AP Literature Terms Flashcards

9770880232	adage (n)	an old saying that has come to be accepted as true; a proverb	0
9770880233	alienation	feeling isolated and separated from everyone else	1
9770880234	allegory (n)	a symbolic representation; a story, picture, or play employing representation	2
9770880235	alliteration (n)	repetition of the same letter or consonant at the beginning of neighboring words	3
9770880236	allusion (n)	figure of speech that refers to a well-known story, event, person, or object in order to make a comparison in the readers' minds	4
9770880237	Ambiguity (Ambiguous)	The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence or passage.	5
9770880238	anachronism (n)	something out of place in time	6
9770880239	Agnorisis	the point in the plot especially of a tragedy at which the protagonist recognizes his or her or some other character's true identity or discovers the true nature of his or her own situation (light bulb)	7
9770880240	analogy (n)	a comparison between things that are alike in some ways	8
9770880241	anecdote	a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person	9
9770880242	Antagonist	the character who works against the protagonist in the story	10
9770880243	anthology	collection of literary works	11
9770880244	anticlimax	a disappointing end to an exciting or impressive series of events	12
9770880245	Anti-hero	a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.	13
9770880246	Antithesis	a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else	14
9770880247	Aphorism (n)	a brief, often witty saying; a proverb	15
9770880248	Apostrophe	A figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman	16
9770880249	Archaism	The use of deliberately old-fashioned language.	17
9770880250	Assonance	Repetition of vowel sounds	18
9770880251	bathos (n)	anti climatic; disappointing	19
9770880252	blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter	20
9770880253	bombast	pretentious, boastful talk	21
9770880254	Brevity (n)	briefness or conciseness in speech or writing	22
9770880255	burlesque	A work of literature meant to ridicule a subject; a grotesque imitation.	23
9770880256	cacophony	harsh/hard words or sounds	24
9770880257	caricature (n)	drawing, imitation, or description that ridiculously exaggerates peculiarities or defects	25
9770880258	carpe diem	Literally, "seize the day"; "enjoy life while you can," a common theme in life and literature.	26
9770880259	Catharsis	a play evoking pity and fear to the audience	27
9770880260	Cinquain	5 line stanza	28
9770880261	cliché	a worn-out idea or overused expression	29
9770880262	Climax	the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.	30
9770880263	colloquial	characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation ("she's out" for "she is not home")	31
9770880264	conceit	a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor	32
9770880265	confidant(e)	one to whom you confide your secrets; a truthful individual	33
9770880266	Connotation	the implied or associative meaning of a word	34
9770880267	Couplet	2 consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme	35
9770880268	denouement	an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot	36
9770880269	deus ex machina	an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation. God is Machine	37
9770880270	diction (n)	word choice; terminology; enunciation	38
9770880271	didactic	intended to instruct	39
9770880272	digression	straying away from the main point	40
9770880273	doppelgänger	a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person	41
9770880274	double entendre	a statement that has two meanings, one of which is dirty or vulgar	42
9770880275	dramatic irony	when the audience knows something the characters do not	43
9770880276	Elizabethan	the era in which Shakespeare lived which was named after Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)	44
9770880277	elegy	a sad or mournful poem about someone's death. celebrates the life of someone in elegiac couplets	45
9770880278	empathy (n)	the ability to understand and share the feelings of another	46
9770880279	Enjambment	the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.	47
9770880280	epic	a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds	48
9770880281	epigram (n)	a witty saying expressing a single thought or observation	49
9770880282	epilogue	a short passage added at the end of a literary work	50
9770880283	Epiphany	A moment of sudden revelation or insight	51
9770880284	epithet	A descriptive name or phrase used to characterize someone or something. Dwayne the Rock Johnson	52
9770880285	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant ex: he passed away	53
9770880286	euphony (n)	pleasing sound of words	54
9770880287	Exposition	the writer's way to give background information to the audience about the setting and the characters of the story	55
9770880288	Fable	A brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters	56
9770880289	Farce (n)	exaggerated comedy; something ridiculous	57
9770880290	feminine rhyme	a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables (stocking/shocking)	58
9770880291	figurative language	writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally	59
9770880292	figure of speech	language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense	60
9770880293	Flashback	present action is temporarily interrupted so that past events can be described	61
9770880294	foreshadow	A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.	62
9770880295	fustian	pompous or pretentious talk or writing	63
9770880296	genre (n)	kind; sort; category	64
9770880297	heroic couplet	a couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentamenter and written in an elevated style	65
9770880298	homily	a sermon	66
9770880299	Hubris	Excessive pride or self-confidence	67
9770880300	Hamartia	a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine	68
