AP Literature Terms 2017 Flashcards

6159644811	Protagonist	the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.	0
6159770229	Paradox	Statement which seems to contradict itself	1
6159761815	Masculine ending	stressed extra syllable at the end of a line	2
6159795837	Memoir	An account of the personal experiences of an author	3
6159814586	Personification	A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form	4
6159835013	Poetic Justice	The rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice in the resolution of a plot. The character, as they say, gets what he/she deserves	5
6159855715	Prequel	A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel	6
6159824047	Epiphany	Sudden enlightenment or realization, a profound new outlook or understanding about the world usually attained while doing everyday mundane activities	7
6159868273	Prologue	An introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play	8
6159881924	Prose	Ordinary speech or writing without metrical structure, written in paragraph form	9
6159899192	Pun	Play on words, when two words have multiple meanings and spellings and are used in a humorous manner	10
6159908510	Rhyme	The repetition of sounds in words	11
6159923973	Rising Action	The events of a dramatic or narrative plot preceding the climax	12
6159914930	Rhyme Scheme	The act of assigning letters in the alphabet to demonstrate the rhyming lines in a poem	13
6159837533	Metonymy	The use of a word or phrase to stand in for something else which it is often associated	14
6159846773	Motif	A dominant theme or central idea	15
6159858822	First Person	The narrator is a character in the story	16
6159914336	Simile	A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by "like" or "as"	17
6159930564	Flat Character	A literary character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change over the course of the story.	18
6159950423	Foil	A character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another.	19
6159969675	Folklore	The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.	20
6159985364	Foot	The metrical length of a line is determined by the number of feet it contains.	21
6160007554	Lamb	An iambic foot has two syllables. The first is stressed and the seconded is unstressed.	22
6160020166	Trochee	A trochaic foot has two syllables. The first is stressed and the second is unstressed.	23
6160044742	Dactyl	A foot that has three syllables beginning with a stressed syllable; the other two unstressed.	24
6160067015	Anapest	An anapestic foot has three syllables. The first two are unstressed with the third stressed.	25
6159886728	Round character	A character who is developed over the course of the book, round, characters are usually major characters in a novel	26
6159955887	Tone	Reflects how the author feels about the subject matter or the feeling the author wants to instill in the reader.	27
6159910942	Illocution	Language that avoids meaning of the words. When we speak, sometimes we conceal intentions or side step the true subject of a conversation. Writing illocution expresses two stories, one of which is not apparent to the characters, but is apparent to the reader.	28
6159902263	Satire	A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit; the goal is to change the behavior/issue. Authors known for satires are Jonathan Swift and George Orwell	29
6159905620	Oblique Rhyme	Imperfect rhyme scheme	30
6159911924	flashbacks	When a character remembers a past event that is relevant to the current situation of the story.	31
6159955271	Irony	When one thing should occur, is apparent, or in logical sequence but the opposite actually occurs. Example: A man in the ocean might say, "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink."	32
6159915333	Tragedy	A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.	33
6159907937	Ode	A lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious or meditative nature	34
6159938462	In medias res	A story that begins in the middle of things.	35
6159942977	Inversion	In poetry is an intentional digression from ordinary word orer which is used to maintain regular meters.	36
6159926197	Imagery	The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.	37
6159898055	Resolution	Solution to the conflict in literature	38
6159882218	Novella	A short novel usually under 100 pages	39
6159895416	Neutral Language	Language opposite from emotive languages as it is literal or even objective in nature	40
6159893992	Colloquial Language	Informal, controversial language.	41
6159876519	Rites of passage	An incident which creates tremendous growth signifying a transition from adolescence to adulthood	42
6159892733	Epic	An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero	43
6159886357	Climax	Turning point in the plot of the high point of action	44
6159886555	Enjambment	The continuation of reading one line of poem to the next with no pause, a run-on line	45
6159900257	Hyperbole	A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or comic/dramatic effect.	46
6159887786	figurative language	Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning.	47
6159866352	Style	The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era.	48
6159890012	Symbolism	Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.	49
6159882068	Emotive Language	Deliberate use of language by a writer to instill a feeling or visual	50
6159878517	Third Person Omniscient	The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of any character	51
6159877594	Blank Verse	Name for unrhymed iambic pentameter.	52
6159856139	Feminine	Term that refers to an unstressed extra syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter	53
6159871341	Third Person Limited	The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of one character	54
6159876363	Elegy	A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person	55
6159869616	Assonance	Repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase of line of poetry.	56
6159885563	Hubris	Used in Greek tragedies, refers to excessive pride that usually leads to a hero's downfall.	57
6159864925	Third Person Objective	The narrator does not tell what anyone is thinking	58
6159861469	Euphony	A succession of word which are pleasing to the ear. These words may be alliterative, utilize consonance, or assonance and are often used in poetry but also seen in prose.	59
6159864320	Doppelganger	The alter ego of a character- the suppressed side of one's personality that is usually unaccepted by society.	60
6159859911	Apostrophe	When a character speaks to a character or object that is not present or is unable to respond.	61
6159854735	Narrator	Someone who tells a story	62
6159877133	Heroine	A woman noted for courage and daring action or the female protagonist.	63
6159855675	Denouncement	The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot	64
6159823630	Metaphor	A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another	65
6159851097	Diction	Word choice or the use of words in speech or writing	66
6159850483	Euphemism	The act of substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive comment for a more politically accepted or positive one	67
6159849852	Anti-climatic	When the ending of the plot in poetry or prose is unfulfilling or lackluster.	68
6159862931	Gothic Novel	A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting.	69
6159844330	Antagonist	The protagonist's adversary	70
6159839686	Epistolary	Used to describe a novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another	71
6159807454	Meter	The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line	72
6159833491	Anecdote	Short story or joke told at the beginning of a speech to gain the audience's attention.	73
6159855105	Sonnet	A poem with fourteen lines.	74
6159825454	Couplet	Two rhyming lines in poetry	75
6159831810	Deus ex machina	Term that refers to a character or force that appears at the end of a story or play to help resolve conflict.	76
6159851195	Genre	A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style,form, or content.	77
6159822476	Anaphora	Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines in a poem.	78
6159798320	Alliteration	Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in a line of poetry	79
6159837057	Fable	A usually short narrative making edifying or cautionary point and often employing as characters animals that speak like humans.	80
6159808259	Consonance	The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry. The consonant sound may be at the beginning , middle, or end of the word	81
6159839444	Free Verse	Type of verse that contains a variety of line lenghts, is unrhymed, and lacks traditional meter.	82
6159806881	Ambiguity	When an author leaves out details/information or is unclear about an event so the reader will use his/her imagination to fill in the blanks.	83
6159798512	Convention	An understanding between a reader and a writer about certain details of a story that does not need to be explained	84
6159799406	Epilogue	a short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a play, or in a novel the epilogue is a short explanation at the end of the book which indicates what happens after the plot ends	85
6159831993	Soliloquy	A dramatic or lterary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. Typically in plays.	86
6159791536	Parody	A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule	87
6159827146	Foreshadowing	Clues in the text about indidents that will occur later in the plot, forshadowing creates anitcipation in the novel.	88
6159824699	Slang	A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard for added raciness, humor, irrelevance or, other effect.	89
6159920969	Onomatopoeia	The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to	90
6159777861	Allegory	Representation of abstract ideas o principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.	91
6159819402	Expansion	Adds an unstressed syllable and a contraction or elision removes an unstressed syllable in order to maintain the rhythmic meter of a line.	92
6159789223	Connotation	An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing Ex: It = Evil	93