AP Literature Terms Flashcards
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| 8758168173 | Protagonist | the main character involved in the central conflict | 0 | |
| 8758173985 | Antagonist | the force or person who works against the main character's attempt to solve the problem; may be another character, society, nature, or force within the protagonist | 1 | |
| 8758175904 | Foil | a character whose traits are in direct contrast to those of the principal character. The ____ typically highlights the traits of the protagonist. The ____ is usually a minor character, although if there are two protagonists, they may be ____ of each other | 2 | |
| 8758185275 | Flat Character | one who is not fully developed; we know only one side of the character | 3 | |
| 8758187448 | Round Character | one who is fully-developed, with many traits--bad and good--shown in the story. We feel that we know the character so well that he or she has become a real person | 4 | |
| 8758211032 | Static Character | usually a minor character who tends to remain unchanged throughout the story; things happen to these characters without things happening within | 5 | |
| 8758251166 | Dynamic Character | one who undergoes change in response to events in the story | 6 | |
| 8758253390 | Mood | the feeling or atmosphere a reader senses while reading a piece of literature | 7 | |
| 8758256234 | Plot | the sequence of actions or events in a story | 8 | |
| 8758258465 | Climax | the highest point of tension in the plot | 9 | |
| 8758260929 | Conflict | a problem that confronts the characters in a piece of literature. Internal--character struggles within himself or herself External--character struggles against nature, another person, or society Common conflict types: man or woman against nature--against self--against society--against man or woman--against technology | 10 | |
| 8758262433 | Exposition | occurs at the beginning of a work of fiction; established background information or lays out the scene | 11 | |
| 8758266935 | Falling Action (denouement) | the unraveling of the plot following the climax | 12 | |
| 8758270642 | Resolution | the final part of the plot where you learn how everything works out | 13 | |
| 8758275860 | Point of View | the perspective from which a writer tells a story | 14 | |
| 8758279386 | First person | narrator or one of characters tells the story using "I." | 15 | |
| 8758282710 | Third person | a narrator or someone outside the story is telling it using " he, she, or them. " | 16 | |
| 8758284176 | Omniscient narrator | an all-knowing narrator who is not a character in the story and who can report the thoughts and feelings of the characters, as well as their words and actions | 17 | |
| 8758286394 | Setting | The physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. The major elements of this are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the characters | 18 | |
| 8758288548 | Speaker | The voice used by an author to tell a story or speak a poem. The _______ is often a created identity, and should not automatically be equated with the author's self. | 19 | |
| 8758290488 | Theme | A central meaning in the work which provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work are organized. It is important not to mistake the theme for the actual subject of the work; the theme refers to the abstract concept that is made concrete through the images, characterization, and action of the text. It is a statement about life or human nature that the author conveys to the reader, i.e., Be careful about what you wish for. . . . | 20 | |
| 8758292936 | Tone | the author's attitude toward the subject in the piece (serious, sarcastic, objective, compassionate), which readers may infer from the language, imagery, and structure. | 21 | |
| 8758300998 | (Literary Device) Alliteration | repetition of the first sound --usually a consonant sound--in several words of a sentence or a line of poetry. | 22 | |
| 8758303941 | (Literary Device) Allusion | A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature. Authors assume that careful readers will recognize (or look up!) allusions and relate their meaning to the new context. | 23 | |
| 8758310798 | (Literary Device) Anaphora | The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses, lines, or phrases. Ex. "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender." Churchill. | 24 | |
| 8758315131 | (Literary Device) Antithesis | is a figure of speech in which words or phrases that are parallel in order and syntax express opposite or contrasting meanings. For example, Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." | 25 | |
| 8758318975 | (Literary Device) Apostrophe | An address, either to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something nonhuman that cannot comprehend. __________ often provides a speaker the opportunity to think aloud. | 26 | |
