AP Literature Literary Terms Flashcards

2780359023	abstract	Language that describes qualities that cannot be perceived with the five senses	0
2780360863	concrete	Language that describes qualities that can be perceived with the five senses	1
2780361556	allegory	A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.	2
2780361818	alliteration	Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other	3
2780362317	allusion	A reference to a famous and often historical person, place, event, or work of literature.	4
2780362953	ambiguity	Any wording, action, or symbol that can be read in divergent ways	5
2780367119	anachronism	Placing an event, person, item, or verbal expression in the wrong historical period	6
2780367797	anacoluthon	moving to new topic of discussion before finishing current one	7
2780368166	anagnorisis	to describe the moment of tragic recognition in which the protagonist realizes some important fact or insight	8
2780368669	anaphora	The intentional repetition of beginning clauses in order to create an artistic effect	9
2780369550	anecdote	A short narrative account of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting event	10
2780370685	antagonist	A character or force in conflict with the main character	11
2780371403	protagonist	Chief character in a dramatic or narrative work, usually trying to accomplish some objective or working toward some goal.	12
2780371766	anthropomorphism	The attribution of human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects	13
2780373764	anti-hero	A protagonist who is a non-hero or the antithesis of a traditional hero	14
2780374301	aphorism	A concise statement of a truth or principle	15
2780374882	adage	A proverb or wise saying	16
2780375200	maxim	A proverb, a short, pithy statement or aphorism believed to contain wisdom or insight into human nature	17
2780375683	apostrophe	The act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present	18
2780377002	archetype	An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life	19
2780378169	aside	In drama, a few words or a short passage spoken by one character to the audience while the other actors on stage pretend their characters cannot hear the speaker's words	20
2780378964	assonance	Repeating identical or similar vowels (especially in stressed syllables) in nearby words	21
2780379483	asyndeton	The artistic elimination of conjunctions in a sentence to create a particular effect	22
2780379667	ballad	A narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter	23
2780380702	bathos	A descent in literature in which a poet or writer--striving too hard to be passionate or elevated--falls into trivial or stupid imagery, phrasing, or ideas	24
2780381718	pathos	Appeal to emotion	25
2780382050	blank verse	Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents	26
2780382670	free verse	Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme	27
2780383013	cacophony	The term in poetry refers to the use of words that combine sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds	28
2780384008	euphony	A succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony.	29
2780384213	dissonance	A harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds	30
2780385075	caesura	A pause separating phrases within lines of poetry-an important part of poetic rhythm	31
2780385561	canto	A sub-division of an epic or narrative poem comparable to a chapter in a novel	32
2780386166	carpe diem	The term refers to a common moral or theme in classical literature that the reader should make the most out of life and should enjoy it before it ends	33
2780386784	catharisis	An emotional discharge that brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension and anxiety	34
2780387285	round	Complex in temperament and motivation; drawn with subtlety; capable of growth and change during the course of the narrative	35
2780388296	flat	Built around a single idea or quality and unchanging over the course of the narrative	36
2780389041	chiasmus	A literary scheme in which the author introduces words or concepts in a particular order, then later repeats those terms or similar ones in reversed or backwards order	37
2780389922	classicism	Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity and restraint	38
2780390806	neoclassicism	The movement toward classical architecture, literature, drama, and design that took place during the Restoration and Enlightenment	39
2780391714	cliché	A hackneyed or trite phrase that has become overused	40
2780406830	climax	The moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis reaches its point of greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved	41
2780407514	colloquial	A word or phrase used everyday in plain and relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing	42
2780407724	conceit	An elaborate or unusual comparison--especially one using unlikely metaphors, simile, hyperbole, and contradiction	43
2780408592	confidant	A character in a story that the protagonist confides in and trusts	44
2780411315	conflict	The opposition between two characters (such as a protagonist and an antagonist), between two large groups of people, or between the protagonist and a larger problem such as forces of nature, ideas, public mores, and so on	45
2780412079	connotation	The extra tinge or taint of meaning each word carries beyond the minimal, strict definition found in a dictionary	46
2780412429	denotation	The minimal, strict definition of a word as found in a dictionary, disregarding any historical or emotional connotation	47
2780413099	consonance	A special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels	48
2780413736	controlling image	A literary device employing repetition so as to stress the theme of a work or a particular symbol	49
2780414665	couplet	Two lines--the second line immediately following the first--of the same metrical length that end in a rhyme to form a complete unit	50
2780415726	denouement	The outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath or resolution that usually occurs near the final stages of the plot	51
2780416277	deus ex machina	An unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue the protagonists or resolve the story's conflict	52
2780416479	diction	The choice of a particular word as opposed to others	53
2780416852	didactic	Writing that is "preachy" or seeks overtly to convince a reader of a particular point or lesson	54
2780417228	dialectic	The art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions	55
