AP Literature Terms Flashcards

3705075821	arete	excellence; moral virtue	0
3705075822	allegory	a story with a possible hidden meaning	1
3705075823	alliteration	the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words	2
3705075824	allusion	an expression designed to call something to mind	3
3705075825	ambiguity	uncertainty	4
3705075826	anachronism	Something out of place in time	5
3705075827	analogy	a comparison between two things with partial similarity	6
3705075828	anaphora	the use of a word replacing or referring to a word used earlier	7
3705075829	anastrophe	the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses	8
3705075830	anthropomorphism	an attribution of human characteristics to anything non human	9
3705075831	antithesis	a contrast or opposition between the two things	10
3705075832	aphorism	an observation that contains a general truth	11
3705075833	aporia	an expression of doubt	12
3705075834	apostrophe	when an absent person or concept is directly addressed	13
3705075835	archetype	template	14
3705075836	assonance	the repetition of vowel sounds	15
3705075837	asyndeton	Omission of conjunctions between words or phrases	16
3705075838	ballad	a story told in the form of a narrative set to music	17
3705075839	blank verse	a verse with no rhyme but with iambic petameter	18
3705075840	cacophony	harsh, discordant sounds	19
3705075841	canto	one of the sections into which certain long poems are divided	20
3705075842	caesura	a pause near the middle of the line	21
3705075843	circumlocution	the use of many words when fewer would do	22
3705075844	cogito ergo sum	"I think, therefor I am"	23
3705075845	conflict	a serious disagreement or argument	24
3705075846	connotation	an idea or feeling that a word invokes	25
3705075847	consonance	agreement or compatibility between opinions or actors	26
3705075848	denotation	the literal or primary meaning of a word	27
3705075849	deus ex machina	an unexpected power saving a hopeless situation	28
3705075850	didactic	the art or science of teaching	29
3705075851	denouncement	the falling action of a plot or the resolution; means untying so that the tangles of the plot are untied and mysteries are solved.	30
3705075852	digression	a temporary departure from the main subject	31
3705075853	double entendre	double meaning	32
3705075854	doppelganger	an apparition or double of a living person	33
3705075855	elegy	a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead	34
3705075856	ekphrastic	a graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art	35
3705075857	enjambment	the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.	36
3705075858	emulation	effort to equal or surpass another	37
3705075859	epigram	a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever way	38
3705075860	eponym	a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc. is named or thought to be named	39
3705075861	epiphany	a moment of sudden revelation or insight	40
3705075862	epistle	a letter	41
3705075863	epithet	an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic	42
3705075864	etymology	the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meaning have changed	43
3705075865	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant	44
3705075866	euphony	the quality of being pleasing to the ear	45
3705075867	fable	a short story conveying a moral	46
3705075868	flashback	a score in a movie, novel, etc. set in a time earlier than the main story	47
3705075869	foil	A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story.	48
3705075870	foreshadow	a warning of a future event	49
3705075871	free verse	poetry that does not rhyme or have meter	50
3705075872	grotesque	comically or repulsively ugly or distorted	51
3705075873	hamartia	a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero	52
3705075874	heroic couplet	Iambic pentameter lines rhymed in pairs.	53
3705075875	homily	any talk intended for spiritual edification	54
3705075876	hubris	excessive pride of self-confidence	55
3705075877	hyperbole	exaggerated statements	56
3705075878	lamb	used to describe someone with affection or pity	57
3705075879	imagery	visually descriptive or figurative language	58
3705075880	internal rhyme	Rhyme within a line	59
3705075881	invective	abusive language	60
3705075882	dramatic irony	a situation where the significance is known by the reader, but not the character	61
3705075883	situational irony	occurs when the expected outcome does not happen	62
3705075884	juxtaposition	two things with contrasting effect	63
3705075885	lyrical	expressing the writer's emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way	64
3705075886	malapropism	the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding one	65
3705075887	metaphor	a comparison of two unlike things for rhetorical effect	66
3705075888	metonymy	the substitution of the name for an attribute	67
3705075889	motif	a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition	68
3705075890	mood	the atmosphere or pervading tone of something	69
3705075891	nemesis	the inescapable agent of someone's downfall	70
3705075892	neologism	newly coined word or expression	71
3705075893	novella	short novel or long short story	72
3705075894	onomatopoeia	word that represents a sound	73
3705075895	oxymoron	figure of speech where contradictory terms appear in conjunction	74
3705075896	parable	simple story to illustrate moral lesson	75
3705075897	parody	an imitation of the style of someone with exaggeration for comic effect	76
3705075898	paradox	a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement	77
3705075899	pentameter	a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet	78
3705075900	primogeniture	first born child	79
3705075901	personification	the attribution of human characteristics to something nonhuman	80
3705075902	point of view	the narrator's position in relation to the story being told	81
3705075903	polysyndeton	use of several conjunctions in close succession	82
3705075904	portmanteau	consisting of or combining two or more seperable aspects or qualities	83
3705075905	prologue	introductory section of a work	84
3705075906	prosody	patterns of rhythm used in poetry	85
3705075907	quatrain	stanza of four lines	86
3705075908	repartee	conversation or speech characterized by quick wity comments or replies	87
3705075909	roman a clef	a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names	88
3705075910	rhetorical question	question that isn't meant to be answered	89
3705075911	reliability	the quality of being reliable	90
3705075912	syllogism	form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from 2 premises	91
3705075913	satire	the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity	92
3705075914	setting	the place or surroundings where something takes place	93
3705075915	simile	comparing two unlike things using "as" or "like"	94
3705075916	sonnet	a poem of 14 lines	95
3705075917	stanza	a group of lines forming basic recurring metrical unit in a poem	96
3705075918	stream of consciousness	person's thoughts and conscious reactions to events	97
3705075919	sublime	of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe	98
3705075920	synecdoche	figure of speech in which a part represents a whole	99
3705075921	synesthesia	mixing of senses	100
3705075922	syntax	arrangement of words and phrases	101
3705075923	tabula rasa	absence of preconceived ideas or goals	102
3705075924	terza rima	an arrangement in triplets that ryhme	103
3705075925	tetrameter	a verse of four measures	104
3705075926	triplet	set of three similar things	105
3705075927	theme	subject of a talk, writing, thoughts, or exhibition	106
3705075928	tone	the general character or attitude of a piece of writing	107
3705075929	tragedy	a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending	108
3705075930	understatement	presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is	109
3705075931	verisimilitude	the appearance of being true or real	110
3705075932	versification	the adaptation of some other kind of writing into verse	111