AP Literature Literary Terms Flashcards

6478062052	allegory	a work of literature that can be read on two or more levels-one literal and others symbolic	0
6478062053	alliteration	repetition of the same consonant sound used within lines of poetry and prose	1
6478062054	allusion	reference to a person, text or event outside the text	2
6478062055	ambiguity	allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work.	3
6478062056	ambivalence	coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings	4
6478062057	anachronism	something that is out of its proper or chronological order	5
6478062059	anecdote	brief story about an amusing or strange event	6
6478062060	antagonist	principal character or force in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama	7
6478062061	antecedent	the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun	8
6478062062	anticlimax	something trivial or commonplace that follows a series or significant events -usually after a climactic event	9
6478062063	antihero	a protagonist who is noticeably unheroic. he/she might be awkward, obnoxious, passive, pitiful, obtuse, or just normal; but antiheroes are always flawed in some fundamental way.	10
6478062064	antimetabole	a rhetorical scheme involving repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order. Example:"one should eat to live, not live to eat"	11
6478062066	aphorism	a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle	12
6478062067	apostrophe	a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction such as liberty or love	13
6478062068	apotheosis	elevating someone or something to a god like status	14
6478062069	archetype	a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader	15
6478062071	assonance	close repetition of similar vowels in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds	16
6478062072	autobiography	biography of a person written by that person	17
6478062073	bathos	humor caused by a radical juxtaposition of the serious with the frivolous Example: "In the United States, Osama Bin Laden is wanted for conspiracy, murder, terrorism, and unpaid parking tickets."	18
6478062074	blank verse	verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually iambic pentameter	19
6478062075	caesura	a pause withing a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line	20
6478062076	canon	those works generally considered by scholar, critics, and teachers to be the most important to read and study, which collectively constitute the "masterpieces" of literature	21
6478062077	catharsis	release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit	22
6478062079	direct characterization	when the writer states or describes a character's traits	23
6478062080	indirect characterization	when the writer shows a character's personality through his or her actions, thoughts, feelings, words, and appearance, or through another character's observations and reactions.	24
6478062081	chorus	In Greek tragedies, a group of people who serve mainly as commentators on the characters and events - they add to the audience's understanding of the play by expressing traditional moral, religious, and social attitudes.	25
6478062084	colloquial	refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions.	26
6478062085	comic relief	a humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work	27
6478062086	complication	element that complicates the plot and prevents resolution	28
6478062087	conceit	an unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things	29
6478062088	conflict	opposition between characters or fores in a work of writing, drives/shapes plot	30
6478062089	conotation	associative meanings of a word in addition to its literal sense (negative, positive, neutral)	31
6478062090	consonance	repetition of consonant sound sin conjunction with dissimilar vowel sounds (as in blank and think or strong and string)	32
6478062091	convention	a characteristic of a literary genre that is understood and accepted by audiences because it has come, through usage and time to be recognized as a familiar technique.	33
6478062093	couplet	two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter	34
6478062094	heroic couplet	couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter	35
6478062095	denotation	specific or direct meaning of a word found in the dictionary, in contrast to its figurative or associative meanings	36
6478062096	denouement	part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified (resolution)	37
6478062097	deus ex machine	"god out of a machine" (Latin) -in Greek drama a god was often lowered onto the stage by a mechanism of some kind to rescue the hero or untangle the plot. Thus, the term refers to any artificial device or coincidence used to bring about a convenient and simple solution to a plot	38
6478062098	dialect	regional variety of language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety or speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists	39
6478062099	diction	choice and use of words in speech or writing as a part of writer's style	40
6478062100	didactic	a work that intends to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson	41
6478062101	doggerel	a derogatory term used to describe poerty whose subject is trite and whose rhythm and sounds are monotonously heaved-handed	42
6478062103	elegiac	lamenting or mournful tone	43
6478062104	end rhyme	rhyming words repeat at the end of lines	44
6478062105	enjambemnt	continuation of grammatical structure in a poem beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza and into the next (also called a run-on line)	45
