AP Literature Vocab Flashcards
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| 3811916873 | Allegory | POETIC DEVICES: using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning Ex: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis | 0 | |
| 3811916874 | Alliteration | RHYME: the repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words Ex: "Bright black-eyed creature, brushed with brown." | 1 | |
| 3811916875 | Allusion | POETIC DEVICE: a (in)direct reference to something which is presumably commonly known Ex: biblical references in the Grapes of Wrath | 2 | |
| 3811916876 | Ambiguity | OTHER: the multiple meanings of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage Ex: "Each of us saw her duck" | 3 | |
| 3811916877 | Amphibrach | OTHER METER: a foot with unstressed, stressed, unstressed syllables Ex: Chi-ca-go | 4 | |
| 3811916878 | Amphimacer | OTHER METER: a foot with stressed, unstressed, stressed syllables Ex: at-ti-tude | 5 | |
| 3811916879 | Anacrusis | OTHER METER: an extra unaccented syllable at the beginning of a line before the regular meter begins Ex: "Mine / by the right / of the white / election" | 6 | |
| 3811916880 | Anadiplosis | POETIC DEVICES: the repetition of a key word, especially the last one, at the beginning of the next sentence/clause Ex: "They call for you: The general who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor." | 7 | |
| 3811916881 | Analogy | POETIC DEVICES: a similarity/comparison between two different things or the relationship between them Ex: "Life is like a box of chocolates." | 8 | |
| 3811916882 | Anapest | METER: a foot in poetry with two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable Ex: con-tra-dict | 9 | |
| 3811916883 | Anaphora | POETIC DEVICES: repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences for emphasis Ex: I have a dream that... I have a dream ... | 10 | |
| 3812843845 | Anastrophe | GRAMMAR: the normal order of words is reversed in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter Ex: the soldier strong, shouts the policeman, worlds between | 11 | |
| 3811916884 | Anathema | OTHER: a thing or person accursed or damned; a formal curse or condemnation excommunicating a person; any strong curse Ex: Hitler | 12 | |
| 3811916885 | Antecedent | GRAMMAR: the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun Ex: "Bob works at McDonald's. He loves it" (Bob is the ___ for "He") | 13 | |
| 3811916886 | Anticlimax | POETIC DEVICES: using a sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the end of a sentence Ex: He'd been waiting his whole life to pick up the penny. | 14 | |
| 3811916887 | Antimetabole | POETIC DEVICES: repeating words in reverse order for surprise and emphasis Ex: "Eat to live, not live to eat." | 15 | |
| 3811916888 | Antithesis | POETIC DEVICES: a contrast or opposition of thoughts; the exact opposite Ex: "Love is the ___ of selfishness" | 16 | |
| 3811916889 | Aphorism | OTHER: a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle Ex: The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. | 17 | |
| 3811916890 | Apostrophe | POETIC DEVICE: a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction Ex: liberty or love | 18 | |
| 3811916891 | Apposition | GRAMMAR: When a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it Ex: "she looked like a mechanical woman, a machine with flashing, glassy circles for eyes" | 19 | |
| 3811916892 | Archetype | OTHER: the original pattern or model from which all other things of the same kind are made; a perfect example of a type or group Ex: hero | 20 | |
| 3811916893 | Assonance | RHYME: the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words as in "cry" and "side" Ex: "Burnt the fire of thine eyes" | 21 | |
| 3811916894 | Asyndeton | POETIC DEVICES: leaving out usual conjunctions between coordinate sentence elements Ex: Smile, shake hands, part. | 22 | |
| 3811916895 | Atmosphere | OTHER: the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work Ex: sad (from rain; gloomy diction, melancholy tone, etc.) | 23 | |
| 3811916897 | Balanced sentence | GRAMMAR: phrases or clause balance each other in structure, meaning, or length Ex: "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters." | 24 | |
| 3811916898 | Ballad | POEM TYPES: simple, narrative verse which tells a story to be sung or recited Ex: "Richard Cory" by Edward A Robinson | 25 | |
| 3811916899 | Bathos | POETIC DEVICES: an abrupt change from the lofty to the ordinary or trivial in writing or speech (same as anticlimax) | 26 | |
| 3811916900 | Blank verse | POEM TYPES: unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter Ex: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall. That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun;" | 27 | |
| 3811916901 | Cacophony | RHYME: the use of inharmonious sounds in close conjunction for effect (opposite of euphony) Ex: Or, my scrofulous French novel On grey paper with blunt type! Simply glance at it, you grovel Hand and foot in Belial's gripe; | 28 | |
| 3811916902 | Caesura | OTHER METER: a pause or break in the middle of a line of poetry Ex: "Flood-tide below me! || I see you face to face!" | 29 | |
