ideas directly opposed	56
3554007524	Asyndeton	omission of words or conjunctions to create a tight, concise and terse statement	57
3554045168	Connotation	feeling or cultural context of a word	58
3554102313	Cacophony	sounds of words that clash against each other and sound harsh	59
3554123813	Chiasmus	words appear or repeat in reverse order	60
3554153593	Denotation	dictionary definition of a word	61
3554174348	Enjambment	lines of poems that lack punctuation and run into each other	62
3554196056	Euphony	pleasing, harmonious sounds of words	63
3554297326	Malapropism	misuse of word: word similar in sound with different meaning is used	64
3554307368	Paralipsis	speakers says that he/she will not discuss something that they go on to discuss	65
3554383215	Polysyndeton	use of several conjunctions in close proximity	66
3554397018	Synesthesia	one sense evokes another sensory experience	67
3554418997	Tragic flaw	character trait that brings about the person's downfall	68
3554427600	Zeugma	a word that rules over two other words like a verb with two nouns	69
3616804498	Ad hominem argument	attacking the character making the argument rather than the argument itself	70
3616808594	Bathos	unsuccessful attempt to appeal to the reader's emotions by excessive sentimentality	71
3616809634	Doggerel	poorly written or crude verse, irregular in rhythm and rhyme, with a humorous quality (like in nursery rhymes or children's songs)	72
3616810899	Gallows humor	silliness or satire about very unpleasant, serious, or painful circumstances (such as war, death, disease, crime)	73
3616813141	Pathetic fallary	attributing human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature (kind of personification)	74
3616814319	Villanelle	a nineteen line poem with five tercets and a quatrain with a specific rhyme scheme (usually a ballad)	75
3616843397	Anapest	a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable	76
3616858573	Blank Verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter verse (in poetry)	77
3616864750	Dactyl	a metrical foot in poetry that consists of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones	78
3616872431	Deux Ex Machina	an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation in a contrived plot (novel/play)	79
3616888078	Juxtaposition	two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect	80
3616888079	Octave	Poem or stanza of eight lines	81
3616888080	Sestet	six-line poem or stanza	82
3616889589	Spondee	a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables	83
3616916928	Trochee	a metrical foot in poetry that consists of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable	84