AP Literature definitions Flashcards

4788504337	poetry	rhythmic expression of feelings and ideas (song), may or may not rhyme	0
4788504338	prose	generally broken into fiction and nonfiction (narrative)	1
4788504339	drama	a play; intended to be acted out; written in verse or conversational style	2
4788504340	allegory	story using underlying symbols that really represent something else; may be a a character	3
4788504341	allteration	repeated use of a consonant sound, usually at the beginning of a series of words	4
4788504342	allusion	indirect reference to something or someone, usually literary	5
4788504343	anacrhonism	placing a person or an object in an appropriate historical situation, either deliberately or unintentionally	6
4788504344	analogy	comparison used to explain something	7
4788504345	anecdote	short narrative, story, or tale	8
4788504346	antagonist	major character opposing protagonist; usually the villain	9
4788504347	anthropomorphism	assigning human attributes to non human things; usually applied to animals	10
4788504348	diction	author's choice of words and sentence structure (correctness, clearness, effectiveness)	11
4788504349	levels of diction	1. formal 2. informal 3. colloquial 4. slang	12
4788504350	elegy	mournful and melancholy poem or song, usually paying tribute to a deceased person	13
4788504351	emphasis	special forcefulness of expression that gives importance to something singled out	14
4788504352	fable	story that has a moral, usually involving animals as the main characters	15
4788504353	figurative language	characterized by figures of speech (metaphors, similes); elaborate expression through imagery	16
4788504354	hyperbole	deliberate exaggeration	17
4788504355	imagery	author's use of descriptive and figurative language used to create a picture in the reader's imagination	18
4788504356	indirect dialogue	language that communicates what was expressed in the dialogue, without using direct quotation	19
4788504357	irony	expression of meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning	20
4788504358	meaning	something that one wishes to convey	21
4788504359	metaphor	comparison, like a simile (doesn't use like or as); sometimes confusing because an author will include like	22
4788504360	meter	rhythm of a poem; most common is iambic (sounds like a galloping sound)	23
4788504361	narrative	literary representation of an event or story; the actual text used	24
4788504362	onomatopoeia	word intended to stimulate the actual sound of the thing or the action the thing takes	25
4788504363	oxymoron	phrase in which the words are contradictory	26
4788504364	paean	expression of joyful praise	27
4788504365	parable	story with a moral; Good Samaritan	28
4788504366	paradox	phrase that appears to be contradictory but that actually contains some basic truth that resolves the apparent contradiction	29
4788504367	parallelism	repetition of sounds, meanings, or structures to create a certain style	30
4788504368	parody	literary work in which the style of an author is imitated for comic effect or ridicule	31
4788504369	pastoral	work that deals with the lives of people, especially shepherds, in the country or in nature (as opposed to the city)	32
4788504370	pathos	something that evokes a feeling of pity or sympathy; a pathetic person adds feelings to the story	33
4788504371	personification	assigning human attributes to something nonhuman	34
4788504372	perspective	viewpoint from which the narrator or character sees things	35
4788504373	point of view	vantage point from which a story is presented to a reader; most common: first and third person	36
4788504374	protagonist	main character of a story; usually the hero	37
4788504375	rhyme scheme	way a poem's rhymes are arranged; think of a sonnet, for example	38
4788504376	satire	ridicule of a subject; often humorous and intended to point out something about a serious subject	39
4788504377	simile	comparison of two things using "like" and "as"; used in poetry to evoke an idea through an image	40
4788504378	stanza	divisions in a poem (like a paragraph in prose)	41
4788504379	structure	framework of a work of literature; organization or overall design; provides clues to character and action	42
4788504380	style	author's unique manner of expression; the author's voice	43
4788504381	syntax	ordering of words into meaningful patterns (phrases, clauses, and sentences); poets manipulate syntax changing traditional word order in an attempt to draw attention to particular words or phrases	44
4788504382	theme	central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work; provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements are organized	45
4788504383	tone	style or manner of expression	46