| 3811916903 | Catalexis | OTHER METER: an extra unaccented syllable at the ending of a line after the regular meter ends Ex: "I'll tell / you how / the sun / rose" | 30 | |
| 3811916904 | Chiasmus | POETIC DEVICES: reversing the grammatical elements of a sentence for emphasis Ex: "Never let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You." | 31 | |
| 3811916905 | Complex sentence | GRAMMAR: one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses Ex: You said that you would tell the truth. | 32 | |
| 3811916906 | Compound sentence | GRAMMAR: contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction or by a semicolon Ex: The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores. | 33 | |
| 3811916907 | Compound-complex sentence | GRAMMAR: contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses Ex: The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no encores | 34 | |
| 3811916908 | Conceit | POETIC DEVICES: a fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects Ex: The broken heart is a damaged china pot. | 35 | |
| 3811916909 | Consonance | RHYME: the repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to produce a harmonious effect Ex: And all is seared with trade; bleared smeared with toil; And wears man's smudge and shares men's smell; the soil | 36 | |
| 3811916910 | Couplet | METER: a pair of lines | 37 | |
| 3811916911 | Dactyl | METER: a foot in poetry with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables Ex: ma-ni-ac | 38 | |
| 3811916912 | Didactic | OTHER: teaching; any work that aims to teach or instruct Ex: The Bible | 39 | |
| 3811916913 | Dimeter | METER: a verse written in two-foot lines | 40 | |
| 3811916914 | Dirge | POEM TYPES: a funeral hymn; a slow, sad song, poem or musical composition expressing grief or mourning Ex: funeral march song | 41 | |
| 3811916915 | Dramatic monologue | POEM TYPES: a lyric poem in which the speaker tells an audience about a dramatic moment in his/her life | 42 | |
| 3811916916 | Elegy | POEM TYPES: a poem of lament/praise, meditating on death; as in given during a funeral service Ex: "Elegy for Jane" | 43 | |
| 3811916917 | Ellipsis | GRAMMAR: the omission of a word or words necessary for complete grammatical construction but understood in the context Ex: ... | 44 | |
| 3811916918 | Enjambment | OTHER METER: the running on of a sentence from one line or couplet to the next, with little or no pause Ex: Green rustlings, more-than-regal charities Drift coolly from that tower of whispered light. | 45 | |
| 3811916919 | Epanalepsis | POETIC DEVICES: opening and closing a sentence with the same word or phrase for surprise and emphasis Ex: Buster is deeply concerned to promote the health and well-being of Buster | 46 | |
| 3811916920 | Epic | POEM TYPES: a long, dignified narrative poem (gives account of a hero) Ex: "Iliad" by Homer | 47 | |
| 3811916921 | Epigram | POEM TYPES: a short poem with a witty or satirical point; any terse, witty, pointed statement, often antithetical | 48 | |
| 3811916922 | Epistles | POEM TYPES: literary letter addressed to a distant person or group of people Ex: the book of Ephesians | 49 | |
| 3811916923 | Epitaph | POEM TYPES: inscription on a tomb or gravestone in memory/tribute to a dead person Ex: "Here lies...." | 50 | |
| 3811916924 | Epithet | OTHER: an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. Ex: Alexander "the Great" | 51 | |
| 3811916925 | Euphemism | POETIC DEVICES: a more agreeable/less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept Ex: "passed away" | 52 | |
| 3811916926 | Euphony | RHYME: the quality of having a pleasing sound; pleasant combination of agreeable sounds Ex: I knew a woman, lovely in her bones, When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them. | 53 | |
| 3811916927 | Eye rhyme | RHYME: similarity of words in spelling but not in pronunciation Ex: "love" and "move" | 54 | |
| 3811916928 | Fable | POEM TYPES: a brief story that uses non-human characters to teach a lesson or moral Ex: The Tortoise and the Hare | 55 | |
| 3811916929 | Feminine Rhyme | RHYME: rhyme in which two consecutive syllables of the rhyming words correspond; double rhyme Ex: Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying O the pain, the bliss of dying! | 56 | |
| 3811916930 | Foot | OTHER METER: the units by which meter is measured usually containing two syllables; (un)accented/(un)accented | 57 | |
| 3811916931 | Free verse | POEM TYPES: unrhymed lines without regular rhythm | 58 | |
| 3811916932 | Haiku | POEM TYPES: Japanese verse; three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. | 59 | |
| 3811916933 | Homily | POEM TYPES: a solemn, moralizing talk or writing Ex: a sermon | 60 | |
| 3811916934 | Iamb | METER: a foot in poetry with one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable Ex: bal-loon | 61 | |
| 3811916935 | Idyll | POEM TYPES: lyric poetry describing the life of the Shepard in pastoral, idealistic terms; little picture Ex: Come live with me and be my Love, And we will all the pleasures prove That hills and valleys, dale and field, And all the craggy mountains yield. | 62 | |
