AP Literature Flashcards

6496100433	simile	figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (using like or as)	0
6496104205	metaphor	comparison of two unlike things in which no words of comparison (like or as) are used	1
6496118886	antecedent	thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another	2
6496120255	indefinite pronouns	pronoun that does not refer to any person, amount, or thing in particular (ex. anyone, them, it, they)	3
6496123116	synecdoche	expression in which a part stands for the whole	4
6496123117	metonymy	person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it	5
6496123118	hyperbole	truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect	6
6496124669	paradox	statement seemingly contradictory to common sense	7
6496124670	understatement	figure of speech that says less than is intended, usually for ironic effect	8
6496124671	irony	contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality	9
6496125938	exaggeration	statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is	10
6496125939	foreshadowing	author's use of clues that hint at events that will occur later in the plot	11
6496128462	antithetical pairs	two opposite ideas are put together to contrast	12
6496128463	rhetorical question	question asked only for effect, an answer is not expected	13
6496137352	parallelism	use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc	14
6496137353	conceit	fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor	15
6496146604	symbol	object or image that stands for something else	16
6496146605	allusion	reference to someone or something from literature, history, religion, or another field that many people are familiar with	17
6496148738	periodic sentence	sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements	18
6496150953	didactic	intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive	19
6496150954	extended metaphors	a comparison carried out for an extended period of time	20
6496153262	participle	word formed from a verb used as an adjective or a noun	21
6496153263	gerund	form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun	22
6496272285	oxymoron	conjoining contradictory terms (ex. deafening silence)	23
6496277024	litotes	understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. ex. "not bad"	24
6496277025	aphorism	short, pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation about life	25
6496279489	personification	giving human characteristics or traits to non-living things	26
6496287335	consonance	recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity	27
6496292590	allegory	metaphorical narrative in prose or verse in which fictional figures represent truths or generalizations about human existence	28
6496296656	onomatopoeia	using words that imitate the sound they denote	29
6496308715	antithesis	juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance	30
6504168046	tone	attitude of the author towards the audience and characters, such as serious or humorous	31
6504172675	rhythm	pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, especially in poetry	32
6504172676	style	author's choice and arrangement of words and sentences in a literary work	33
6504174553	soliloquy	speech delivered to the audience by a character when alone on stage	34
6504175810	satire	use of language to ridicule human weaknesses, vices, or stupidity, with the hope of bringing about social reform	35
6504175811	quatrain	four-line stanza of four rhymed lines, rhyme scheme of various forms such as a-a-a-a, a-b-a-b, a-b-b-a	36
6504183704	polysyndeton	sentence which uses "and" or another conjunction (with no commas) to separate the items in a series	37
6504185791	parody	humorous imitation of another work's plot, characters, or style, usually through exaggeration	38
6504195405	imagery	ability to form mental images of things or events	39
6504198925	juxtaposition	placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose	40
6504202693	fable	short moral story (often with animal characters)	41
6504202694	epithet	word or phrase that describes or characterizes a person or thing; a descriptive name	42
6504203792	flashback	transition to an earlier event or scene that inturrupts the normal chronological development of the story	43
6504203793	foil	character who acts as a contrast to another character	44
6504205568	epistrophe	repetition of the same words or group of words at the end of successive phrases or clauses	45
6504208155	epigraph	quotation at the beginnning of some piece of writing	46
6504210273	chiamus	inversion of the order of words in a previous phrase	47
6504212438	asyndeton	commas used without conjunction to seperate a series of words thus emphasizing the parts equally	48
6504212439	assonance	repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words	49
6504213903	apposition	placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter is the explanation or modification of the first	50
6504213904	anaphora	repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses	51
6504216126	apostrophe	figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object is directly talked to or addressed	52
6504216128	anastrophe	inverted order of words or events	53
6504219317	antimetabole	repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order	54