AP English Literature Terms Flashcards

sources of definitions are The Princeton Review (TPR) and Barron's AP study guides

4741302156	abstract	an abbreviated synopsis of a longer work of scholarship or research	0
4741302157	adage	a saying/proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language	1
4741302158	allegory	a story in which the narrative/characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical or possibly an ethical meaning	2
4741302159	alliteration	the repetition of one or more initial consonant in a group of words or lines of poetry or prose. writers use this for ornament or for emphasis	3
4741302160	allusion	a reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea	4
4741302161	ambiguity	a vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretation	5
4741302162	anachronism	a person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time/era in which the work is set	6
4741302163	analogy	a comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things	7
4741302164	annotation	a brief explanation,summary, or evaluation of a text or work of literature	8
4741302165	antagonist	a character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist produces tension or conflict	9
4741302166	antithesis	a rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences	10
4741302167	aphorism	a short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment	11
4741302168	Apollonian	in contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior	12
4741302169	apostrophe	a locution that addresses a person/personified thing not present	13
4741302170	archetype	an abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model/form	14
4741302171	assonance	the repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose	15
4741302172	ballad	a simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited; a long narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme, typically has a naive folksy quality	16
4741302173	bard	a poet, in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment	17
4741302174	bathos	the use of insincere or overdone sentimentality	18
4741302175	belle-lettres	the French term for the world of books, criticism, and literature in general	19
4741302176	bibliography	a list of works cited or otherwise relevant to a subject or other work	20
4741302177	Bildungsroman	a German word referring to a novel dealing with the formative years of a character; a coming of age story	21
4741302178	blank verse	poetry written in iambic pentameter, the primary meter used in English poetry and the works of Shakespeare and Milton. Its lines generally do not rhyme	22
4741302179	bombast	inflated, pretentious language used for trivial subjects	23
4741302180	burlesque	a work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque imitation; a broad parody and exaggerates it into ridiculousness	24
4741302181	cacophony	grating, inharmonious sounds	25
4741302182	caesura	a pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often (but not always marked by punctuation)	26
4741302183	canon	the works considered most important in national literature or period; works widely read and studied	27
4741302184	caricature	a grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things; a portrait that exaggerates a facet of personality	28
4741302185	carpe diem	"seize the day"	29
4741302186	catharsis	a cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror of a dramatic tragedy	30
4741302187	classic	a highly regarded work of literature or other art form that has withstood the test of time, similar to canon	31
4741302188	classicism	deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity and restraint	32
4741302189	climax	the high point, or turning point, of a story/play	33
4741302190	novel	a tale in which a young protagonist experiences an introduction to adulthood. the character may develop understanding via disillusionment, education, doses of reality, or any other experiences that alter his/her emotional/intellectual maturity. e.g. Invisible Man	34
4741302191	conceit	a witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language; a startling or unusual metaphor, or a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines	35
4741302192	anticlimax	this occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect, it is frequently comic in effect	36
4741302193	antihero	a protagonist who is markedly unheroic: morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or any number of other unsavory qualities	37
4741302194	aside	a speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage	38
4741302195	aspect	a trait of characteristic, as in "an aspect of the dew drop"	39
4741302196	atmosphere	the emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene	40
4741302197	black humor	this is the use of disturbing themes in comedy. e.g. two tramps comically debating over which should commit suicide first, and whether the branches of a tree will support their weight	41
4741302198	cadence	the beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense	42
4741302199	canto	is a divider in long poems, much like chapters in a novel	43
4741302200	coinage	a.k.a. neologism, inventing a word	44
4741302201	colloquialism	this is a word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "schoolbook" English	45
4741302202	controlling image	when an image dominates and shapes the entire work	46
4741302203	metaphysical conceit	a type of conceit that occurs only in metaphysical poetry	47
4741302204	connotation	the suggest or implied meaning of a word/phrase	48
4741302205	consonance	the repetition of two or more consonant sounds within a group of words or a line of poetry	49
4741302206	couplet	a pair of lines that end in rhyme	50
4741302207	heroic couplet	two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter are called this	51
4741302208	denotation	the literal, dictionary definition of a word	52
4741302209	denouement	the resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work or fiction	53
4741302210	deus ex machina	in literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem	54
4741302211	Dionysian	as distinguished from Apollonian, the word refers to sensual, pleasure seeking impulses	55
4741302212	diction	the choice of words in oral and written discourse	56
4741302213	syntax	the ordering and structuring of the words in a sentence	57
4741302214	dirge	a song for the dead, its tone is typically slow, heavy, and melancholy	58
4741302215	dissonance	the grating of incompatible sounds	59
4741302216	doggerel	crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme	60
4741302217	dramatic irony	when the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not	61
4741302218	dramatic monologue	when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience	62