6478062106	epic	a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance	46
6478062107	epiphany	comprehension of perception of reality by a sudden realization or discovery which changes a character	47
6478062108	epistle	a kind of letter to a friend or audience	48
6478062109	epigrammatical	tense and ingenious in expression	49
6478062110	ethos	a means of persuasion based on the credibility/character of the person making a claim/appeal	50
6478062111	euphemism	the substitution of a comfortable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant	51
6478062112	exact rhyme	rhyme in which words have identical sounds like dear/snear	52
6478062113	existentialism	philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's actions	53
6478062114	explicatoin	writing that presents a detailed analysis or thoughtful interpretation of a text. usually involving close reading and special attention to figurative language	54
6478062115	exposition	part of a story that provides the background information to understand the characters and the action	55
6478062116	extended metaphor	a comparison which continues to be elaborated through detail	56
6478062117	eye rhyme	rhyme which gives the impression of exact rhyme but does not have identical sounds (come/home, forth/worth)	57
6478062118	falling action	part of the narrative that follows the climax	58
6478062119	farce	a type of comedy characterized by a wide range of humor, weird incidents, and often vulgar subject matter	59
6478062121	figurative language	language which uses figures of speech (example: simile, metaphor., personification, etc.)	60
6478062122	flat character	character which does not change, with few traits, static	61
6478062123	foil	character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another	62
6478062124	foot (metric)	unit of rhythm, long/short, stressed/unstressed, Terms for the number of feet per line : 1-monometer, 2- dimeter, 3-trimeter, 4-tetrameter, 5-pentameter, 6-hexameter, 7-heptameter, 8-octameter	63
6478062126	free verse	verse with no regular meter or line length; depends on natural speech's rhythms	64
6478062128	hero	the protagonist, central character in a work of literature	65
6478062129	hubris	the most common defect in the tragic hero which leads to his or her downfall	66
6478062130	hyperbole	figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or efrect	67
6478062131	iamb	metrical foot consisting of unstressed and stressed syllable (U/) as in the word defeat	68
6478062132	iambic pentameter	poetic line of five iambic feet	69
6478062133	imagery	use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas	70
6478062134	incongruity	something in the work which shows a discrepancy or ocntradiciton	71
6478062135	verbal irony	when what is said is not what is meant, when meaning is contrary to the words	72
6478062136	dramatic irony	when the audience or reader knows something that a character doesn't	73
6478062137	situational irony	when what happens contradicts expectations	74
6478062138	jargon	technical vocab peculiar to trade or profession	75
6478062139	juxtapostion	to place things side by side for the purposes of comparing or contrasting	76
6478062140	literal	primary, non-figurative meaning of words, dictionary meaning	77
6478062141	litotes	the opposite of hyperbole- example: saying "not bad" to something that is very good or beautiful	78
6478062142	logos	a means of persuasion by the use of reasoning	79
6478062143	lyric poetry	typically does not tell a story; instead focuses on expressing the poet's/speaker's personal thoughts on feelings	80
6478062144	meiosis	understatement' the opposite of exaggeration (Litotes is a type of meiosis in which write uses a statement in the negative to create the effect)	81
6478062145	metaphor	figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates on thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison	82
6478062146	meter	pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables; particular arrangement of words in poetry, such as iambic pentameter, determined by the kind and number of metrical units in a line.	83
6478062147	metonymy	using vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea	84
6478062150	motif	a conspicuous, recurring element, such as type of incident, a device, an object, a reference, or verbal formula	85
6478062151	motivation	reason that explains or partially explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech	86
6478062152	myth	explanations of the natural order and cosmic forces; story which is not "true" and which involves supernatural elements	87
6478062153	narrative	writing which tells a story, with a beginning, middle, and end	88
6478062156	octave	groups of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of Petrarchan sonnet, rhyming abba abba	89
6478062157	ode	lyric poem which honors something and has a stately tone and style	90
6478062158	omniscent	having total knowledge, knowing everything	91
6478062159	onomatopoeia	formation of use of words such as a buzz or murmur that imitate the sound associated with the objects or actions they refer to	92
6478062160	oxymoron	figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combines	93
6478062161	paradox	seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true ( example: standing is more tiring than walking)	94
6478062162	parallelism	repetition of a sentence or pattern or grammatical structure	95
6478062163	parody	imitative use of words, style, attitude, tone and ideas of an author in such a way as to make them look ridiculous	96
