AP Literature Terms Glossary Flashcards

9880181052	Abstract	This style is complex, discusses intangible qualities (like good and evil), rarely without examples	0
9880186911	Academic	Dry and theoretical writing (sucking all life out of the subject)	1
9880195398	Accent	The stresses portion of the word ("To BE or NOT to be").	2
9880201989	Aesthetic	"Appealing to the senses" or a coherent sense of taste	3
9880210313	Alleglory	Things or people that represent an idea or generalization	4
9880221223	Alliteration	The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (Ex. ―Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before)	5
9880235067	Allusion	A reference to a person, event, place, or literary work that the writer expects the reader to recognize	6
9880247372	Anachronism	An effect that is "misplaced in time"	7
9880257184	Analogy	A comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts to clarify an action or relationship	8
9880269929	Anecdote	A short narrative	9
9880269931	Antagonist	A character, group, characteristic, or entity that opposes the protagonist	10
9880277696	Antecedent	Word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to or replaces (they replaces children)	11
9880287287	Anapest	As in "un-der-stand"	12
9880297367	Anthropomorphism	When inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena are given human characteristics, behavior, or motivation	13
9880307688	Anticlimax	Occurs when an action produces far smaller results that one had been led to expect (frequently comic)	14
9880314624	Aphorism	A short and usually witty saying (usually some clever observation about life)	15
9880324629	APOSTROPHE	An address to someone not present or to a personified object/idea (or an abstract quality or something that can not be seen or heard)	16
9880338042	Approximate Rhyme	The words are similar, but do not exactly rhyme	17
9880349606	Archaism	The use of deliberately old-fashioned language (Ye olde candle shoppe)	18
9880354269	Archetypes	Standard or cliched character types (drunk, joker, etc)	19
9880359083	Aside	A speech made by the actor to the audience (stepping outside of the action)	20
9880370506	Aspect	A trait or characteristic of something	21
9880373190	Assonance	The repeated use of vowel sounds (Old King Cole was a merry old soul)	22
9880379128	Atmosphere	The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene	23
9880383677	Attitude	A speaker, author, or character's nature towards an opinion of a subject/person	24
9880390093	Ballad	Long, narrative poem usually in a very regular meter and rhyme (usually meant to be sung)	25
9880405688	Basic Situation	A character in a situation that leads to a problem or conflict	26
9880413900	Bathos	When writing strains for grandeur it can't support and tries to elicit tears from every little hiccup	27
9880419083	Black humor	The use of disturbing themes in comedy	28
9880422209	Blank Verse	Iambic petrimeter unrhymed (Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.)	29
9880433734	Bombast	Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language (eloquent)	30
9880441177	Burlesque	A broad parody, which takes a style or form and exaggerates it into riduclousness	31
9884004683	Cacophony	Using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds	32
9884007947	Cadence	The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense	33
9884012002	Caesura	A break or a pause in a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the poem	34
9884024515	Canto	The name for a section division in a long work of poetry (similar to how chapter divide a novel)	35
9884029182	CARICATURE	A portrait that exagerates a side of personality	36
9884038751	Catharsis	The "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences having lived through the experiences presented on stage	37
9884045909	Characterization	The means by which a writer reveals a character's personality	38
9884054301	Chorus	The group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it	39
9884060116	Classic/Classical	Typical/The arts of Ancient Greece and Rome, with the quality of those arts	40
9884077592	Climax	The most intense moment or moments	41
9884082937	Coinage	A new word, usually one invented on the spot	42
9884087187	Colloquialism	Word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn't a part of accepted "schoolwork" English	43
9884094340	Complex/Dense	Suggesting that there is more than one possibility in the meaning of words (multiple layers of interpretation)	44
9884107816	Complications	More problems arise to make a situation worse	45
9884119200	Conceit	A startiling or unusual metaphor, or one developed and expanded upon several lines	46
9884129122	Conflict	A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a work of nature	47
9884156426	Connotation	Everything that a word suggests or implies (not it's literal meaning - denotation)	48
9884164859	Consonane	The repetition of consonant sounds within words (A flock of sick, black-checkered ducks)	49