| 8758324475 | (Literary Device) Aside | a convention in drama whereby a character onstage addresses the audience to reveal some inner thought or feeling that is presumed inaudible to any other characters onstage who might be in earshot. | 27 | |
| 8758331034 | (Literary Device) Assonance | a repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity. | 28 | |
| 8758333209 | (Literary Device) Asyndeton | a style in which conjunctions are omitted usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose. For example, Caesar's famous lines, "I came, I saw, I conquered." | 29 | |
| 8758336876 | (Literary Device) Characterization | the method an author uses to develop characters' personalities or motives through the use of dialogue and descriptions of their thoughts, appearance, emotions, and actions. | 30 | |
| 8758341288 | (Literary Device) Colloquial | An informal or conversational use of language | 31 | |
| 8758344206 | (Literary Device) Concession | a reluctant acknowledgment of yielding | 32 | |
| 8758347651 | (Literary Device) Connotation | what is suggested by a word, apart from what it explicitly describes, often referred to as the implied meaning of a word. For example, the words sweet or gay have undergone connotative alteration in the last couple of decades. | 33 | |
| 8758351631 | (Literary Device) Consonance | is the repetition of consonant sounds in two or more successive words or stressed syllables that contain different vowel sounds: "wonder / wander" "haven / heaven." | 34 | |
| 8758361172 | (Literary Device) Cumulative Sentence | an independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases | 35 | |
| 8758362279 | (Literary Device) Periodic Sentence | a sentence that builds toward and ends with the main clause | 36 | |
| 8758367432 | (Literary Device) Declarative Sentence | a sentence that makes a statement | 37 | |
| 8758370057 | (Literary Device) Denotation | a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word. | 38 | |
| 8758372553 | (Literary Device) Detail | A specific piece of a literary work that makes up or adds to a larger picture or story | 39 | |
| 8758375586 | (Literary Device) Dialect | A social or regional variety of a particular language. For example, Southerners say, "you all." | 40 | |
| 8758377946 | (Literary Device) Diction | a speaker or author's word choice used for effect; includes connotation of words as well as denotation. (concrete vs. abstract; formal vs. informal or colloquial) | 41 | |
| 8758381793 | (Literary Device) Euphemism | A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive: saying "passed away" rather than "died." | 42 | |
| 8758386693 | (Literary Device) Figurative language | language used to express ideas through figures of speech; descriptions that aren't meant to be taken literally; types of figurative language include simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and personification | 43 | |
| 8758389686 | (Literary Device) Flashback | a break in a story's action that returns the reader to a previous event. | 44 | |
| 8758392628 | (Literary Device) Foreshadowing | the use of clues giving the reader hints of events to come | 45 | |
| 8758395776 | (Literary Device) Genre | a type of class of literature such as epic, narrative or poetry. | 46 | |
| 8758398374 | (Literary Device) Hyperbole | obvious exaggeration used for serious, comic, or ironic effect | 47 | |
| 8758400431 | (Literary Device) Idiom | an expression whose meaning can't be understood literally: It's raining cats and dogs. | 48 | |
| 8758404165 | (Literary Device) Imagery | the words and phrases used in writing that appeal to the senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. (Don't just say "these images paint a picture in my mind. . . ."—far too generic!) | 49 | |
| 8758406991 | (Literary Device) Irony | an effect created by a contrast between what is expected and what is real (three major types: situational, verbal, and dramatic). | 50 | |
| 8758409823 | (Literary Device) Jargon | specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. The computer industry has created a lot of this. ex - crash, interface... | 51 | |
| 8758413497 | (Literary Device) Juxtaposition | the location of one thing as being adjacent with another in order to compare or contrast items. This placement of two items side by side creates a certain effect or reveals an attitude. | 52 | |
| 8758415917 | (Literary Device) Loose Sentence | a sentence grammatically complete, and usually stating its main idea before the end. Ex. - "The child ran as if being chased by demons." | 53 | |
| 8758415918 | (Literary Device) Periodic Sentence | a sentence, which is not grammatically complete until the end. For example, "The child, who looked as if she were being chased by demons, ran." | 54 | |
