AP Literature Terms Flashcards

6086282912	Alliteration	repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that occur close together	0
6710674327	Allegory	similar to metaphor, but is usually more elaborate. In an allegorical narrative, each character (or, sometimes, object) has both a literal meaning and a consistent metaphorical meaning, and the story proceeds on two levels at once	1
6710676045	Allusion	a figure of speech that makes a reference to a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication	2
6710677694	Ambiguity	refers to the ways words or phrases can connote a range of meanings. Ambiguity points to the openness of language to different interpretations and understanding.	3
6710681262	Anagnorisis	the Greek word for recognition or discovery, used by Aristotle in his Poetics to denote the turning point in a drama at which a character (usually the protagonist) recognizes the true state of affairs, having previously been in error or ignorance	4
6710682582	Antithesis	A figure of speech in which sharply contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in a balanced or parallel phrase or grammatical structure; direct contrast or opposition	5
6710684523	Apostrophe	a figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman or someone already dead (as in a poem addressing the spirit of Abraham Lincoln)	6
6710686142	Assonance	the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences	7
6710940907	Blank Verse	Verse written in unrhymed, iambic pentameter as in Shakespeare's plays.	8
6710942248	Cacophony	a combination of sounds in words that appear close together that creates a discordant, harsh, or unpleasant effect. Compare to euphony	9
6710944828	Caesura	Comes from the Latin for "a cutting." _____ is a pause in a line of verse replicating natural breaks in language. Often caesuras occur between clauses or sentences or through the poet's use of punctuation.	10
6710946609	Conceit	an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs an entire poem or poetic passage	11
6710947851	Consonance	the repetition of consonant sounds to create internal rhyming with phrases or sentences	12
6710950310	Cosmic Irony	predicated upon the notion that the fates, the gods, or the universe are either capricious or ultimately indifferent to human suffering. Thus, irony results from the contrast between the pathos of mankind's struggles and their ultimate futility	13
6710951078	Diction	a writer's characteristic vocabulary or word choice; a writer's style of expression	14
6710952744	Dramatic Irony	Occurs when the audience of a play or the reader of a work of literature knows something that a character in the work itself does not know. The irony is in the contrast between the intended meaning of the statements or actions of a character and the additional information understood by the audience	15
6710953931	Ellipsis	omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not for understanding	16
6710955474	Enjambment	French for "striding over," enjambment occurs when the sense and/or grammatical structure of a sentence moves from one verse line to the next without a punctuated pause.	17
6710959120	Epigram	a concise, clever statement (or short poem) expressing a single thought or observation	18
6710960542	Euphony	a combination of sounds in words that appear close together that creates a melodious, flowing, or pleasant effect. Compare to cacophony	19
6710964898	Figurative Language	a way of saying one thing and meaning something more	20
6710967706	Hyperbole	an exaggerated or extravagant statement used to make a strong impression, but not intended to be taken literally	21
6710968856	Imagery	language that appeals to one (or more) of the five senses. visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, auditory, synaesthetic	22
6710970685	In Medias Res	Latin for "into the middle of things." It usually describes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle—usually at some crucial point in the action	23
6710971575	Intentional Fallacy	The intentional fallacy posits that the author is an unreliable source regarding the meaning and purpose of his or her text. Instead of focusing on the author's intentions, readers should base their interpretations upon the text itself and what is in it.	24
6710973145	Irony	an incongruity between what a writer says or does, and what he or she means or what is generally understood	25
6710974866	Juxtaposition	two items being placed in close proximity to one another in a sentence in order to highlight their essential difference	26
6710976241	Litotes	a figure of speech in which, a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite. For example, rather than merely saying that a person is rather attractive (or even very attractive), one might say that she is "not unattractive"	27
6710977363	Melodramatic	characteristic of a play, film, or other work in which emotion is exaggerated and plot and action are emphasized in comparison to the more character-driven emphasis within a drama	28
6710979056	Metaphor	an implied comparison between two essentially different things	29
6710980395	Meter	The specific rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. Each metrical unit is called a foot (feet, plural). A foot usually consists of one or more stressed syllables with one or more unstressed syllables.	30
6710981670	Metonymy	the substitution of one thing for another based on close association	31
