AP Literature Terms Flashcards

4747040512	Abstract	as a noun, a short summary or outline of a longer work; as an adjective, to name things not known through the five senses	0
4747040513	Allegory	extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text	1
4747041331	Allusion	a brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event - real or fictional	2
4747041332	Ambiguity	presence of two or more possible meanings in a passage	3
4747041333	Analogy	reasoning or arguing from parallel cases	4
4747041829	Anecdote	short and interesting story or an amusing event often proposed to support or demonstrate some point	5
4747045421	Antagonist	character or a group of characters which stand in opposition to the protagonist or the main character	6
4747045670	Achetype	typical character, action or situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature; universal symbol shown through a character, theme, or setting	7
4747045671	Atmosphere	the feeling, emotion, or mood a writer conveys to a reader through the description of setting and objects	8
4747045672	Cliche	an expression that has been overused to the extent that it loses its original meaning or novelty	9
4747045673	Colloquial	characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English; slang	10
4747047469	Concrete	constituting an actual thing or instance; real	11
4747047470	Connotation	emotional implications and associations of a word	12
4747047471	Denotation	direct dictionary definition of a word	13
4747047472	Dialect	regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, and/or vocabulary	14
4747047479	Diction	choice and use of words in speech or writing; way of speaking, usually assessed in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution	15
4747047748	Epic	a long narrative poem written in elevated style, in which heroes of great historical or legendary importance perform valorous deeds, in a vast setting, covering great nations, the world, or the universe, with actions important to the history of a nation or people	16
4747049072	Euphemism	substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit	17
4747049073	Exposition	statement or type of composition intended to give information about an issue, subject, method, or idea	18
4747049074	Extended Metaphor	comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem	19
4747050263	Figurative Language	language in which figures of speech (metaphor, simile, hyperbole) freely occur	20
4747051825	First Person Point of View	story told from the perspective of a main character, using the first person pronouns and speaking of personal events or experiences	21
4747051826	Foil	a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character; a bad character who's bad qualities are highlighted to show the good qualities in the protagonist	22
4747051827	Footnote	a note of reference, explanation, or comment usually placed below the text on a printed page	23
4747051828	Genre	category of artistic composition marked by a distinctive style, form, or content	24
4747052428	Hyperbole	figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect	25
4747052726	Inference	literary device used commonly in literature and in daily life where logical deductions are made based on premises assumed to be true; making a conclusion from known ideas	26
4747052727	Imagery	vivid descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the sense	27
4747052728	Irony	use of words to convey the opposite of its literal meaning; statement when the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance of the idea	28
4747052729	Jargon	specialized language for a specific group or occupation	29
4747053180	Juxtaposition	literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts	30
4747053181	Limited Point of View	third person narration in which the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character, usually the main character	31
4747053182	Metaphor	figure of speech when an implied comparison is made between two unlike thinks that actually have something important in common	32
4747053640	Metonymy	figure of speech when one word or phrase is substituted for another that it is closely associated; "crown" for "royalty"	33
4747053641	Mood	emotion invoked by text; reader's attitude	34
4747053642	Motif	any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story; helps establish the theme or mood through repetition	35
4747053643	Narrator	the person who tells the story	36
4747054399	Omniscient Point of View	when the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story and told through the third person	37
4747054400	Onomatopoeia	formation of words that imitate a sound; boom!	38
4747054401	Oxymoron	figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side	39
4747054960	Paradox	statement that appears to contradict itself	40
4747054961	Personification	figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities	41
4747054962	Persuasion	literary technique in which writers present their ideas through reasons and logic to influence the audience	42
4747054963	Plot	literary term used to describe the events that make up a story or the main part of a story; relate in a pattern or sequence; used to develop the structure of a story	43
4747055293	Protagonist	central character or leading figure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story; sometimes called a "hero"	44
4747055294	Repetition	an instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage-dwelling on a point	45
4747055295	Rhetoric	study and practice of effective communication	46
4747055922	Round Character	complex characters who undergo development throughout the story; opposite of static character	47
4747055923	Satire	text or performance that uses irony, derision, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or stupidity	48
4747055924	Simile	figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by "like" or "as"	49
4747056472	Slang	words that are not a part of standard vocabulary or language and are used informally	50
4747056473	Speaker	voice behind a story	51
4747056474	Static Character	a literary character who undergoes little or no inner change and does not grow or develop; opposite of a round character	52
4747056865	Style	narrowly interpreted as those figures that ornament speech or writing; representing a manifestation of the person speaking or writing	53
4747056866	Symbol	person, place, action, or thing that represents something other than itself	54
4747056867	Syncedoche	figure of speech in which a part is sued to represent the whole or the whole for a part	55
4747056868	Syntax	study of the rules that govern the way words combine to form phrases, clauses, or sentences; arrangement of words in a sentence	56
4747057155	Theme	the central topics within a story; main idea or underlining ideas	57
4747057156	Tone	writer's attitude toward the subject and audience	58
4747057157	Understatment	figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is	59