4741302219	elegy	a poem or prose selection that laments or meditates on the passing/death of something/someone of value	63
4741302220	elements	the basic techniques of each genre of literature. IN SHORT STORY: characters, irony, theme, symbol, plot, setting. IN POETRY: figurative language, symbol, imagery, rhythm, rhyme. IN DRAMA: conflict, characters, climax, conclusion, exposition, rising action, falling action, props. IN NONFICTION: argument, evidence, reason, appeals, fallacies, thesis.	64
4741302221	ellipsis	three periods (...) indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation	65
4741302222	empathy	a feeling of association or identification with an object/person	66
4741302223	end stopped	a term that describes a line of poetry that ends with a natural pause often indicated by a mark of punctuation	67
4741302224	enjambment	the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause	68
4741302225	epic	an extended narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero that is generally larger than life and is often considered a legendary figure	69
4741302226	mock epic	a parody form that deals with mundane events and ironically treats them as worthy of epic poetry	70
4741302227	epitaph	lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place. usually a line or handful of lines, often serious or religious, but sometimes witty and even irreverent	71
4741302228	epigram	a concise but ingenious, witty and thoughtful statement	72
4741302229	euphony	when sounds blend harmoniously; pleasing, harmonious sounds	73
4741302230	epithet	an adjective or phrase that expresses a striking quality of a person or thing	74
4741302231	eponymous	a term for the title character of a work of literature	75
4741302232	euphemism	a mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term	76
4741302233	exegesis	a detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature	77
4741302234	expose	a piece of writing that reveals weaknesses, faults, frailties, or other short comings	78
4741302235	explicit	to say or write something directly and clearly	79
4741302236	explication	the interpretation/analysis of a text	80
4741302237	extended metaphor	a series of comparisons between two unlike objects that occur over a number of lines	81
4741302238	fable	a short tale often featuring nonhuman character that act as people whose actions enable the author to make observations or draw useful lessons about human behavior. i.e Orwell's "Animal Farm"	82
4741302239	falling action	the action in a play or story that occurs after the climax and that leads to the conclusion and often to the resolution of the conflict	83
4741302240	fantasy	a story containing unreal, imaginary features	84
4741302241	farce	a comedy that contains an extravagant and nonsensical disregard of seriousness, although it may have a serious, scornful purpose	85
4741302242	figurative language	in contrast to literal language, this implies meanings. It includes devices such as metaphors, similes, and personification, etc.	86
4741302243	foil	a secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast	87
4741302244	first person narrative	a narrative told by a character involved in the story, using first-person pronouns such as "I" and "we"	88
4741302245	flashback	a return to an earlier time in a story or play in order to clarify present actions or circumstances i.e. Invisible Man	89
4741302246	foreshadowing	an event or statement in a narrative that suggests, in miniature, a larger event that comes later	90
4741302247	foot	the basic rhythmic unit of a line in poetry. it is formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or unstressed	91
4741302248	frame	a structure that provides premise or setting for a narrative	92
4741302249	free verse	a kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm or fixed metrical feet	93
4741302250	genre	a term used to describe literary forms, such as novel, play, and essay	94
4741302251	Gothic novel	a novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action. i.e. "Frankenstein"	95
4741302252	harangue	a forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade	96
4741302253	hubris	the excessive pride/ambition that leads to the main character's downfall	97
4741302254	hyperbole	exaggeration/deliberate overstatement	98
4741302255	humanism	a belief that emphasizes faith and optimism in human potential and creativity	99
4741302256	implicit	to say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly	100
4741302257	in medias res	Latin for "in the midst of things"; a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point	101
4741302258	idyll	a lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place	102
4741302259	image	a word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled or felt	103
4741302260	inversion	switching customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase. when done badly it can give a stilted, artificial look-at-me-I'm-poetry feel to the verse. type of syntax	104
4741302261	irony	a mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm	105
4741302262	invective	a direct verbal assault; a denunciation. i.e. Candide	106
4741302263	kenning	a device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions/qualities, as in "ring-giver" for king and "wale-road" for ocean	107
4741302264	lament	a poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over some other intense loss	108
4741302265	lampoon	a satire	109
4741302266	light verse	a variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, butt sometimes with a satirical thrust	110
4741302267	loose sentence	a sentence that is complete before its end. follows customary word order of English sentences i.e. subject-verb-object	111
4741302268	periodic sentence	a sentence not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase; sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end	112
4741302269	lyric	personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject; the word is used to describe tone, it refers to a sweet, emotional melodiousness	113
4741302270	melodrama	a form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure.	114
4741302271	litotes	a form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity	115
4741302272	maxim	a saying or proverb expressing common wisdom or truth	116
4741302273	metaphor	a figure of speech that compares unlike objects	117
4741302274	metaphysical poetry	the work of poets, particularly those of 17th c., that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life	118
4741302275	meter	the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry	119
4741302276	metonymy	a figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. e.g. "The White House says..."	120
4741302277	mode	the general form, pattern, and manner of expression of a work of literature	121
