AP Literature Terms Flashcards

7348287343	narrative	Tells a story by presenting events in some logical or orderly way	0
7348288268	epics	Long narrative poems about heroic figures whose actions determine the fate of a nation or an entire race. Ex. Beowulf	1
7348294230	folk tale/fairy tale	Come from oral tradition. Developed along with other narrative forms. Can be traced back centuries through many different cultures. Simple characters. Stories move direction to their conclusions. Ex. The Canterbury Tales	2
7348303147	romance	Supplanted the epic and written initially in verse then later in prose. Events are controlled by enchantments rather than by the will of divine beings. Ex. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight	3
7348316453	picaresque	Relating to an episodic, often satirical work about a rogue or rascal but appealing hero. Ex. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.	4
7348329140	pastoral romance	A prose tale set in an idealized rural world.	5
7348331995	character	fictional representation of a person-usually (but not necessarily) a psychologically realistic depiction. Includes traits, motivation, development, and stereotypes.	6
7348334737	novel	An episodic narrative similar to a picaresque but unified by a central character and a single setting. Ex. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe	7
7348347436	short story	Is limited in length and scope. Does not devote a great deal of space to develop a highly complex plot or a large number of characters. Ex. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin	8
7348352953	epiphany	A moment of illumination in which something hidden or not understood becomes immediately clear. Usually conveyed through mundane and otherwise meaningless events, dialogue, or details. Sudden insights experienced by either a character or the readers. Ex. Araby by James Joyce	9
7348356963	short short stories	Under five pages in length. Ex. All About Suicide by Luisa Valenzuela	10
7348363925	novella	A short novel or long short story. Ex. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka	11
7348371231	plot	Is the way in which a story's events are arranged and events that are related to one another and relate to the story as a whole. Includes conflict, flashbacks, foreshadowing.	12
7348402138	setting	the place and time at which a story is set. Includes time period, and geographical location. May affect characters in the story, determine relationships among characters, affect plot, create a mood, and reinforce central ideas.	13
7348423129	point of view	The angle or vantage point from which events are presented.	14
7348430971	style, tone, and language	A way of using language. Includes imaginative figures of speech, patterns of imagery, diction or syntax, levels or styles of speech used by characters, words or phrases,	15
7348463328	symbolism	The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities	16
7348597155	allegory	A story that has two parallel and consistent levels of meaning-one literal and the other figurative- Communicates a doctrine, message, or moral principle by making it into a narrative in which the characters personify ideas, concepts, qualities, or other abstractions.	17
7348597156	allegorical framework	The set of ideas that conveys the allegory's message.	18
7348598000	allegorical figures	A character, object, place, or event in the allegory.	19
7348611359	theme	what the story is about on an abstract level. For example, love, revenge, friendship, or mortality.	20
7348631527	conflict	The struggle between opposing forces that emerges as the action develops. Clash between the protagonist and antagonist.	21
7348641134	protagonist	The story's principle character.	22
7348643465	antagonist	Someone or something presented in opposition to the protagonist.	23
7348645228	exposition	The writer presents basic information of the story, which establishes the scene, introduces characters, and suggests conflicts to come, is found in	24
7348649065	crisis	Is the peak in the story's action, a moment of considerable tension or importance.	25
7348651041	climax	The point of greatest tension or importance, the scene that presents a story's decisive action or event. The conflict is resolved at the climax.	26
7348653294	denouement	Draws the action to a close and accounts for all remaining loose ends.	27
7348656722	deus ex machina	Latin for "a god from a machine". An intervention of some force or agent previously extraneous to the story. Ex. A last minute rescue by a character not previously introduced.	28
7348662682	medias res	Latin for "in the midst of things". Starting with a key event and later going back in time to explain evens that preceded it.	29
7348674215	flashback	Moves out of sequence to examine an event or situation that occurred before the time in which the story's narrator can re-create an earlier situation.	30