9884171921	COUPLET	A pair of lines that end in a rhyme (For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with Kings.)	50
9884176932	Dactyl	"Des-per-ate"	51
9884182970	Decorum	To observe, a character's speech must be styled according to her social station and in accordance with the occasion	52
9884193797	Denouement	The outcome of the plot (when conflicts are resolved)	53
9884199763	Details	The items or parts that make up a larger picture or story	54
9884208666	Devices of Sound	Various techniques used by poets to create sound imagery through specific word choice (ex. rhyme, assonance, etc.)	55
9884216221	Diction	Word Choice	56
9884223077	Dimeter	Two feet	57
9884229554	Direct Characteriation	Exactly what the character is like, as described by the writer	58
9884239400	Direct Metaphor	Tells directly, "I am..."	59
9884241458	Dirge	A song for the dead (slow and heavy tone)	60
9884247729	Dissonance	The grating of incompatible sounds	61
9884249641	Doggerel	Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme	62
9884252626	DRAMATIC IRONY	What we know is going to happen, but the characters do not	63
9884257724	Dramatic Monologue	When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience	64
9884265771	Dynamic Character	Someone who changes throughout the course of the story	65
9884267916	Dystopia	A seemingly ideal world where the actual implementation of perfection is unsuccessful and destructive	66
9884279045	Elegy	A type of poem that meditates on death or morality in a serious, thoughtful manner	67
9884287754	Elements	The basic techniques of each genre of literature	68
9884295588	End-Stopped Lines	Lines in a poem with punctuation at the end	69
9884298273	End Rhyme	Ends of lines that rhyme	70
9884316035	Enjambment	The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause	71
9884326253	Epic	A long narrative poem about a hero	72
9884329313	Epigram	A short, witty, polished saying in prose or verse	73
9884378753	Epitah	Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place	74
9884385147	Epithet	A descriptive name or phrase to characterize someone or something	75
9884389908	Ethos	The appeal to credibility (establishing trust with the audience)	76
9884396974	Euphemism	A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality	77
9884403003	Euphony	When sounds blend harmoniously	78
9884406551	Exact Rhyme	Always rhyme (yellow fellow)	79
9887250775	Explicit	Something said or written directly and clearly	80
9887253382	Farce	To refer to extremely broad humor (ex. a funny play)	81
9887261094	Feminine Rhyme	Lines rhymed by their final two syllables (ex. running and gunning)	82
9887268015	Figurative Language	Writing that uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning	83
9887272988	Foil	Secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character (usually by contrast)	84
9887285607	Foot	The basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry (a combination of two/three syllables)	85
9887293066	FORESHADOWING	An event or statement in a narrative that suggests a larger event that comes later	86
9887297472	Free Verse	Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern	87
9887301922	Genre	A subcategory of literature (ex. Science Fiction)	88
9887304347	Gothic	Sensibility derived from dark novels	89
9887306825	Hubris	Excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall	90
9887312751	HYPERBOLE	Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement	91
9887321346	Imagery	An author's use of figurative language, images, or sensory details that appeal to the reader's senses	92
9887325411	Implicit	Something said or written that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly	93
9887329783	In Medias res	"In the midst of things"	94
9887332944	Inversion	Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase	95
9887336630	Irony	A contradiction, either situational, dramatic, or verbal	96
9887342987	Juxtaposition	Placing two or more concepts, places, or characters together for the purpose of comparison or contrast	97
9887349142	Lament	A poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over another intense loss	98
9887354400	Logos	The appeal to logic	99
9887358624	Loose/Periodic sentences	Complete before its end/not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase	100
9887365326	Lyric	Type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world	101
9887371869	Masculine Rhyme	A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable	102
9887393681	Metonym	A word that is used to stand for something else that is has attributes of or is associated with	103
9887389317	METAPHOR	A comparison between two relatively unlike ideas where you call one thing something it's not	104
9887398053	Monologue	A speech given by one character alone on stage	105
9887400564	Motif	A recurring symbol	106
9887402893	Narrative Techniques	The methods employed in the telling of a story or an account	107
