AP Literary Terminology Flashcards

6431837406	External Conflict	External struggle between opposing forces in a story (man v. man, man v. nature, man v. society)	0
6431837407	Internal Conflict	Internal struggle involving opposing forces within a person's mind	1
6431837408	Conceit	Elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different - often an extended metaphor	2
6431837409	Epithet	Adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a character quality.	3
6431837410	Foil	A character who acts as a contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.	4
6431837411	Verbal Irony	A discrepancy between what is said and reality; saying one thing but really meaning something else.	5
6431837412	Dramatic Irony	Used often on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.	6
6431837413	Situational Irony	A direct contradiction between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.	7
6431837414	Protagonist	The central character in the story who initiates or drives the action	8
6431837415	Tragic Hero	Protagonist with a tragic flaw	9
6431837416	Hamartia	The tragic flaw that leads to a character's downfall	10
6431837417	Pun	A "play on words" based on multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things.	11
6431837418	Soliloquy	A long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage.	12
6431837419	Theme	The insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.	13
6431837420	Tragedy	In general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end.	14
6431837421	Ambiguity	Deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work.	15
6431837422	Antagonist	The opposing force in a story that struggles against or blocks the protagonist.	16
6431837423	Aphorism	Brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life or of a principle or accepted general truth. (Also known as a maxim or epigram)	17
6431837424	Didactic	Form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.	18
6431837425	Flashback	A scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.	19
6431837426	Apostrophe	Calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea.	20
6431837427	Couplet	Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry	21
6431837428	Foreshadowing	The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot	22
6431837429	Inversion	The reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or a phrase	23
6431837430	Metonymy	A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it (e.g. The crown = the monarch)	24
6431837431	Indirect characterization	The author develops a character through his speech, appearance, thoughts, actions, and others' reactions to him. Showing, rather than directly telling what a character is like.	25
6431837432	Direct characterization	The author tells us directly what a character is like: sneaky, generous, mean. Romantic literature relies more heavily on this form of characterization.	26
6431837433	Static character	A character who does not change much (emotionally) in the course of a story.	27
6431837434	Dynamic character	A character who changes (emotionally) in some important way as a result of the story's actions.	28
6431837435	Flat character	A character who has one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional and can be summed up in one phrase.	29
6431837436	Round character	A character who has more dimensions to his personality. They are complex, just like real people.	30
6431837437	Stream of consciousness	A style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind.	31
6431837438	Allegory	Hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey	32
6431837439	Elegy	A poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died.	33
6431837440	Mood	An atmosphere (feeling) created by a writer's diction and the details selected.	34
6431837441	Suspense	A feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story	35
6431837442	Symbol	A person, place, thing or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself.	36