9770880301	Hyperbole (n)	extreme exaggeration	69
9770880302	iamb	an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable	70
9770880303	iambic pentameter	a poetic meter that is made up of 5 stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable	71
9770880304	Imagery	visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.	72
9770880305	interior monologue	a piece of writing expressing a character's inner thoughts	73
9770880306	Irony	A contrast between expectation and reality	74
9770880307	journalese	style of writing typical of newspapers and/or magazines	75
9770880308	King's English	proper language	76
9770880309	lampoon	makes fun of male character	77
9770880310	literal	Exactly true, rather than figurative or metaphorical	78
9770880311	litotes	a double negative to get a message across "she's not ugly"	79
9770880312	malapropism	a word humorously misused "standing ovation vs. standing ovulation"	80
9770880313	masculine rhyme	final syllable of first word rhymes with final syllable of second word (scald recalled)	81
9770880314	maxim	a general truth about life	82
9770880315	melodrama	A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response.	83
9770880316	Metaphor	A comparison without using like or as	84
9770880317	Metonymy	Using a single feature to represent the whole (the big apple)	85
9770880318	mimesis [n]	imitation, in particular	86
9770880319	mise en scene	arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted	87
9770880320	Monologue	A long speech made by one performer or by one person in a group.	88
9770880321	nihilism	belief in nothing	89
9770880322	Octave	8 line stanza	90
9770880323	omniscient	all-knowing	91
9770880324	Onomatopoeia	A word that imitates the sound it represents.	92
9770880325	Oxymoron	conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence' 'sweet sorrow')	93
9770880326	palindrome	a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward (AVA)	94
9770880327	parable (n)	a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.	95
9770880328	paradox	a sentence that contradicts itself (the more you know the less you understand)	96
9770880329	Parallelism	Phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other	97
9770880330	parody (n)	humorous imitation	98
9770880331	pathos (n)	quality in events or in art (literature, music, etc.) that arouses our pity or emotion	99
9856113022	pathetic fallacy	a more extreme version of personification	100
9856113023	pedantry	overly concerned with minorly details; OCD	101
9856113024	Peripeteia	A reversal in drama terms	102
9856113025	periodic sentence	A sentence that presents its central meaning at the end.	103
9856113026	persona	the speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing	104
9856113027	Personification	the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea	105
9856113028	platitude	"ants in your pants" not taken literary	106
9856113029	pleonasm	using more words than necessary; "i went into the black darkness"	107
9856113030	poetic justice	When characters "get what they deserve" in the end of a story. good beats evil	108
9856113031	poetic license	the freedom a poet has to rhyme or not, make up words, etc.	109
9856113032	Prologue	Introduction	110
9856113033	prose	Any writing that is not poetry	111
9856113034	prose rhythms	free verse	112
9856113035	Protagonist	The main character; the "hero" of the story	113
9856113036	provincial	not proper; country bumpkin	114
9856113037	pseudonym	a false name Rodger Prynne to Rodger Chillingworth	115
9856113038	pun	a play on words	116
9856113039	Quatrain	4 line stanza	117
9856113040	redundancy	unnecessary repetition	118
9856113041	rhetorical question	A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.	119
9856113042	sarcasm	harsh, cutting language or tone intended to ridicule	120
9856113043	satire	witty language used to convey insults or scorn	121
9856113044	sestet	6 line stanza	122
9856113045	Similie	A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"	123
9856113046	slang	an informal, often short-lived kind of language used in place of standard words	124
9856113047	slapstick	a boisterous comedy with chases and collisions and practical jokes	125
9856113048	Soliloquy	a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections	126
9856113049	sonnet	a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme	127
9856113050	spondee	a metrical unit with stressed-stressed syllables / /	128
9856113051	stereotype	a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people	129
9856113052	static character	A character who does not change during the story.	130
9856113053	stock character	stereotypical character such as town drunk, nerd, etc	131
9856113054	Stock Situation	A frequently recurring pattern or incident in drama or fiction.	132
9856113055	subjective	based on personal experience or feeling, not on external evidence	133
9856113056	Symbol	anything that stands for or represents something else	134
9856113057	Synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole.	135
9856113058	synopsis	summary	136
9856113059	Synaesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("loud color" or "sweet sound")	137
9856113060	Syntax	The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.	138
9856113061	tall tale	a humorously exaggerated story about impossible events	139
9856113062	tirade (n)	a long, angry speech, usually very critical	140
9856113063	tone	the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.	141
9856113064	tragedy	(n.) - a disastrous event, or a work of art in which the hero meets a terrible fate	142
9856113065	tragic flaw	A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero.	143
9856113066	trochee	a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable	144
9856113067	Universiality	Applies to all	145
9856113068	verisimilitude	the amount of truth in a work	146
9856113071	Victorian		147