AP Literature Key Terminology Flashcards

5208470932	Allegory	A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance.	0
5208500011	Alliteration	The sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables.	1
5208524771	Allusion	A reference to a literary or historical event, or place.	2
5208540989	Anapestic	A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed.	3
5208556468	Anaphora	The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a successive phrases or clauses.	4
5208567973	Anecdote	A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.	5
5208579245	Antagonist	Any force that is in opposition to the main character, or protagonist.	6
5208602735	Anitithesis	The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical, structure, or ideas.	7
5208621269	Apostrophe	An address or invocation to something that is inanimate- such as an angry lover who might scream at the ocean in his or her despair.	8
5208646766	Archetype	Recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes or images which are identifiable in a wide range of literature.	9
5208677619	Assonace	A repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables or close proximity.	10
5208689555	Asyndeton	A style in which conjunctions are omitted, usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose.	11
5208704433	Attitude	The sense expressed by the tone of voice and/or the mood of a piece of writing.	12
5208722632	Ballad	A narrative poem that is, or originally was, meant to be sung.	13
5208732677	Blank verse	The verse from that most resembles common speech, blank verse consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter.	14
5208763564	Caesura	A pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns.	15
5208783216	Chiasmus	A figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second.	16
5208793510	Conceit	A comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem.	17
5208812352	Connotation	What is suggested by a word, apart from what it explicitly describes, often referred to as the implied meaning of a word.	18
5208825207	Consonance	The repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels.	19
5208838585	Couplet	Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection.	20
5208849430	Dactylic	A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables followed by one unstressed syllable.	21
5208862840	Denotation	A direct and specific meaning often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word.	22
5208873395	Dialect	The language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, religion, or group of people.	23
5208892859	Diction	The specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect.	24
5208906298	Elegy	A poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation.	25
5208915394	Epic	A poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, the achievements of the mighty heroes and heroines.	26
5208928266	Extended metaphor	A detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work, also known as a conceit.	27
5208936256	Fable	A legend or a short moral story often using animals as characters.	28
5208944982	Foreshadowing	To hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand.	29
5208952180	Flashback	Retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative.	30
5210532902	Free verse	Poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines.	31
5210552318	Genre	A type or class of literature such as epic or narrative or poetry or belles letter.	32
5210574096	Iambic	Metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.	33
5210613517	Imagery	Broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work.	34
5210642844	Irony	A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.	35
5210692401	Jargon	Specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.	36
5210706174	Juxtaposition	The location of one thing as being adjacent or juxtaposed with another.	37
5210728106	Litote	A figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement.	38
5210795687	Lyric	Originally designated poems meant to be sung to accompaniment of a lyre.	39
5210813069	Metaphor	One thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them.	40