6710982833	Motif	A significant element that recurs either in a specific literary work, in a group of literary texts, or in literature as a whole. Motifs can be plots, imagery, symbols, themes, ideas, narrative details, or characters. In a specific literary work, motifs usually relate and contribute to the work's larger themes.	32
6710984046	Onomatopoeia	refers to words whose sounds somehow reflect or mimic the objects they refer to	33
6710985506	Oxymoron	a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms	34
6710986409	Paradox	a seemingly self-contradictory statement, which nevertheless contains a truth	35
6710987273	Parallelism	a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses	36
6710988412	Pathos	a quality in a literary work designed to arouse feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow	37
6710989732	Peripeteia	a sudden reversal of a character's circumstances and fortunes, usually involving the downfall of the protagonist in a tragedy, and often coinciding with the recognition or anagnorisis.	38
6710991658	Persona	Originally referring to the masks worn by actors in ancient drama, persona now refers to the first-person voice or character an author uses to convey the story in a narrative. Although the persona uses "I," it is important not to equate the author and the persona. Author and persona should not be considered as synonyms.	39
6710996039	Personification	treating something nonhuman as if it were human	40
6710997169	Point of View	the related experience of the narrator—not that of the author; literary narration can occur from the first-person, second-person, or third-person point of view; third person narration can be further described as selective (or limited) or omniscient	41
6710999618	Romantic Irony	Another form of structural irony is romantic irony, where the author builds and then shatters the illusion of reality he or she has created. Romantic irony reveals the author as the creator and manipulator of this particular reality.	42
6711000506	Rhythm	The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse or (less often) prose.	43
6711001978	Rhyme	a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words	44
6711003294	Satire	a literary work or technique where human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement	45
6711004080	Scansion	a way to mark the metrical patterns of a line of poetry (a way to count and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables)	46
6711005725	Simile	en explicit comparison between two things, often using the word "like" or "as"	47
6711006905	Slapstick	a boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes	48
6711007764	Structural Irony	occurs when the author uses a structural element such as an unreliable narrator to create a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is true.	49
6711009320	Symbol	something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible	50
6711010596	Synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword). Closely related to metonymy.	51
6711011634	Syntax	the principles and rules used for constructing and arranging sentences. Consider the following:	52
6711012624	loose sentence	a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. The meaning of a loose sentence can be easily understood in the very beginning of the sentence, unlike a periodic sentence. A periodic sentence is a sentence that is not grammatically complete until its end. Periodicity is accomplished by the use of parallel phrases or clauses at the opening or by the use of dependent clauses preceding the independent clause; that is, the kernel of thought contained in the subject/verb group appears at the end of a succession of modifiers.	53
6711014189	Tone	the author's attitude toward his or her subject (usually implied)	54
6711015360	Tropes	rope comes from the word "turning" and so tropes include figures of speech which somehow "turn" language to give it another meaning or sense. Examples of tropes include simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, irony, personification, and hyperbole, among others.	55
6711017035	Understatement	use of language to deliberately understate (downplay) the obvious, the opposite of hyperbole	56
6711018908	Verisimilitude	the quality of appearing to be true or real; something that has the appearance of being true or real	57
6711021638	Ballad	a narrative poem traditionally set to music; any myth form may be told as a ballad, such as historical accounts or fairy tales. Ballads often have alternating four-stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes	58
6711022710	Elegy	usually a formal lament for someone's death; a poem of mourning; a reflection on the death of someone or on a sorrow generally	59
6711024202	Lyric	generally shorter poems describing a personal, individual experience	60
6711025106	Narrative	a poem primarily intended to recount a succession of events	61
6711026169	Ode	generally longer and more serious poems concerning a dignified subject	62
6711027945	Sestina	a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet for a total of thirty-nine lines. The same set of six words ends the lines of each of the six-line stanzas, but in a different order each time. The most common scheme in English is represented below:	63
6711029584	Sonnet	a lyric poem of fourteen lines and a prescribed rhyme scheme (Italian or Shakespearean)	64