AP Literature Terms Flashcards

5343735780	Allegory	a narrative either in verse or prose, in which characters, action, and sometimes setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of the story.	0
5343735781	Alliteration	the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.	1
5343735782	Allusion	a brief reference to a person, event, or place in history, or to a work of art/literature.	2
5343735783	Analogy	a comparison made between two items, situations, or ideas that are somewhat alike but unlike in most respects.	3
5343735784	Anaphora	figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases.	4
5343735785	Antagonist	a character in a story or play who opposes the chief character or protagonist.	5
5343735786	Apostrophe	a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person or a personified quality, object, or idea.	6
5343735787	Archetype	a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life. Often includes a symbol, a theme, a setting, or a character that have a common meaning in an entire culture, or even the entire human race.	7
5343735788	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.	8
5343735789	Assonance	the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in stressed syllables or words.	9
5343735790	Asyndeton	the omission of conjunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used.	10
5343735791	Atmosphere	the mood/feeling of the literary work created for the reader by the writer.	11
5343735792	Ballad	a narrative poem that usually includes a repeated refrain.	12
5343735793	Blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter, a line of five feet.	13
5343735794	Cacophony	the use of words in poetry that combine sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds.	14
5343735795	Caesura	a pause or break within a line of poetry.	15
5343735796	Carpe diem	Latin for "seize the day," the name applied to a theme frequently found in lyric poetry: enjoy life's pleasures while you are able.	16
5343735797	Catharsis	purification or purging of emotions.	17
5343735798	Character	an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction.	18
5343735799	Characterization	the method an author uses to acquaint the reader with his or her characters.	19
5343735800	Chiasmus	a scheme in which the author introduces words or concepts in a particular order then later repeats those terms or similar ones in a reversed or backwards order.	20
5343735801	Cliché	an expression or phrase that is over-used as to become trite and meaningless.	21
5343735802	Climax	as a term of dramatic structure, the decisive or turning point in a story or play when the action changes course and, as a result, begins to resolve itself.	22
5343735803	Conceit	elaborate figure of speech combining possible metaphor, simile, hyperbole, or oxymoron.	23
5343735804	Conflict	the struggle between two opposing forces.	24
5343735805	Connotation	the emotional associations surrounding a word, as opposed to its literal meaning or denotation.	25
5343735806	Couplet	a pair of rhyming lines with identical meter.	26
5343735807	Denotation	the strict, literal meaning of a word.	27
5343735808	Denouement	the resolution of the plot.	28
5343735809	Dialogue	the conversation between two or more people in a literary work.	29
5343735810	Diction	the author's choice of words or phrases in a literary work.	30
5343735811	Dramatic irony	refers to a situation in which events or facts not known to a character on stage or in a fictional work are known to another character, the audience, or the reader.	31
5343735812	Dramatic monologue	a lyric poem in which the speaker addresses someone whose replies are not recorded.	32
5343735813	Elegy	a mourning poem of lament for an individual or tragic event	33
5343735814	Enjambment	the continuation of a complete idea from one line of poetry to another, without pause.	34
5343735815	Epiphany	a revealing scene or moment in which a character experiences a deep realization about him/himself.	35
5343735816	Epistrophe	repetition of a concluding word or word endings.	36
5343735817	Euphemism	using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one.	37
5343735818	Euphony	attempting to group words together harmoniously, so that the consonants permit an easy and pleasing flow of sound when spoken.	38
5343735819	Exposition	the opening section of a narrative or dramatic structure in which characters, setting, theme, and conflict can be revealed.	39
5343735820	Flashback	interruption of the narrative to show an episode that happened before a particular point in the story.	40
5343735821	Foot	a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accent syllable and the unaccented syllables associated with it.	41
5343735822	Foreshadowing	a hint given to the reader of what is to come	42
5343735823	Free verse	a type of poetry that differs from the conventional verse forms in being "free" from a fixed pattern of meter and rhyme.	43
5343735824	Hamartia	a tragic flaw, especially a misperception, a lack of some important insight, or some blindness that ironically results from one's own strengths and abilities.	44
