AP Lit Terms by definition Flashcards

7454424053	allegory	story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people/settings/events OR for abstract ideas/qualities	0
7454424054	alliteration	the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words	1
7454424055	allusion	a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to an event, person, or work well-known in history, religion, or literature	2
7454426283	antithesis	- a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas	3
7454426284	apostrophe	a figure of speech in which an absent person, an abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present	4
7454426285	archetype	- a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. Also known as universal symbol	5
7454428829	aside	a comment from a character in a play meant to be heard only by the audience, not by other characters onstage	6
7454428830	assonance	the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds	7
7454429538	blank verse	unrhymed iambic pentameter	8
7454430764	cacophony	a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds	9
7454430765	catharsis	the purging of emotions achieved through tragedy; can refer to the effect on the audience and/or or on a character(s)	10
7454430766	connotation	the "feeling" of a word - the emotional weight or associations that a word carries	11
7454434325	consonance	the repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words	12
7454435409	couplet	a set of two lines that rhyme.	13
7454436224	diction	an author's word choice in a literary work	14
7454437038	dramatic irony	occurs when the audience knows something a character (or characters) does not know	15
7454437039	end-stopped	a line with a punctuation pause at the end - lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, a hyphen, or a question mark are; lines that have a sense closure	16
7454440125	enjambment	- the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next	17
7454440126	extended metaphor	an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem	18
7454441036	euphony	a combination of pleasant sounds	19
7454442947	foil	a character who contrasts with another character - usually the protagonist - in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character	20
7454442948	free verse	poetry that lacks both rhyme and regular meter	21
7454443639	hubris	one of the most common tragic flaws, defined as excessive pride or self-confidence	22
7454446078	hyperbole	a deliberate, often outrageous, exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect.	23
7454446079	juxtaposition	when contrasting ideas, places, images, characters, actions, etc. are placed side by side in order to emphasize similarities, differences, and/or paradoxes	24
7454446080	meter	the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry	25
7454450515	iambic pentameter	a common type of meter in which a line has ten syllables that follow a pattern of unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables	26
7454451468	mood	the feelings/vibes evoked in the reader by a piece of text as a result of the author's stylistic choices	27
7454451469	motif	an object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work; basically, a literary pattern within a work	28
7454453392	onomatopoeia	the use of words whose sound suggests their meaning	29
7454453393	oxymoron	a form of paradox and juxtaposition that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression	30
7454453394	paradox	a situation, action, feeling that appears to be impossibly contradictory but, upon close inspection, turns out to be true or at least to make sense	31
7454455917	parallel structure	a similar grammatical structure within a line or lines of poetry. Basically a listing of grammatically equal parts	32
7454455918	poetic foot	a group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables associated with it	33
7454456538	pun	a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings	34
7454456539	refrain	a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines repeated at intervals in a poem	35
7454458316	rhythm	the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry (aka meter)	36
7454458317	satire	writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object, person, or idea by ridicule; usually, comedy that exposes errors with the hope of correcting vice and folly	37
7454458450	situational irony	occurs when there is a discrepancy between purpose and results	38
7454461514	soliloquy	a speech delivered by a character who is alone on stage. Usually reveals a character's innermost thoughts and feelings	39
7454461515	sonnet	normally a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a regular rhyme scheme	40
7454461516	stanza	a repeated grouping of two or more lines within a poem; basically, the poetic equivalent of a paragraph	41
7454462773	style	the characteristic manner of expression of an author	42
7454463486	syntax	the ordering of words into patterns or sentences	43
7454463487	theme	the main thought expressed by a wor; the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person, action, and image in the work	44
7454465921	tone	the author's attitude toward the subject	45
7454465922	tragic flaw	the trait in a character the leads to his/her downfall	46
7454465923	tragic hero	a character who is led to his/her downfall by an error in judgment and/or a tragic flaw	47
7454468990	understatement/litotes	the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is	48
7454468991	verbal irony	a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning	49
7454633208	metonymy	a figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself	50
7454633209	synecdoche	a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole	51
7454633210	polysyndeton	a literary technique in which conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or) are used repeatedly in quick succession, often with no commas, even when the conjunctions could be removed	52
7454634772	asyndeton	- a literary technique in which a conjunction is omitted and items in a list are separated only by commas	53