| 3811916936 | Infer | OTHER: to conclude or decide from something known or assumed; derive by reasoning Ex: I inferred he was sick because he had a fever and was vomitting | 63 | |
| 3811916937 | Invective | OTHER: a violent verbal attack; strong criticism, curses Ex: "I hate you" | 64 | |
| 3811916938 | Inverted order of a sentence | GRAMMAR: constructing a sentence so that the predicate comes before the subject Ex: In California oranges grow (Yoda) | 65 | |
| 3811916939 | Irony | POETIC DEVICES: the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning a. Verbal: meaning one thing and saying another b. Dramatic: 2 levels of meaning (speaker's vs author's) c. Situational: when something unexpected occurs | 66 | |
| 3811916940 | Isocolon | GRAMMAR: involves a succession of sentences, phrases and clauses of grammatically equal length Ex: What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? | 67 | |
| 3811916941 | Juxtaposition | POETIC DEVICES: the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. | 68 | |
| 3811916942 | Light verse | POEM TYPES: written to entertain (lyric, epigrams, and limericks), but can also have a serious side (parody or satire) | 69 | |
| 3811916943 | Limerick | POEM TYPES: humorous nonsense-verse in five anapestic lines (aabba) | 70 | |
| 3811916945 | Litotes | POETIC DEVICES: understatement employed for the purpose of enhancing the effect of the ideas expressed; contains a negative Ex: "Not bad" | 71 | |
| 3811916946 | Loose sentence | GRAMMAR: makes sense if brought to a close before the actual ending Ex: We reached Edmonton/that morning/after a turbulent flight/ and some exciting experiences | 72 | |
| 3811916947 | Lyric | POEM TYPES: subjective, reflective poetry with regular rhyme scheme and meter; reveals the poet's thoughts and feelings to create a single unique impression Ex: elegies, odes, and sonnets | 73 | |
| 3811916948 | Masculine rhyme | RHYME: rhyme in which only the last, accented syllable of the rhyming words correspond exactly in sound Ex: She walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: | 74 | |
| 3811916949 | Metonymy | POETIC DEVICES: the use of the name of one thing for that of another associated with or suggested by it Ex: "the White House" or the "President" | 75 | |
| 3811916950 | Mock heroic | OTHER: burlesquing or mocking heroic manner, action, or character | 76 | |
| 3811916951 | Monometer | METER: a verse written in one-foot lines | 77 | |
| 3811916952 | Mood | OTHER: the atmosphere of a literary work Ex: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive | 78 | |
| 3811916953 | Motif | OTHER: a main theme or subject | 79 | |
| 3811916954 | Myth | OTHER(TYPES): a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or heroes or the causes of natural phenomena Ex: The myths of the greek gods | 80 | |
| 3811916955 | Narrative | POEM TYPES: nondramatic, objective verse with regular rhyme scheme and meter; story | 81 | |
| 3811916956 | Natural order of a sentence | GRAMMAR: constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the verb Ex: Oranges grow in California | 82 | |
| 3811916957 | Novel | TYPES: a fictional prose narrative Ex: The Pearl | 83 | |
| 3811916958 | Ode | POEM TYPES: elaborate lyric verse which deals seriously with a dignified theme; expresses strong love/respect for something/someone Ex: Ode (from ode packet) | 84 | |
| 3811916959 | Onomatopoeia | RHYME: the use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning Ex: "Bang" OR "The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard" | 85 | |
| 3811916960 | Oxymoron | POETIC DEVICES: contradictory terms brought together Ex: "jumbo shrimp" | 86 | |
| 3811916961 | Parable | POEM TYPES: a brief story that generaly uses human characters to teach a moral lesson Ex: Christ's parables (different seed types) | 87 | |
| 3811916962 | Paradox | POETIC DEVICE: a statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basis of truth Ex: "Elected silence, sing to me" | 88 | |
| 3811916963 | Parallelism | POETIC DEVICES: grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence Ex: I learned to swim, to play, and to ride. | 89 | |
| 3811916964 | Parody | POEM TYPES: imitates and makes fun of another work type of work (good intentioned) | 90 | |
| 3811916965 | Pedantic | OTHER: an unnecessary display of scholarship lacking in judgement or sense of proportion Ex: Emily couldn't stand her geometry class, because her teacher made a big deal if the students did not follow an exact color coded system of pens or colored pencils when doing their homework. | 91 | |
| 3811916966 | Pentameter | METER: a verse written in five-foot lines | 92 | |
| 3811916967 | Periodic Sentence | GRAMMAR: makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached Ex: That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton. | 93 | |
| 3811916968 | Periphrasis | GRAMMAR: the use of indirect and circumlocutory speech or writing. Ex: When that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away. | 94 | |