2780419531	dirge	A mournful or elegiac poem or other literary work	56
2780421157	dramatic monologue	A poem in which a poetic speaker addresses either the reader or an internal listener at length	57
2780421859	elegy	any poem dealing with the subject-matter common to the early Greco-Roman elegies--complaints about love, sustained formal lamentation, or somber meditations	58
2780422890	eulogy	a speech or piece of writing in which you praise someone or something very much	59
2780426126	elision	In poetry, when the poet takes a word that ends in a vowel, and a following word that begins with a vowel, and blurs them together to create a single syllable. In linguistics, it refers more generally to the omission of any sound in speech and writing	60
2780427934	ellipsis	The artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause	61
2780428495	end-stop line	In poetry, a line ending in a full pause, often indicated by appropriate punctuation such as a period or semicolon	62
2780429133	enjambment	A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line	63
2780430030	epigram	A short verse or motto appearing at the beginning of a longer poem or the title page of a novel, at the heading of a new section or paragraph of an essay or other literary work to establish mood or raise thematic concerns or a short, humorous poem, often written in couplets, that makes a satiric point	64
2780431253	epilogue	A conclusion added to a literary work such as a novel, play, or long poem	65
2780431639	epitaph	The final statement spoken by a character before his death	66
2780433933	epigraph	A short sentence written on a statue, or used as an introduction to a book	67
2780434581	epiphany	The standard term for the sudden flare into revelation of an ordinary object or scene	68
2780435680	epithet	A short, poetic nickname-often in the form of an adjective or adjectival phrase-attached to the normal name	69
2780436250	epistle	Written in the form of a letter or a series of letters	70
2781757173	ethos	Beliefs or character of a group	71
2781758881	pathos	Appeal to emotion	72
2781758882	logos	Appeal to logic	73
2781761208	euphemism	Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one	74
2781761681	dysphemism	A derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a pleasant or neutral one	75
2781763853	existentialism	A twentieth-century philosophy arguing that ethical human beings are in a sense cursed with absolute free will in a purposeless universe	76
2781764621	expletive	An oath or swear word	77
2781766771	pejorative	Having bad connotations; disparaging	78
2781767572	invective	Abusive language	79
2781768012	figurative language	A deviation from what speakers of a language understand as the ordinary or standard use of words in order to achieve some special meaning or effect	80
2781769230	flashback	A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events--usually in the form of a character's memories, dreams, narration, or even authorial commentary	81
2781769583	foil	A character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize opposing traits in another character	82
2781770018	foreshadowing	Suggesting, hinting, indicating, or showing what will occur later in a narrative	83
2781772156	genre	A type or category of literature or film marked by certain shared features or conventions	84
2781772712	gothic	Signifies "Germanic," then "medieval," especially in reference to the medieval architecture and art used in western Europe between 1100 and 1500 CE	85
2781774556	haiku	Late addition to Japanese poetry. Consists of three lines. The first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven, and the last line five	86
2781781492	hamartia	A term from Greek tragedy that literally means "missing the mark." Signifies a tragic flaw	87
2781783624	hubris	It is a negative term implying both arrogant, excessive self-pride or self-confidence, and also a hamartia, a lack of some important perception or insight due to pride in one's abilities	88
2781785796	hyperbole	The trope of exaggeration or overstatement	89
2781789325	litotes	Understatement, the opposite of exaggeration	90
2781790920	imagery	A common term of variable meaning, it includes the "mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage of literature	91
2781795090	verbal irony	A trope in which a speaker makes a statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply from the meaning that the words ostensibly express	92
2781797311	situational irony	A trope in which accidental events occur that seem oddly appropriate	93
2781798878	dramatic irony	Involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know	94
2781799725	juxtaposition	The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development	95
2781800889	kenning	A form of compounding in Old English, Old Norse, and Germanic poetry. In this poetic device, the poet creates a new compound word or phrase to describe an object or activity	96
2781802790	legend	It is a traditional narrative often focusing on a specific location or specific historical figure	97
2781807355	limerick	A five-line closed-form poem in which the first two lines consist of anapestic trimeter, which in turn are followed by lines of anapestic dimeter, and a final line in trimeter	98
2781809784	malapropism	Misusing words to create a comic effect or characterize the speaker as being too confused, ignorant, or flustered to use correct diction	99
2781811841	melodrama	A dramatic form characterized by excessive sentiment, exaggerated emotion, sensational and thrilling action, and an artificially happy ending	100
2781814588	metaphor	A comparison that establishes a figurative identity between objects being compared.	101
2781815237	metaphysical	Highly abstract or theoretical; lacking physical form	102
2781820869	metonymy	Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea	103
2781823295	synecdoche	A rhetorical trope involving a part of an object representing the whole, or the whole of an object representing a part	104
2781825100	monologue	Does not necessarily represent spoken words, but rather the internal or emotional thoughts or feelings of an individual	105
2781828305	mood	In literature, a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind-especially the predominating atmosphere or tone of a literary work	106
2781829779	motivation	Reasons why characters do what they do	107
