AP Literature Flashcards

5382384286	Adage	A saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language	0
5382392684	Allegory	A story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning. The story and characters represent values beyond themselves	1
5382411383	Alliteration	The repetition of one or more initial consonants	2
5382417335	Allusion	A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea	3
5382424375	Antagonist	A character or force in a work of literature, by opposing the protagonist, produces tension or conflict	4
5382439303	Apostrophe	A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing nor present	5
5382444381	Archetype	An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form	6
5382452380	Assonance	The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose	7
5382459479	Ballad	A simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited	8
5382467392	Bildungsroman	A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal	9
5382484300	Blank verse	Poetry written in iambic pentameter, the primary meter used in English poetry and the words of Shakespeare. Lines generally do not rhyme.	10
5382522665	Bombast	Inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects	11
5382529441	Cacophony	Grating, inharmonious sounds	12
5382533855	Caesura	A pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often marked by punctuation	13
5382540377	Catharsis	A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror or a dramatic tragedy	14
5382575934	Conceit	A witty or ingenious thought a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language	15
5382584792	Connotation	The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation.	16
5382594868	Consonance	The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry	17
5382607288	Couplet	A pair of rhyming lines in poem. Two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter is sometimes called a heroic couplet	18
5382620716	Denotation	The dictionary definition of a word. Contrast with connotation.	19
5382625329	Denouement	The resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work of fiction	20
5382634299	Deus ex machina	In literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem	21
5382642420	Diction	The choice of words in oral and written discourse	22
5382646392	Elegy	A poem or prose selection that laments or mediates on the passing of death of something or someone of value	23
5382691447	Enjambment	In poetry, the use of the successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them	24
5382700965	Epic	An extended narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero that in generally larger than life and is often considered a legendary figure	25
5382717511	Euphemism	A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term	26
5382731789	Euphony	Pleasing, harmonious sounds	27
5382736620	Exposition	The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea	28
5382782247	Falling action	The action in a play or story that occurs after the climax and that leads to the conclusion	29
5382811501	Farce	A comedy that contains an extravagant and nonsensical disregard of seriousness, although it may have a serious, scornful purpose	30
5382823956	Figure of speech	In contrast to literal language	31
5382829736	First-person narrative	A narrative told by a character involved in the story, using pronouns such as I and we	32
5382836708	Flashback	A return to an earlier time	33
5382841265	Foil	A minor character whose personality or attitude contrasts with that of the main character	34
5382851179	Foreshadowing	Providing hints of things to come in a story or play	35
5382858119	Hubris	The excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death	36
5382870501	Hyperbole	Overstatement; gross exaggeration	37
5382875281	Idyll	A lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place	38
5382883555	In medias res	A narrative that starts not at the beginning of events at some other critical point	39
5385613661	Irony	A mode of expression in which the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or sarcasm	40
5385614887	Litotes	A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity	41
5385617745	Lyric poetry	Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject	42
5385619228	Metaphor	A figure of speech that compares unlike objects	43
5385620902	Metaphysical poetry	The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life	44
5385624953	Meter	Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry	45
5385627197	Mood	The emotional tone in a work of literature	46
5385628141	Motif	A phrase, idea, or event through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature	47
5385631706	Narrative	A form of verse of prose that tells a story	48
5385635078	Ode	A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject	49
5385637767	Omniscient narrator	A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story	50
5385639202	Paradox	A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true	51
5385643193	Pastoral	A work of literature dealing with rural life	52
5385644598	Pathos	The element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow	53
5385647652	Persona	The role or façade that a character assumes	54
5385649772	Personification	A figure of speech which objects and animals are given human characteristics	55
5385650397	Picaresque novel	An episodic novel about a roguelike wanderer	56
5385653295	Quatrain	A four-line poem or a four-line unit	57
5385657863	Realism	The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization	58
5385660882	Satire	A literary style used to poke fun at, attack, or ridicule an idea	59
5385661772	Sonnet	A popular form of verse consisting of fourteen lines	60
5385685413	Symbolism	The use of one object to evoke ideas	61
5385687354	Synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole	62
5385688263	Syntax	The organization of language into a meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular pattern of words	63
5385690253	Theme	The main idea or meaning, often an abstract idea upon which a work of literature is built	64
5385690747	Tone	The author's attitude toward the subject being written about	65
5385690748	Tragedy	A form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces	66
5385691454	Verisimilitude	Similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a world that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is	67