| 8758430435 | (Literary Device) Malapropism | the erroneous substitution for the correct word of a word similar in sound but very different in meaning. For example, Mrs. Malaprop from The Rivals says, "by no means wish a daughter of mine to be a progeny of learning." Here she accidentally substitutes "progeny" for "prodigy." | 55 | |
| 8758441037 | (Literary Device) Metaphor | a direct comparison where one thing is said to be another thing: The stars were diamonds. | 56 | |
| 8758441038 | (Literary Device) Extended Metaphor | a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work. | 57 | |
| 8758445829 | (Literary Device) Metonymy | is a figure of speech that substitutes the name of an entity with something else that is closely associated with it. For example, "the throne" is a _________ synonym for "the king." | 58 | |
| 8758449704 | (Literary Device) Motif | a unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent image, symbol, theme, character, subject, or narrative detail. A given _____ may be unique to a work or it may appear in numerous works. | 59 | |
| 8758453114 | (Literary Device) Onomatopoeia | the technique of using words that sound like what they mean: buzz, ouch, splash. | 60 | |
| 8758455857 | (Literary Device) Organization | The structure and/or layout of a literary work that affects its overall purpose and/or effect. Look for differences in this among various works' beginnings, middles, and ends. | 61 | |
| 8758457648 | (Literary Device) Oxymoron | a condensed form of paradox in which two seemingly contradictory terms are joined together: jumbo shrimp, wise fool, bittersweet. | 62 | |
| 8758462205 | (Literary Device) Paradox | A statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense. For example, "Fight for peace." | 63 | |
| 8758464538 | (Literary Device) Parallel Structure | the use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts. Ex - "Jane likes reading, writing, and speaking. | 64 | |
| 8758467557 | (Literary Device) Parody | a work that imitates another work for comic effect by exaggerating the style and changing the content of the original. Ex. - The Scary Movie series are _____ of scary movies in general | 65 | |
| 8758471134 | (Literary Device) Personification | figurative language in which an animal, object, or ideas is given human characteristics: The wind whispered through the night. | 66 | |
| 8758473689 | (Literary Device) Polysyndeton | using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted. Ex. "I said, 'Who killed him?' and he said, 'I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right,' and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water." Hemingway, After the Storm | 67 | |
| 8758476372 | (Literary Device) Repetition | the technique of repeating a word, phrase, or idea for emphasis and effect | 68 | |
| 8758479957 | (Literary Device) Rhetoric | the study of effective persuasive language use | 69 | |
| 8758481542 | (Literary Device) Rhetorical Question | a question that is asked simply for stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered. | 70 | |
| 8758485853 | (Literary Device) Sarcasm | a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually harshly or bitterly critical. For example, if a teacher says to a student who sneaks into class an hour late, "Nice of you to join us," the teacher is being _______. | 71 | |
| 8758488950 | (Literary Device) Satire | a literary work that ridicules human folly | 72 | |
| 8758490300 | (Literary Device) Simile | figurative language in which one thing is said to be like or as another thing: The stars were like diamonds. | 73 | |
| 8758492160 | (Literary Device) Symbolism | the technique of using an image, person, place or thing to express the idea beyond the thing itself: roses as ______ of love. (abstract ideas representing concrete things) | 74 | |
| 8758495185 | (Literary Device) Synecdoche | is a figure of speech in which the term for part of something is used to represent the whole, or less commonly, the term for the whole is used to represent a part. For example, a fleet of ships may be described as "forty sails." | 75 | |
| 8758498189 | (Literary Device) Syntax | the arrangement, ordering, grouping, and placement of words within a sentence and the arrangement of sentences within a piece. Poets often manipulate this, changing conventional word order, to place certain emphasis on particular words. | 76 | |
| 8758501161 | (Literary Device) Tragic Flaw | a character trait in a tragic hero or heroine that brings about his or her downfall. Traits like arrogance or hubris are common tragic flaws, but a protagonist's tragic flaw is not necessarily a "bad" character trait. | 77 | |
| 8758502388 | (Literary Device) Understatement | The opposite of hyperbole; a figure of speech statement, which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant: if one were in a desert where the temperature was 125 degrees, and saying "It's a little warm today." | 78 |