4741302278	montage	a quick succession of images/impressions used to express an idea	122
4741302279	mood	the emotional tone in a work of literature	123
4741302280	nemesis	the protagonist's archenemy or supreme and persistent difficulty	124
4741302281	objectivity	this treatment of a subject matter is an impersonal/outside view of events	125
4741302282	subjectivity	this treatment of a subject matter uses the interior/personal view of a single observer and is typically colored with that observer's emotional responses	126
4741302283	onomatopoeia	words that sound like what they mean	127
4741302284	moral	a brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature	128
4741302285	motif	a phrase, idea, event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.	129
4741302286	muse	one of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts. the imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer	130
4741302287	myth	an imaginary story that has become accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group/society. often used to explain natural phenomena.	131
4741302288	narrative	a form of verse or prose that tells a story	132
4741302289	naturalism	a term often used as a synonym for "realism"; also a view of experiences that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic	133
4741302290	non sequitur	a statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before	134
4741302291	novel of manners	a novel focusing on and describing the social customs and habits of a particular social group	135
4741302292	ode	a lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful and exalted feelings toward the subject.	136
4741302293	omniscient narrator	a narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story	137
4741302294	oxymoron	a phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction. juxtaposition of contradictory element to create a paradoxical effect	138
4741302295	opposition	one of the most useful concepts in analyzing literature. it means that you have a pair of elements that contrast sharply.	139
4741302296	ottava rima	an eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem	140
4741302297	parable	like a fable or an allegory, it's a story that instructs; a story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived	141
4741302298	paradox	a statement that seems self-contradictory yet true	142
4741302299	parallelism	repeated syntactical similarities used for effect	143
4741302300	parody	an imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject	144
4741302301	paraphrase	a version of a text put into simpler, everyday, words	145
4741302302	pastoral	a work of literature dealing with rural life	146
4741302303	pathetic fallacy	faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects	147
4741302304	pathos	that element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow	148
4741302305	pentameter	a verse with five poetic feet per line	149
4741302306	persona	the role/facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader, viewer, or the world at large; the narrator in a non-first-person novel	150
4741302307	personification	giving an inanimate object human like qualities or form	151
4741302308	plot	the interrelationship among the events in a story, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution	152
4741302309	picaresque novel	an episodic novel about a roguelike wanderer who lives off his wits. e.g. "Don Quixote", "Moll Flanders"	153
4741302310	plaint	a poem or speech expressing sorrow	154
4741302311	point of view	the perspective from which the action of a novel in presented.	155
4741302312	omniscient narrator	3rd person narrator who sees like God into each character's mind and understands all the action going on.	156
4741302313	limited omniscient narrator	3rd person narrator who generally reports only what one character (usually the main) sees, and who only reports the thoughts of that one privileged character.	157
4741302314	objective narrator	3rd person narr. who only reports on what would be visible to a camera, doesn't know what the character is thinking unless the character speaks of it.	158
4741302315	first person narrator	this is a narrator who is a character in the story and tells the tale from his/her POV. when the narrator is crazy, a liar, very young, or for some reason not entirely credible, the narrator is "unreliable"	159
4741302316	prosody	the grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry	160
4741302317	protagonist	the main character in a work of literature	161
4741302318	prelude	an introductory poem to a longer work of verse	162
4741302319	pun	the usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings	163
4741302320	pseudonym	also called "pen name", a false name or alias used by writers. i.e Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) George Orwell (Eric Blair)	164
4741302321	quatrian	a four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem	165
4741302322	refrain	a line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem	166
4741302323	requiem	a song of prayer for the dead	167
4741302324	realism	the depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect	168
4741302325	rhetoric	the language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience	169
4741302326	rhetorical question	a question that suggests an answer. in theory, the effect is that it causes the listener to feel they have come up with the answer themselves	170
4741302327	rhapsody	an intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise	171
4741302328	rhyme	the repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry	172
4741302329	rhyme scheme	the patterns of rhymes within a given poem i.e. abba	173
4741302330	rhythm	the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry. similar to meter	174
4741302331	romance	an extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places	175
4741302332	sarcasm	a sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt	176
4741302333	satire	a literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change. great subjects for this include hypocrisy, vanity and greed, especially if those characteristics have become institutionalized in society	177
4741302334	simile	figurative comparison using the words "like" or "as"	178
4741302335	setting	the total environment for the action in a novel/play. it includes time, place, historical milieu, and social, political and even spiritual circumstances	179
4741302336	sentimental	a term that describes characters' excessive emotional response to experience; also nauseatingly nostalgic and mawkish	180
4741302337	sentiment	a synonym for "view" or "feeling"; also refined and tender emotion in literature	181
4741302338	scansion	the act of determining the meter of a poetic line.	182