5343735825	Hubris	in a hero, it refers to arrogant, excessive self-pride or self-confidence or a lack of some important perception or insight due to pride in one's abilities.	45
5343735826	Hyperbole	a figure of speech involving great exaggeration.	46
5343735827	Iambic pentameter	a line of verse having five metrical feet	47
5343735828	Imagery	the sensory details that provide vividness in a literary work and tend to around emotions or feelings in a reader which abstract language does not.	48
5343735829	In media res	Latin for "in the middle of things" ; used to describe a plot that begins in the middle of events and then reveals past through flashbacks.	49
5343735830	Irony	the term used to describe a contrast between what appears to be and what really is.	50
5343735831	Juxtaposition	placing two ideas, words, or images side by side so that their closeness creates an original, ironic, or insightful meaning.	51
5343735832	Litotes	a figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite.	52
5343735833	Metaphor	a figure of speech involving an implied comparison.	53
5343735834	Meter	the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.	54
5343735835	Metonymy	a figure of speech in which a specific term naming an object is substituted for another word which it is closely associated.	55
5343735836	Motif	a recurrent word, image, theme, object, or phrase that tends to unify a literary work or that may be elaborated into a theme.	56
5343735837	Narrator	the teller of the story	57
5343735838	Onomatopoeia	words used in such a way that the sound of the words imitates the sound of the thing being spoken of.	58
5343735839	Paradox	a statement, often metaphorical, that seems to be self-contradictory but which has valid meaning.	59
5343735840	Parallelism	when the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length.	60
5343735841	Parody	a kind of burlesque that is a humorous imitation of serious writing, usually for the purpose of making the style of an author appear ridiculous.	61
5343735842	Persona	the speaker or narrator of a text or poem, Cannot be assumed to be the author.	62
5343735843	Personification	the representation of abstractions, ideas, animals, or inanimate objects as human beings by endowing them with life-like qualities.	63
5343735844	Plot	the series of happenings in a literary work.	64
5343735845	Point of view	the relation between the teller of the story and the characters in it.	65
5343735846	Polysyndeton	using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect in a sentence.	66
5343735847	Prosody	the mechanics of a verse poetry - its sounds, rhythms, scansion and meter, stanzaic form, alliteration, assonance, euphony, onomatopoeia, and rhyme.	67
5343735848	Protagonist	the leading character in a literary work.	68
5343735849	Pun	a play on words; a humorous use of a word that has different meanings or of two or more words with the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings.	69
5343735850	Rhyme	exact repetition of sounds in at least the final accented syllables of two or more words.	70
5343735851	Rhyme scheme	the pattern of rhyme.	71
5343735852	Satire	the technique that employs wit to ridicule a subject, usually some social institution or human foible, with the intention of inspiring reform.	72
5343735853	Setting	the time, place, societal situation, and weather in which the action of a narrative occurs.	73
5343735854	Simile	a figure of speech involving a comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.	74
5343735855	Situational irony	an occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended.	75
5343735856	Soliloquy	a dramatic convention that allows a character alone on stage to speak his or her thoughts aloud.	76
5343735857	Sonnet	a fourteen-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme.	77
5343735858	Stereotype	a conventional patter, plot, or setting that possesses little or no individuality, but that may be used for a purpose.	78
5343735859	Stream of consciousness	the recording or re-creation of a character's flow of thought.	79
5343735860	Style	the distinctive handling of language by an author.	80
5343735861	Symbol	a person, place, or object that represents something beyond itself.	81
5343735862	Synecdoche	figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.	82
5343735863	Synesthesia	the description of one sense using another sense.	83
5343735864	Syntax	the arrangement of words within a sentence.	84
5343735865	Theme	the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.	85
5343735866	Tone	the author's attitude toward his or subject matter and toward the audience.	86
5343735867	Understatement	the figure of speech that says less than one means.	87
5343735868	Verbal irony	the intended meaning of a statement or work is different from what the statement of work literally says.	88
5343735869	Verisimilitude	a sense of truth and realness to a work	89
5343735870	Villanelle	poetic form of five tercets and a final quatrain(nineteen lines)	90