7348681602	foreshadowing	The introduction early in a story of situations, events, characters, or objects that hint at things to come. A chance remark, a natural occurrence, or a seemingly trivial event is eventually revealed to have great significance.	31
7348702864	characterization	Is the way writers develop characters and reveal those character' traits to readers. May portray characters through their actions, through their reactions to situations or to other characters, through their physical appearance, through their speech and gestures and expressions, and even through their names.	32
7348711992	round	Well developed, closely involved in and responsive to the action.	33
7348714168	flat	Barely developed or stereotypical	34
7348715078	foil	Is a supporting character whose role in the story is to highlight a major character by presenting a contrast with him or her.	35
7348719208	stock characters	Easily identifiable types who behave so consistently that readers can readily recognize them.	36
7348722180	caricatures	Characterized by a single dominant trait, such as miserliness, or even by one physical trait, such as nearsightedness.	37
7348725334	dynamic character	a character who undergoes some fundamental change over the course of a story. A change in a character's material conditions does not make the character dynamic. The change must pertain to the person's character.	38
7348730492	static character	These characters may face the same challenges a dynamic character might face but will remain essentially unchanged.	39
7348738361	motivation	The reasons behind his or her behavior. Helps readers understand or accept a character's behavior and choices.	40
7348744504	historical setting	Particular historical period, and the events associated with it. Helps readers understand a story fully.	41
7348747727	geographical setting	Helps to explain anything from why language and customs are unfamiliar to the reader.	42
7348758992	physical setting	Time of day, inside or out-of-doors, or weather.	43
7348765452	atmosphere	The various physical attributes of setting combine to create a story's --- The mood that pervades a story, usually established through descriptions of setting.	44
7348782898	persona	Literally means "mask". Is used to denote the narrator.	45
7348787182	first person	A narrator that uses I or sometimes we to tell the story. Often this person is a major character.	46
7348793000	irony	A discrepancy between what is said and what readers believe to be true.	47
7348795699	dramatic irony	Occurs when a narrator or character perceives less than readers do.	48
7348799728	situational irony	Occurs when what happens is at odds with what readers are led to expect.	49
7348801695	verbal irony	Occurs when the narrator says one thing but actually means another.	50
7348804222	unreliable narrator	Can intentionally or unintentionally misrepresent events and misdirect readers.	51
7348811555	third-person	A narrator in which is not a character in the story. Uses he, she, they.	52
7348813731	omniscient narrator	An all-knowing narrator that move at will from one character's mind to another. They are objective and they have none of the naivete, dishonesty, gullibility, or mental instability that can characterize first-person narrators.	53
7348822793	limited omniscience	a third-person narrator who knows more than a first person narrator could know, but whose knowledge is still limited. usually to the thoughts of one or a few characters.	54
7348828460	objective (or dramatic)	Remains entirely outside the character's minds. The narrator tells the story only by reproducing dialogue and recounting events.	55
7348837313	style	If words are plain or elaborate, we are speaking of prose---- The way in which a writer selects and arranges words to say what he or she wants to say. Encompasses elements such as word choice, syntax, sentence length and structure, presence, frequency, and prominence of imagery and figures of speech.	56
7348844784	tone	The attitude of the narrator or author of a work toward the subject matter, characters, or audience. Can be intimate or distant, bitter or affectionate, straightforward or cautious, supportive or critical, respectful or condescending, and ironic.	57
7348859551	stream-of-consciousness	This style mimics thought, allowing ideas to run into one another as random associations are made, so that readers may follow and participate in the thought processes of the narrator. Internal monologue.	58
7348864248	alliteration	The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.	59
7348868878	near rhyme	Connects the words of the sentence into a smooth, rhythmic whole.	60
7348872707	parallelism	The use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, or meaning.	61
7348877093	diction	How formal or informal a story's language is.	62
7348879659	formal diction	Characterized by elaborate, complex sentences; a learned vocabulary; and a serious, objective, detached tone.	63
7348882991	imagery	Words and phrases that describe what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched. Can have a significant impact on the story.	64
