AP Literature terminology Flashcards

10467416724	allegory	a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.	0
10467424150	alliteration	The repetition of initial consonant sounds, such as "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."	1
10467425129	allusion	A reference to another work of literature, person, or event	2
10467425546	anapest	A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable i.e. "Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house."	3
10467432141	antecedent	The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. i.e. "Adeline bit her lip" Adeline is the antecedent and her is the personal pronoun	4
10467438135	aphorism	A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life. i.e. "All things come to he who waits."	5
10467441447	aside	a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage. i.e. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo appears during Juliet's balcony soliloquy and asks, in an aside, "Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"	6
10467446789	assonance	Repetition of vowel sounds. i.e. "Try to light the fire"	7
10467453585	bildungsroman	n. a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist; coming of age story i.e. To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter	8
10467458222	cacophony	A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds	9
10467458627	chiasmus	a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form. i.e. "Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds."	10
10467470542	conceit	a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor that compares two very disparate things i.e. "Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind; For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is, Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs; Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them, Without a sudden calm, will overset Thy tempest-tossed body." Romeo compares Juliet to a boat in a storm	11
10467485263	consonance	Repetition of consonant sounds i.e. "A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun, Or Nature spending with herself Sequestered Afternoon—" Emily Dickinson consonant "n" to create the intended effect of consonance	12
10467555751	couplet	two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit i.e. "Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow" Shakespeare used this couplet in Romeo and Juliet	13
10467566876	dactyl	a metrical foot, or a beat in a line, containing three syllables in which the first one is accented, followed by second and third unaccented syllables and is the opposite of anapest i.e. "Out of the cradle, endlessly rocking Out of the mockingbird's throat, the musical shuffle Out of the Ninth-month midnight..." Walt Whitman is using dactyl in the phrase "Out of the..."	14
10467589457	Darwinism	the theory of the evolution of species by natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin.	15
10467593168	digression	straying from main point	16
10467594964	enjambment	The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation	17
10467650299	epistolary novel	a novel told through the medium of letters written by one or more of the characters	18
10467659223	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant i.e. using passed away rather than dying	19
10467661314	euphony	pleasant, harmonious sound	20
10467686443	Existentialism	your life is predetermined so life is made meaningful by your choices; live in the moment	21
10467729010	feminism	the belief that women should possess the same political and economic rights as men	22
10467729416	flashback	a scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story.	23
10467764844	foil	A character who is in most ways opposite to the main character (protagonist) or one who is nearly the same as the protagonist. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only i.e. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy	24
10467766008	hyperbole	PLEASANT, HARMONIOUS SOUND To their loving parents, the children's orchestra performance sounded like euphony, although an outside observer probably would have called it a cacophony of hideous sounds. Synonyms: harmony; melody; music; sweetness	25
10467785380	imagery	Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) i.e. "Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night.-- See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!" Shakespeare uses imagery to describe Juliet	26
10467829704	in medias res	It usually describes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle — usually at some crucial point in the action. i.e. The Odyssey	27
10467832853	irony	the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. i.e. Friar Laurence sends a messenger to tell Romeo about Juliet's plan to drug herself into deathlike coma. We watch in horror as the messenger fails to deliver this vital piece of information. And though we know that Juliet is not really dead, we see Romeo poison himself because he cannot live without her.	28
10467840325	litotes	understatement, especially that in which a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite, as in "not bad at all."	29
10467854771	Marxism	the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded	30
10467864965	metaphor	A comparison without using like or as	31
10467873464	meter	a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is also called a foot	32
10467880007	metonymy	a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated i.e. ""The pen is mightier than the sword."	33
10467899084	trochee	a foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed syllable. i.e. "Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright."	34
10467905325	understatement	the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.	35
10467905947	modern	1941-1945 (after the 2 world wars); stream of consciousness/radical break (think Picasso)	36
10467929906	naturalism	your destiny is out of your control and is due to your environment/genetics (1887-1990s)	37
10467943294	Onomatopoeia	A word that imitates the sound it represents.	38
10467945538	oxymoron	paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another i.e. jumbo shrimp	39
10467953006	parable	(n.) a short narrative designed to teach a moral lesson i.e. The Boy Who Cried Wolf	40
10467967030	pastoral	A work of literature dealing with rural life	41
10467992791	personification	the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.	42
10467993417	picaresque	(adj.) involving or characteristic of clever rogues or adventurers/relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero i.e. Huck Finn	43
10467996304	Postmodern	1950-?; mashup of different styles	44
10468001692	pun	a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meaning	45
10468006656	Repetition	Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis	46
10468007677	Romantic	1785-1832; deals with emotions and nature	47
10468007678	satire	A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies i.e. Huck Finn	48
10468011411	simile	A comparison using "like" or "as"	49
10468016204	soliloquy	an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.	50
10468015691	sonnet	a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.	51
10468023490	symbol	A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract	52
10468026730	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa i.e. The White House	53
10468029287	tone	Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character	54
10468039823	apostrophe	A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.	55
10468041722	paradox	A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.	56
10567435701	Renaissance	1500-1600; plays	57
10567437783	Enlightenment	1600-1750; novels	58
10567438973	Victorian	1832-1901; industrialization, etiquette, behavior	59