6478062164	pathos	quality which invokes feelings of tenderness, pity, or sorrow; a means persuading by appealing the reader's emotions	97
6478062166	persona	voice or character representing the speaker in the literary work	98
6478062169	plot	plan of vents or main story in a narrative or drama	99
6478062170	poetic justice	term which conveys the idea that the evil are punished appropriately and the good rewarded as they should be	100
6478062171	poetic license	liberty allowed to the poet to work (even distort) the language according to his/her needs in use of figurative speech, rhyme, syntax, for example	101
6478062172	point of view	position of narrator in a piece of literature: first person, third person limited, third person omniscient	102
6478062173	preface	intro to literary work	103
6478062174	prologue	opening section of a work, a kind of interjection which is part of the work	104
6478062175	prose	ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure	105
6478062176	protagonist	main character in a drama or other literary work	106
6478062177	proverb	short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept	107
6478062178	pseudonym	name other than his/her own taken by the author	108
6478062179	pun	play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words	109
6478062180	quatrain	stanza or poem of four lines	110
6478062181	realism	a vague term, but generally the documenting of life with bare truth, not idealism; focuses on the gritty, truthful scenes of people and thier (usually difficult) lines	111
6478062182	refrain	phrase, line, or lines repeated at intervals during a poem	112
6478062183	resolution	the conclusion of a plot's conflicts and complications	113
6478062184	rhetoric	art or study of using language effectively and persuasively	114
6478062185	rhyme scheme	arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stranza	115
6478062186	rhythm	patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound or speech	116
6478062187	rising action	part of a drama or story in which conflicts are complicated/build toward comes before the climax	117
6478062188	round character	character which is dynamic and complex, has many traits	118
6478062189	sarcasm	a form of verbal irony used to express contempt or to ridicule	119
6478062190	satire	literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit	120
6478062191	scansion	analysis of verse into metrical patterns	121
6478062192	sestet	group of six lines, especially the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet	122
6478062193	setting	time, place, and circumstances in which writing takes place	123
6478062194	simile	figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as	124
6478062195	slang	language of the street, common, informal language	125
6478062196	slant rhyme	rhyme that is not true, either deliberate so or because of incompetence (example : other/powder)	126
6478062197	soliloquy	dramatic form of discourse in which a character reveals his or her thoughts when alone, unaware of the presence of other characters	127
6478062198	sonnet	14 line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes and written in iambic pentameter	128
6478062200	stereotype	a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for nay individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices	129
6478062201	stream of conciousness	literary technique that presents the thought and feelings of a character as they develop	130
6478062202	style	way in which something is said, done or expressed	131
6478062203	subjectivity	personal expirience and feeling, the opposite of objectivity, where the writeer is outside the work, detached from it	132
6478062204	subtext	what is implied but not written	133
6478062205	suspense	anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation	134
6478062206	symbol	something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something intagible	135
6478062207	synecdoche	a figure of speech by which a part Is put for the whole	136
6478062208	synthesis	description of one kind of sense impression by using words that usually describe another, as in I heard a blinding roar	137
6478062209	syntax	sentence construction	138
6478062210	tetrameter	line of verse consisting of four metrical feet	139
6478062211	theme	central idea of work expressed as a sentence	140
6478062212	thesis	main idea of a work	141
6478062213	tone	general quality, effect, or atmosphere; writers' attitude (especially towards readers), manner, mood	142
6478062214	topic sentence	main, focusing idea of a paragraph	143
6478062215	tragedy	drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequences of a tragic flaw, a moral weakness, or an inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances	144
6478062216	transition	word, phrase, sentence, or series of sentences connecting one part of discourse to another	145
6478062217	trope	another word for figurative language	146
6478062218	turning point	observable moment when in a narrative there is a definitive change in one directionand one becomes aware that it will now move towards the end	147
6478062219	vernacular	standard native language of a country or locality; everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language	148
6478062221	vignette	sketch or short composition	149
6478062222	voice	distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book	150
6478062223	zeugma	figure of speech in which a word stands in the same relation to two others terms, but with a different meaning, a common device in satire	151