4741302339	sonnet	a popular form of verse consisting of fourteen lines and a prescribed rhyme scheme. two types: Shakespearean and Petrarchan	183
4741302340	soliloquy	a speech spoken by a character alone on stage. meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's THOUGHTS. unlike an aside, it is not meant to imply that the actor acknowledges the audience's presence	184
4741302341	stanza	a group of lines in verse, roughly analogous in function to the paragraph in prose; a group of two or more lines in poetry combined according to subject matter, rhyme, or some other plan	185
4741302342	stream of consciousness	a style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind, e.g. Ernest Hemingway	186
4741302343	stock characters	standard or cliched character types: the drunk, the miser, the foolish girl, etc.	187
4741302344	suggest	to imply, infer indicate. goes along with the concept of implicit	188
4741302345	style	the manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes ideas, forms sentences and creates a structure to convey ideas	189
4741302346	subplot	a subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play, usually connected to the main plot	190
4741302347	subtext	the implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature	191
4741302348	summary	a simple retelling of what you've just read. what you DON'T want to do in the Open Essay section :)	192
4741302349	symbolism	a device in literature where an object represents an idea	193
4741302350	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part	194
4741302351	theme	the main idea or meaning, often an abstract idea upon which a work of literature is built	195
4741302352	thesis	the main position of an argument. the central contention that will be supported	196
4741302353	tone	the author's attitude toward the subject being written about. it's the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work	197
4741302354	tragic flaw	in a tragedy, this is the weakness of a character in an otherwise good individual that ultimately leads to his demise	198
4741302355	tragedy	a form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish, or even death	199
4741302356	travesty	a grotesque parody	200
4741302357	truism	a way-too-obvious truth	201
4741302358	utopia	an idealized place. imaginary communities in which people are able to live in happiness, prosperity and peace. Sir Thomas More came up with this idea.	202
4741302359	verbal irony	a discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words	203
4741302360	verse	a synonym for poetry. also a group of lines in a song or poem; also a single line of poetry	204
4741302361	verisimilitude	similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is	205
4741302362	versification	the structural form of a line of verse as revealed by the number of feet it contains. i.e. monometer = 1 foot; tetrameter = 4 feet; pentameter = 5 feet, etc.	206
4741302363	villanelle	a French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but consisting of 19 lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes	207
4741302364	voice	the real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker. a verb is in the active voice when it expresses an action performed by its subject. a verb is in the passive voice when it expresses an action performed upon its subject or when the subject is the result of the action. Active: The crew raked the leaves. Passive: The leaves were raked by the crew.	208
4741302365	wit	the quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that surprise and delight by their unexpectedness; the power to comment subtly and pointedly on the foibles of the passing scene	209
4741302366	zeugma	the use of a word to modify two or more words, but used for different meanings. "He close the door and his heart on his lost love."	210
4741302367	anastrophe	inversion of the natural or usual word order	211
4741302368	parenthesis	insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence	212
4741302369	apposition	placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first. "The mountain was the earth, her home."	213
4741302370	ellipsis	deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by context	214
4741302371	asyndeton	deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses. used to produce a hurried rhythm in the sentence.	215
4741302372	polysyndeton	the deliberate use of many conjunctions. its effect is to slow down the rhythm of the sentence	216
4741302373	anaphora	repetition of the same words or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. e.g. "I have a dream..."	217
4741302374	epistrophe	repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses "When we first came we were very many and you were very few. Now you are many and we are getting very few."	218
4741302375	epanalepsis	repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. "Blood hat bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows"	219
4741302376	anadiplosis	repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause. "The crime was common, common be the pain."	220
4741302377	climax	the arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of importance	221
4741302378	antimetabole	repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."	222
4741302379	chiasmus	reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses. "Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys."	223
4741302380	polyptoton	repetition of words derived from the same root. "But in this desert country they may see the land being rendered USELESS by OVERUSE."	224
4741302381	antanaclasis	repetition of a word in two different senses. "Your argument is sound, nothing but sound."	225
4741302382	paronomasia	use of words alike in sound but different in meaning. "ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a GRAVE man."	226
4741302383	syllepsis	the use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies/governs. "The ink, like our pig, keeps running out of the pen."	227
4741302384	anthimeria	the substitution of one part of speech for another "I'll UNHAIR they head."	228
4741302385	periphrasis	substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name. "They do not escape JIM CROW; they merely encounter another, not less deadly variety."	229
4741302386	autobiography	an account of a person's own life	230
4741302387	dialect	a way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region/group of people	231
4741302388	epiphany	in a literary work, a moment of sudden insight/revelation that a character experiences	232
4741302389	essay	a short piece of non-fiction prose that examines a single subject from a limited POV	233
4741302390	suspense	the uncertainty/anxiety we feel about what is going to happen next in a story	234