THS AP Literature Essential Terms Flashcards

7971465646	1st person POV	speaker tells the story as "I" and is a minor or major participant	0
7971465647	3rd person POV	speaker narrates the story using "he, she, they"	1
7971465648	allegory	fiction in which many aspects of the story have symbolic meaning outside the tale itself.	2
7971465649	alliteration	repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words	3
7971465650	allusion	an understood reference to another work of literature or event	4
7971465651	anaphora	repetition of initial word or phrase in a series of clauses or sentences	5
7971465652	antithesis	the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas	6
7971465653	asyndeton	syntactical choice of omitting conjunctions from a series; commas only	7
7971465654	apostrophe	direct address of an inanimate object, dead or absent person, or an idea	8
7971465655	archetype	universal symbols that evoke deep, unconscious responses	9
7971465656	aside	in drama, a remark intended for the audience unacknowledged by other actors	10
7971465657	assonance	the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables in a series of words	11
7971465658	ballad	from oral tradition, narrative poem usually dealing with loss or some kind featuring refrain	12
7971465659	bildungsroman	a coming of age story of formative years leading to general or moral maturity	13
7971465660	blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter; Shakespeare's form of choice	14
7971465661	caesura	hard stop in middle of line of poetry usually between pairs of accented syllables	15
7971465662	colloquialism	conversational, slang word choices often linked to a regional dialect	16
7971465663	conceit (metaphorical)	far-fetched comparison for artistic and rhetorical effect	17
7971465664	connotation	associations/implications beyond word definition	18
7971465665	dialect	diction that reveals characters' geographic or social connections	19
7971465666	diction	word choice that contributes to tone and meaning	20
7971465667	dramatic irony	a key point is understood by the reader but not by the characters in the	21
7971465668	dynamic character	character who undergoes significant change in response to plot events	22
7971465669	elegy	a lament; an expression of mourning	23
7971465670	enjambment	"stepping over" from one poetic line to retain meaning; no end marks	24
7971465671	epiphany	character's moment of realization/insight granting full or new understanding	25
7971465672	eulogy	a formal expression of praise	26
7971465673	fiction	writing that springs from the imagination, usually short stories, novellas, novels	27
7971465674	figurative language	writing that is not meant to be taken literally	28
7971465675	flashback	shift in the narrative thread to an earlier event that interrupts chronological plot structure	29
7971465676	flat character	uncomplicated character about whom little is revealed	30
7971465677	foreshadowing	suggestion or hint of future developments	31
7971465678	free verse	open form poetry free from regular meter, structure, rhyme patterns	32
7971465679	hubris	excessive pride; a common hamartia (tragic flaw)	33
7971465680	hyperbole	extravagant exaggeration	34
7971465681	Iambic pentameter	common English poetic meter; five pairs of iambs per line (duh DUH)	35
7971465682	imagery	description that appeals to the senses	36
7971465683	inversion	reversal of standard word order: noun then adjective, verb before subject, etc. (anastrophe)	37
7971465686	irony, verbal	difference between what is said and what is meant	38
7971465687	irony, situational	surprising incongruity in circumstances (step to avoid a sprinkler only to fall into a swimming pool)	39
7971465688	irony, dramatic	reader/audience is aware of circumstances that characters are not	40
7971465689	limited omniscient	speaker shares observations of all characters, but the thoughts of one	41
7971465690	litotes	ironic understatement made by negating the opposite of what is meant	42
7971465691	metafiction	works in which the author writes with an awareness that the writing is fiction exposing the relationship between reality and fiction	43
7971465693	metaphor	a direct comparison between two unlike things borrowing the traits of one to characterize	44
7971465695	metonymy	figure of speech in which a word/phrase is substituted for a closely associated thing	45
7971465697	monologue	extended speech by an actor (character) to others onstage	46
7971465698	motif	recurring element in a literary work that contributes to overall meaning	47
7971465699	omniscient POV	all-knowing speaker shares the actions, thoughts, and dialogue of many	48
7971465700	onomatopoeia	words formed in imitation of natural sounds	49
7971465701	oxymoron	pair of contradictory words; compact paradox	50
7971465702	paradox	contradictory statement that, on closer look, reveals truth	51
7971465703	parallelism	phrases using identical grammatical structure, but different words	52
7971465704	parody	imitation of a genre, style, or artist with satiric rather than reverent tone	53
7971465705	pathetic fallacy	often erroneous attribution of human emotion to nature	54
7971465706	personification	attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas or inanimate objects	55
7971465707	plot	the sequence of events in a story (linear, flashback, in medias res)	56
7971465709	pun	word play based on double meaning of words; double entendre	57
7971465708	polysyndeton	syntactical choice of omitting commas from a series; conjunctions only	58
7971465710	quatrain	four-line stanza; division of poem	59
7971465711	rhyme scheme	pattern of identical rhymes at the end of lines designated A,B, etc.	60
7971465712	rhythm	pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or beats	61
7971465713	round character	realistic character displaying the good/bad complexities of most humans	62
7971465714	satire	use of humor and hyperbole to point out human or societal flaws	63
7971465715	scansion	the action of scanning a poetry to determine meter/rhythm	64
7971465716	setting	the time and place in which the action of a literary work occurs	65
7971465717	simile	figurative language comparing two unlike things using like, as, seems	66
7971465718	slant rhyme	words with identical vowel sounds, but different ending consonant sounds	67
7971465720	soliloquy	thoughts spoken aloud for audience benefit by actor alone onstage	68
7971465721	sonnet	poem w/14 lines of iambic pentameter and fixed rhyme scheme	69
7971465722	stanza	division of poem usually named for # of lines: quatrain, sestet, octave, etc.	70
7971465723	static character	character who remains unchanged throughout the literature	71
7971465724	stream of consciousness	speaker shares thoughts as they scroll randomly through his or her mind	72
7971465725	symbol	something that, by association or convention, represents an abstract idea	73
7971465726	synecdoche	figure of speech in which a part represents the whole	74
7971465727	syntax	sentence structure; word order	75
7971465728	theme	a unifying, central idea in a literary work; often expressed as an attitude plus topic	76
7971465729	tone	author's attitudes toward situations and characters as discovered through analysis of	77
7971465730	Trope	figurative reference to commonly understood convention "knight in shining armor"	78
7971465731	understatement	opposite of hyperbole; words say less than is intended	79