| 3811916969 | Point of view | OTHER: the person or intelligence the writer creates to tell the story to the reader Ex: the ____ of a character in the story or an outside narrator | 95 | |
| 3811916970 | Polyptoton | OTHER: the stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated Ex: "strong" and "strength" | 96 | |
| 3811916971 | Prose | OTHER: the ordinary form of written or spoken language, without rhyme or meter Ex: anything that is not poetry | 97 | |
| 3811916972 | Prosody | OTHER: the science or art of versification including the study of metrical structure, rhyme, stanza forms, etc. | 98 | |
| 3811916973 | Pun | POETIC DEVICES: play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings Ex: Santa's helpers are known as subordinate Clauses. | 99 | |
| 3811916974 | Repetition | POETIC DEVICES: in which words, sounds, or ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis Ex: "...government of the people, by the people, for the people..." | 100 | |
| 3811916975 | Rhyme scheme | RHYME: pattern of rhymes with a unit of verse; represented by letters Ex: ababab cdcdcd abba baab | 101 | |
| 3811916976 | Romance | OTHER: a story that presents remote or imaginative incidents rather than ordinary commonplace experiences Ex: The Notebook | 102 | |
| 3811916977 | Satire | OTHER: a work that ridicules various aspects of human behavior; often to correct certain faults (attacking) Ex: the Colbert Report | 103 | |
| 3811916978 | Semantics | OTHER: the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning of words Ex: "Some see the glass half empty and others see the glass half full." | 104 | |
| 3811916979 | Simple sentence | GRAMMAR: contains one subject and one verb Ex: "The cat jumped" | 105 | |
| 3811916980 | Slant rhyme | RHYME: rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical Ex: eyes, light; years, yours | 106 | |
| 3811916981 | Sonnet | POEM TYPES: a rigid 14-line verse form, usually about love, death, or life, and either Shakespearean or Petrarchan (abbaabba then sestet varies) Ex: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." | 107 | |
| 3811916982 | Split order of a sentence | POETIC DEVICES: divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in the middle Ex: "In California oranges grow" | 108 | |
| 3811916983 | Spondee | METER: a duple foot with two stressed syllables Ex: man-made, football | 109 | |
| 3811916984 | Stream of consciousness | POETIC DEVICES: a narrative technique that presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a character's mind Ex: Holden Caulfield's musings in Catcher in the Rye | 110 | |
| 3811916985 | Submerged metaphor | OTHER: a metaphor in which the vehicle is implied, or indicated by one aspect Ex: "my winged thought" | 111 | |
| 3811916986 | Syllogism | OTHER: form of reasoning; two premises are made -> logical conclusion drawn Ex: "All mammals are warm blooded. Whales are mammals. Therefore whales are warm blooded." | 112 | |
| 3811916987 | Symbolism | POETIC DEVICES: the use of one object to suggest another, hidden object or idea Ex: the crucifix -> Christianity | 113 | |
| 3811916988 | Synecdoche | POETIC DEVICES: a figure of speech wherein a part of something is used to signify the whole Ex: "Not a hair perished (person)." | 114 | |
| 3811916989 | Synesthetic imagery | POETIC DEVICES: detail that moves from the stimulation of one sense to a response by another sense Ex: "the cinnamon beat of the music" | 115 | |
| 3811916990 | Syntax | POETIC DEVICES (General): sentence structure and word order | 116 | |
| 3811916991 | Tercet | METER: three lines of poetry | 117 | |
| 3811916992 | Tetrameter | METER: a verse written in four-foot lines | 118 | |
| 3811916993 | Trimeter | METER: verse written in three-foot lines | 119 | |
| 3811916994 | Trite | OTHER: an expression or idea which through repeated use or application has lost its original freshness; cliche Ex: "fair and square" | 120 | |
| 3811916995 | Trochee | METER: a foot in poetry with one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable Ex: so-da | 121 | |
| 3811916996 | Understatement | POETIC DEVICES: a literary device in which a writer or speaker attributes less importance or conveys less passion than the subject would seem to demand | 122 | |
| 3811916997 | Vernacular | POETIC DEVICES: using the native language of a country or place Ex: medical lingo used by doctors "stat" | 123 | |
| 3811916998 | Vignette | POEM TYPES: a short, delicate literary sketch Ex: "Some boys taught me to play football. This was fine sport. ... In winter, ... the boys and I threw snowballs at passing cars. I got in trouble throwing snowballs, and have seldom been happier since." | 124 | |
| 3811916999 | Villanelle | POEM TYPES: a French verse form (simple/spontaneous); five tercets and a final quatrain (aba aba aba aba aba abaa) Ex: "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas | 125 | |
| 3811917000 | Volta | OTHER: the turn of thought or argument in a Sonnet Ex: for Petrarchan: occurs between the octave and sestet for Shakespearean: occurs before the final couplet | 126 | |
| 3811917001 | Zeugma | OTHER: a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses Ex: "John and his license expired last week" | 127 |