2781830909	myth	A traditional tale of deep cultural significance to a people in terms of etiology, eschatology, ritual practice, or models of appropriate and inappropriate behavior	108
2781832209	narrative	The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events	109
2781836198	naturalism	A literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificial distortions of emotion, idealism, and literary convention	110
2781838309	objective	Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts	111
2781839919	subjective	based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions	112
2781842040	octave	A set of eight lines that rhyme according to the pattern ABBAABBA	113
2781843727	ode	A long, often elaborate stanzaic poem of varying line lengths and sometimes intricate rhyme schemes dealing with a serious subject matter and treating it reverently	114
2781846661	onomatopoeia	A word that imitates the sound it represents	115
2781846829	paradox	A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth	116
2781847043	oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase	117
2781847236	parallelism	When the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length	118
2781847904	parody	A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule	119
2781848733	pastoral	An artistic composition dealing with the life of shepherds or with a simple, rural existence	120
2781850729	picaresque	Involving clever rogues or adventurers	121
2781853985	Bildungsroman	The German term for a coming-of-age story	122
2781855274	persona	An external representation of oneself which might or might not accurately reflect one's inner self, or an external representation of oneself that might be largely accurate, but involves exaggerating certain characteristics and minimizing others	123
2781858128	personification	A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes	124
2781858345	point of view	The perspective from which a story is told	125
2781858592	polysyndeton	Using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect in a sentence	126
2781859574	prose	Any material that is not written in a regular meter like poetry	127
2781862563	pun	A play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning	128
2781863262	quatrain	A four line stanza	129
2781863555	realism	An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. Refers generally to any artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world	130
2781865739	refrain	A line or set of lines at the end of a stanza or section of a longer poem or song--these lines repeat at regular intervals in other stanzas or sections of the same work	131
2781866785	rhetorical devices	Literary techniques used to heighten the effectiveness of expression	132
2781867023	rhyme	Correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry	133
2781867561	rhyme royal	A seven-line stanzaic form invented by Chaucer in the fourteenth century and later modified by Spenser and other Renaissance poets. The stanzas are writen in iambic pentameter in a fixed rhyme scheme (ABABBCC)	134
2781871650	rhyme scheme	The pattern of rhyme	135
2781872723	Romanticism	The term refers to the artistic philosophy prevalent during the first third of the nineteenth century (about 1800-1830)	136
2781873609	Transcendentalism	American philosophical, religious, and literary movement roughly equivalent to the Romantic movement in England	137
2781875843	satire	An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards	138
2781878254	setting	The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs	139
2781878425	simile	A comparison using "like" or "as"	140
2781879707	solecism	Nonstandard use of grammar or words or mistakes	141
2781880912	soliloquy	A monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes himself to be alone	142
2781882313	sonnet	A lyric poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to certain definite patterns	143
2781883881	speaker	The narrator of a story, poem, or drama	144
2781885036	stanza	A group of lines in a poem	145
2781885367	stream of consciousness	A style of writing in which the thoughts and feelings of the writer are recorded as they occur	146
2781885522	style	The author's words and the characteristic way that writer uses language to achieve certain effects	147
2781887257	subplot	A minor or subordinate secondary plot, often involving a deuteragonist's struggles, which takes place simultaneously with a larger plot, usually involving the protagonist	148
2781887799	syllepsis	A construction in which one word is used in two different senses	149
2781888557	syllogism	A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion	150
2781889826	symbolism	Frequent use of words, places, characters, or objects that mean something beyond what they are on a literal level	151
2781890484	synesthesia	A rhetorical trope involving shifts in imagery or sensory metaphors	152
2781890705	syntax	The standard word order and sentence structure of a language	153
2781893266	terza rima	A three-line stanza form with interlocking rhymes that move from one stanza to the next	154
2781898041	theme	A central idea or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work	155
2781900602	tone	The means of creating a relationship or conveying an attitude or mood	156
2781900999	turn/volta	A sudden change in thought, direction, or emotion at the conclusion of the sonnet	157
2781902239	understatement	The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is	158
2781903399	utopia	An imaginary place or government in which political and social perfection has been reached in the material world as opposed to some spiritual afterlife	159
2781904652	dystopia	An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one	160
2781907005	verisimilitude	The sense that what one reads is "real," or at least realistic and believable	161
2781909182	vernacular	The everyday or common language of a geographic area or the native language of commoners in a country as opposed to a prestigious dead language maintained artificially in schools or in literary texts	162
2781910726	verse	A line of metrical writing, a stanza, or any composition written in meter	163
2781915797	vignette	A short composition showing considerable skill, especially such a composition designed with little or no plot or larger narrative structure	164
2781916689	villanelle	A versital genre of poetry consisting of nineteen lines--five tercets and a concluding quatrain	165
2781920339	voice	A writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to perceive a human personality in his or her writing	166