AP Literature Final Vocab Test Flashcards

5802104681	Abstract	existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence; a summary of the contents of a book, article, or formal speech.	0
5802105357	Active Voice	a sentence in which the subject does the acting.	1
5802106128	Adage	a saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language.	2
5802106769	Allegory	a story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning; the story and characters represent values beyond themselves.	3
5802107037	Alliteration	the repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines of poetry or prose.	4
5802107728	Anachronism	a person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set.	5
5802107729	Analogy	a comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things.	6
5802108172	Annotation	a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram.	7
5802108966	Apostrophe	a rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not present.	8
5802110133	Archetype	an abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form.	9
5802110601	Aside	when a character's short dialogue is spoken but not heard by the other actors on the stage.	10
5802110803	Aphorism	a pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, "it it ain't broke, don't fix it."	11
5802111480	Apollonian	in contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior.	12
5802111761	Assonance	the repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose.	13
5802112127	Ballad	a simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited.	14
5802112474	Bard	a poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to a musical accompaniment.	15
5802112838	Belles-Lettres	a French term for the world of books, criticism, and literature in general.	16
5802113096	Bildungsroman	a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education.	17
5802113330	Blank Verse	a verse without rhyme.	18
5802113644	Cacophony	grating, inharmonious sounds.	19
5802114008	Caesura	a pause near the middle of a line in modern verse.	20
5802114865	Canon	the works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied.	21
5802115314	Caricature	a grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things.	22
5802115535	Classicism	deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and restraint.	23
5802115748	Comedy	a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having cheerful ending; typically ends in marriage.	24
5802115979	Conceit	a figure of speech in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of similes or metaphors.	25
5802116571	Connotation	an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.	26
5802117408	Consonance	the repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry.	27
5802117815	Couplet	a pair of rhyming lines in a poem.	28
5802118063	Denotation	the literal or primary meaning of a word.	29
5802118371	Deus Ex Machina	in literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem.	30
5802118641	Diction	the choice of words in oral and written discourse.	31
5802119122	Dionysian	as distinguished from Apollonian, this word refers to sensual, pleasure-seeking impulses.	32
5802119975	Dramatic Irony	a circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character.	33
5802120487	Elegy	a poem or prose selection that laments or meditates on the passing or death of something or someone of value.	34
5802120993	Ellipses	a literary device that is used in narratives to omit some parts of a sentence or event, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps.	35
5802121287	Enjambment	the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.	36
5802121792	Epic	a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.	37
5802122211	Epigram	a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.	38
5802122750	Epithet	an adjective or phrase that expresses a striking quality of a person or thing.	39
5802122932	Eponymous Character	a term for the title character of a work of literature.	40
5802124344	Euphony	pleasing, harmonious sounds.	41
5802125401	Exegesis	a detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature.	42
5802125717	Explication	the interpretation or analysis of a text.	43
5802126660	Exposé	a piece of writing that reveals weakness, faults, frailties, or other shortcomings.	44
5802127081	Exposition	a literary device used to introduce background information about events, settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers.	45
5802127403	Extended Metaphor	a series of comparisons between two unlike objects.	46
5802129030	Fable	a short tale often featuring nonhuman characters that act as people whose actions enable the author to make observations or draw useful lessons about human behavior.	47
5802130222	Fantasy	a story containing unreal, imaginary features.	48
5802130711	Farce	a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.	49
5802132132	Free Verse	a kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet.	50
5802132903	Genre	a term used to describe literary forms, such as a novel, play, and essay.	51
5802133864	Harangue	a forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade.	52
5802134732	Hegemony	a dominant cultural trend.	53
5802135060	Hubris	the excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death.	54
5802135604	Humanism	a belief that emphasizes faith and optimism in human potential and creativity.	55
5802135901	Hyperbole	overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.	56
5802136441	Idyll	a lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place.	57
5802137007	In Medias Res	a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.	58
5802137271	Irony	the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.	59
5802137742	Kenning	a device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities.	60
5802138157	Litotes	a form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity.	61
5802138985	Lyric Poetry	personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject.	62
5802139565	Melodrama	a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.	63
5802140211	Metaphysical Poetry	the work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life.	64
5802140443	Meter	the stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse or within the lines of a poem.	65
5802140823	Metonymy	a figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated.	66
5802141257	Middle English	the language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.	67
5802141258	Mock Epic	a parody of traditional epic form; it usually treats a frivolous topic with extreme seriousness, using conventions such as invocations to the Muse, action-packed battle scenes, and accounts of heroic exploits.	68
5802144564	Monologue	any speech of some duration addressed by one character to another character or characters.	69
5802144791	Mood	the emotional tone in a work of literature.	70
5802145299	Motif	a phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.	71
5802147345	Muse	one of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts; the imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer.	72
5802147922	Myth	an imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group or society.	73
5802148357	Novel of Manners	a novel focusing on and describing the social customs and habits of a particular social group.	74
5802149068	Novella	a short novel or long short story.	75
5802149485	Old English	the Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D.	76
5802149834	Onomatopoeia	the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.	77
5802150015	Ottava Rima	a form of poetry consisting of stanzas of eight lines of ten or eleven syllables, rhyming abababcc.	78
5802150634	Parable	a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.	79
5802150965	Paraphrase	A version of a text put into simpler, everyday words.	80
5802151416	Passive Voice	a sentence in which the subject is acted upon by the verb.	81
5802152376	Pastoral Literature	a work of literature dealing with rural life.	82
5802152645	Pathetic Fallacy	the attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature.	83
5802153326	Pathos	a quality of an experience in life or a work of art that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy and sorrow.	84
5802153713	Picaresque Novel	an episodic novel about a roguelike wanderer who lives off his wits.	85
5802154293	Point-of-View	the narrator's position in relation to the story being told.	86
5802154584	Prophecy	an assumption or prediction that is made early on either by the author or a character in a book.	87
5802154917	Prosody	the grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry.	88
5802155419	Pulp Fiction	novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots.	89
5802156037	Quatrain	a stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes.	90
5802156038	Realism	the depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect.	91
5802156361	Roman à clef	a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names.	92
5802156879	Satire	the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.	93
5802158805	Situational Irony	when an incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen and what actually happens instead.	94
5802159307	Soliloquy	a long speech that a character makes in a work of drama only to him or herself.	95
5802159492	Sonnet	a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes (usually iambic pentameter).	96
5802159833	Stream-of-Consciousness	a style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind.	97
5802161138	Style	the manner in which an author uses and arranges words.	98
5802161780	Subplot	a subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play, usually connected to the main plot.	99
5802161781	Subtext	The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature.	100
5802162332	Synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning "Cleveland's baseball team").	101
5802162909	Tragedy	a form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish; typically ends in death.	102
5802163277	Tragic Hero	a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.	103
5802163735	Tone	an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.	104
5802164127	Verbal Irony	a discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words.	105
5802164863	Verisimilitude	similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is.	106
5802165093	Versification	the structural form of a line of verse as revealed by the number of feet it contains.	107
5802165396	Villanelle	a nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets.	108
5802165813	Voice	the form or a format through which narrators tell their stories.	109