AP Literature Terms Flashcards

9203865461	didactic	explicitly instructive	0
9203865462	ambiguity	multiple meanings that a literary work may communicate, especially when two meanings are incompatible	1
9203865463	euphemism	a figure of speech utilizing indirection to avoid offensive bluntness	2
9203868003	jargon	the specialized language of a profession or group	3
9203868004	parable	a story designed to suggest a principle, to illustrate a moral, or to answer a question	4
9203871364	allegory	a story in which the people, things, and events have another extended, frequently abstract, meaning	5
9203871365	parody	a composition that imitates the style of another composition, normally done for comic effect	6
9203871366	digression	the inclusion of material unrelated to the actual subject of a work	7
9203876011	epigram	a pithy saying, often employing contrast. Often in verse form, brief and pointed	8
9203876012	denotation	the specific, literal meaning of a word to be found in a dictionary, as opposed to connotation	9
9203881813	hyperbole	deliberate exaggeration, overstatement	10
9203885294	oxymoron	a combination or juxtaposition of opposites; a union of contradictory terms	11
9203885295	reliability	a quality of some fictional narrators in whose word the reader can place his trust	12
9203885296	personification	a figurative use of language that endows the nonhuman with human characteristics	13
9203889748	paradox	a statement that seems to be self-contradictory but is, in fact, true	14
9203889749	literal	the precise, explicit meaning; accurate to the letter; a matter of fact	15
9203889750	convention	a device of style or subject matter that is used so often that it becomes a recognized means of expression	16
9203889751	connotation	the implications of a word or phrase or the emotions associated with it	17
9203895285	apostrophe	direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present	18
9203895286	soliloquy	a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud	19
9203895287	lyrical	songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination	20
9203898341	syllogism	a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them	21
9203898342	stanza	a repeated grouping of three or more lines, usually with the same meter and rhyme scheme	22
9203898343	sonnet	a poem written in iambic pentameter, normally composed of fourteen lines	23
9203900802	grotesque	characterized by distortions or incongruities	24
9203900803	onomatopia	the use of words whose very sound suggests their actual meaning	25
9203900804	alliteration	the repetition of similar or identical consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words	26
9203904521	stereotype	a conventional pattern, expression, character, or idea	27
9203904522	assonance	the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds	28
9203904523	rhetorical question	a question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply	29
9203907279	banal	overused, obvious	30
9203907280	propriety	acceptable manners	31
9203907281	nebulous	vague, hazy	32
9203910352	nefarious	evil	33
9203910353	bellicose	hostile	34
9203910370	nemesis	rival	35
9203916102	lugubrious	looking / sounding sad	36
9203916103	admonish	warn	37
9283307980	allusion	reference in a work of literature to something outside the work	38
9283314590	pentameter	a line containing five feet. It is the most common line used in English verse that was written before 1950.	39
9283316948	blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter - it is the meter of most of Shakespeare's plays	40
9283316949	irony	a figure of speech in which the intended meaning and the actual meaning differ, characteristically using praise to indicate blame or using blame to indicate praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning	41
9283316950	iamb	a two-syllable foot with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. It is the most common foot in English poetry.	42
9283319361	diction	word choice	43
9283319362	dactyl	a metrical foot of three syllables, including an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables	44
9283320942	syntax	the structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence	45
9283320943	tetrameter	a line of four feet	46
9283324114	thesis	the theme, meaning, or position that a writer endeavors to prove or support.	47