AP Literature Vocabulary Flashcards

9605247413	abstract	a writing style that is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities, and seldom use of examples to support points.	0
9605296620	academic	a dry writing style used in theoretical pieces.	1
9605305466	accent	(in poetry) the stressed portion of a word.	2
9605314862	aesthetic	a) appealing to the senses. b) a coherent sense of taste.	3
9605339221	allegory	a story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself.	4
9605349689	alliteration	the repetition of initial consonant sounds.	5
9605359442	allusion	a reference to another work or a famous figure.	6
9605362648	anachronism	When something does not match the time the story takes place in (like a cave man with an cell phone).	7
9605404642	analogy	a comparison involving two or more symbolic parts and are employed to clarify an action or relationship.	8
9605417630	anecdote	a short narrative.	9
9605424301	antagonist	a character (or group of characters) that oppose the protagonist(s). It can also be an abstract concept or entity (such as society).	10
9605482385	antecedent	a word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to or replaces.	11
9605493252	anthropromorphism	when inanimate objects, animals, or natural occurrences are given human characteristics, behavior, or motivation.	12
9605506710	anticlimax	when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect.	13
9605514176	aphorism	A short and usually witty saying.	14
9605541854	apostrophe	An address to someone not present or to a personified object or idea.	15
9605550406	archaism	the deliberate use of old-fashioned language.	16
9605574865	archetypes	standard or cliched character types.	17
9605578074	aside	a speech (typically a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action of the stage.	18
9605625575	ballad	a long, narrative poem usually in very regular meter and rhyme and typically having a naive folksy quality.	19
9605594299	bombast	pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.	20
9605648140	couplet	A pair of lines that end in a rhyme.	21
9643014029	opposition	A pairing of images whereby each image becomes more striking and informative because it is placed in contrast to the other one.	22
9643025775	oxymoron	A phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction.	23
9643030676	parable	A story that instructs.	24
9643037012	paradox	A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself but on closer inspection does not.	25
9643042411	parallelism	Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect.	26
9643052260	paraphrase	To restate a phrase or sentence in one's own words.	27
9643057093	parenthetical phrase	A phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of the sentence with some commentary or added detail.	28
9643062814	parody	A work that makes fun of another work by exaggerating many of its qualities to ridiculousness.	29
9643069547	pastoral	A poem set in tranquil nature, or even more specifically, one about shepherds.	30
9643073505	pathos	An appeal to emotions.	31
9643083773	periodic sentence	A sentence that is not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase.	32
9643091604	persona	A created personality, reflective of the author; provides insight from a third person, not a first person, point of view.	33
9643097788	personification	Giving an inanimate object human qualities or form.	34
9643102325	plaint	A poem or speech expressing sorrow.	35
9643106128	point of view	The perspective from which the action of a piece of literature is presented.	36
9643122845	prelude	An introductory poem to a longer work of a verse.	37
9643128794	protagonist	The main character of a novel or play.	38
9602883960	roman a clef	A novel in which real people or events appear with invented names.	39
9605526204	zeugma	The use of a word to modify two or more words but used for different meanings.	40
9725506133	pun	The usually humorous use of a word to suggest two or more meanings	41
9725526681	refrain	A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.	42
9725533871	requiem	A song of prayer for the dead.	43
9725536393	rhapsody	An intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise.	44
9725545489	rhetorical question	A question that suggests an answer.	45
9725552575	rhetorical techniques	The devices used to create effective or persuasive language. This includes contrast, repetition, paradox,	46
9725564164	satire	A form of humor that focuses on making fun of society through witty (and sometimes dark) social commentary.	47
9725573658	setting	The physical location where a story takes place.	48
9725577095	similie	A comparison of two unlike things using like or as.	49
9725582078	soliloquy	A speech given by one character alone on a stage in which the character expresses his/her thoughts or feelings.	50
9725587297	stanza	A group of lines in verse, roughly analogous in function to the paragraph in prose.	51
9725597964	structure	The way in which a work is arranged or divided.	52
9725600667	style	The manner in which an author write which can distinguish him or her from another writer.	53
9725627698	subjective	It uses the interior or personal view of a single observer and is typically colored with what that observer's emotional responses.	54
9725657750	subjunctive mood	Setting up a hypothetical situation; "If I were you..."	55
9725673261	suggest	To imply, entail, and/or indicate.	56
9725677472	summary	A highlight of all of the pieces of a section or the entirety of a literary work without revealing everything about it; a simple retelling.	57
9725691669	suspension of disbelief	The demand made of a theater audience to accept the limitations of staging and supply the details with imagination.	58