7348887333	figures of speech	(Such as similes, metaphors, and personification) Can enrich a story, subtly revealing information about characters and themes.	65
7348891714	metaphor	A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. Compares two dissimilar items.	66
7348894517	simile	A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. Uses the words "like" and "as".	67
7348898116	personification	a figure of speech, closely related to metaphor that endow inanimate objects or abstract ideas with life or with human characteristics.	68
7348911211	hyperbole	Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.	69
7348912454	understatement	The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.	70
7348914375	allusion	reference to familiar historical or literary personages or events. May also expand readers' understanding and appreciation of a work.	71
7348923141	symbol	Is a person, object, action, place, or event that, in addition to its literal meaning, suggests a more complex meaning of range of meanings.	72
7348927443	archetypal symbols	Are so much a part of human experience that they suggest much the same thing to most people. In many cultures.	73
7348929445	conventional symbols	Are likely to suggest the same thing to most people, provided the people have common cultural and social assumptions.	74
7348932383	literary symbols	Take on additional meanings in a particular work. Ex. a clock could mean time but in a story it could symbolize passing of time.	75
7348956330	beast fable	Is a short allegorical tale, usually including a moral, in which animals assume human characteristics	76
7348963337	plot summary	Is a condensed description of the story in a novel, poem, short story, play, film or other piece of storytelling.	77
7348966197	subject	A person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with.	78
7348967980	cliché	Overused phrases or expressions.	79
7348969471	morals	Lessons dramatized by the work.	80
7348971479	initiation theme	theme reveals the difficulty of growing up and gaining experience	81
7421227577	central consciousness	the focal character whose perception of events is voiced by a limited-omniscient narrator.	82
7421233862	citation	a reference to the source of an idea, argument or piece of evidence ending in order to properly document the author's use of the same in his or her own work.	83
7421255923	close reading	careful, attentive reading of a work with an eye not just to what happens but to the literary elements like setting, metaphor, and symbol that create meaning in a work.	84
7421267949	complication	the incident that introduces conflict into a state of relative equilibrium. The complication sets the events of a story in motion.	85
7421292760	editorializing	a narrator's intrusion into a story to direct the reader's interpretation.	86
7421298750	enveloping action	When the drama of the lead character's story is surrounded by a larger drama involving society, the conflict is called-- \ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ the wider social or historical events surrounding the narrower personal struggles of the character in a story. For example, the Anglo-Irish War is the enveloping action of "Guests of a Nation".	87
7421326828	equilibrium	the state of relative peace both before the protagonist comes into conflict with some opposing force and after the conflict is resolved.	88
7421340672	first person observer	a first person narrator who witnesses the action from its fringes. This narrator is a minor character who does not significantly influence the course of the plot.	89
7421353135	first-person participant	a first-person narrator who is involved in the events he or she relates. Often a first-person participant is the protagonist of the story's.	90
7421360813	heuristics	strategies and techniques of applying general problem-solving frameworks to a particular problem or question.	91
7421389287	mood	the prevailing feeling of a story, generated by language, setting, and the quality of the action.	92
7421400148	motif	any word, phrase, idea, object, or situation that recurs throughout a work or that is common to works within a subgenre.	93
7421413981	projection	a technique of narration by which the emotional state of a character colors the description of the setting.	94
7421426347	reversal	a condition sometimes suffered by a protagonist (especially in tragedy) in which the climax brings about a dramatic change in fortune, usually a change from real or figurative prosperity to a state of poverty.	95
7421440642	rising action	incidents in the plot between the complication and the climax; usually these incidents raise the reader's sense of tension.	96
7421467979	sympathetic character	a character whom the reader likes	97
7421476062	thesis statement	a short statement that encapsulates an interpretation and asserts claim that is elaborated through the course of the argument.	98