9887405698	OBJECTIVITY	An impersonal or outside view of events	108
9887409963	Onomatopeia	Words that imitate sounds (boom, pow, buzz)	109
9887433781	OPPOSITION	Where you have a pair of elements that contrast sharply	110
9887438414	Oxymoron	A phrase comprised of opposites (a contradiction - Bright Black)	111
9887442083	Parable	A story that instructs	112
9887444102	PARADOX	A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but really does not	113
9887449556	Parallelism	Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect (I love swimming, fishing, and hiking, not: I love fishing, to swim, and a hike)	114
9887461248	Paraphrase	To restate phrases and sentences in your own words (To rephrase)	115
9887374652	Means	Discovering what makes sense, what's important	116
9887377362	Melodrama	A form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure	117
9887468991	Parenthetical Phrase	A phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail	118
9887475557	Parody	A work that makes fun of another work by exaggerating many of its qualities to ridiculousness	119
9887479982	Pastoral	A poem set in tranquil nature	120
9887482492	Pathos	The appeal to emotions	121
9887486195	Persona	A created personality, reflective of the author (provides insight from a third person point of view)	122
9887491795	PERSONIFICATION	Giving an inanimate object human qualities or form	123
9887497035	Plaint	A poem or speech expressing sorrow	124
9887499065	Point of View	Perspective from which the action of a novel is presented (Third person/First person/Stream of Consciousness)	125
9887510954	Prelude	An introductory poem to a longer work of verse	126
9887512957	PROTAGONIST	The main character of a novel or play	127
9887516248	Pun	The usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings	128
9887520784	Refrain	A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem	129
9887523766	Requiem	A song of prayer for the dead	130
9887525883	Rhapsody	An intensely passionate verse or section of verse (usually of love or praise)	131
9887528225	Rhetorical Question	A question that suggests an answer	132
9887530996	Rhetorical Techniques	The devices used to create effective or persuasive language (contrast, repetition, paradox)	133
9887536358	SATIRE	A form of humor that focuses on making fun of society through witty or dark social commentary	134
9887542042	Setting	The physical location of the play/novel, which often includes info about the time and place	135
9887546974	SIMILE	A comparison between two relatively unlike ideas, using like or as (Her hair is as bright as the sun)	136
9887556350	Soliloquy	A speech given by one character alone on stage where he/she expresses his/her thoughts or feelings	137
9887560316	STANZA	A group of lines in verse, roughly analogous in function to the paragraph in prose	138
9887568323	Structure	The way in which a work is arranged or divided	139
9887570354	Style	The manner in which an author writes which can distinguish him or her from another writer	140
9887574267	SUBJECTIVE	Uses the interior or personal view of a single observer and is colored with his/her emotional responses	141
9887579279	Subjunctive Mood	"If I were you, I'd learn this one!"	142
9887584351	Suggest	To imply, entail, and/or indicate	143
9887586178	Summary	A simple retelling of what you've just read	144
9887589244	Suspension of disbelief	The demand made of a theater audience to accept the limitations of staging and supply the details with imagination	145
9887592558	Symbol	Anything that stands for or represents something beyond itself	146
9887599876	Syncope	Contracting/Shortening a word by removing internal sounds, syllables, or letters (heav'n or fail'd)	147
9887605255	Synecdoche	Figure of speech in which a part represents the whole	148
9887609464	Syntax	Sentence structure; the way in which words and phrases are structured to create meaning	149
9887613172	Technique	The methods/tools/ways of the author	150
9887616001	THEME	The main idea of central insight into life or human nature revealed through a literary work	151
9887620574	Thesis	The main position of an argument	152
9887620576	Tone	The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude about a subject	153
9887626860	Tragic flaw	The weakness of character in an otherwise good individual, that ultimately leads to his demise	154
9887632636	Travesty	The distortion, corruption, or terribly false representation of something	155
9887636238	Truism	A way-too-obvious truth	156
9887638999	Utopia	An idealized place (where people can live in happiness and peace)	157
9887642943	Verisimilitiude	The appearance of being real or true	158
9887644926	Zeugma	The use of a word to modify two or more words but used for different meanings	159
9887668758	Exposition	The kind of writing intended primarily to present information	160
9887675242	Fable	A brief story that is told to present a moral or a practical lesson	161
9887678649	Flat Character	Character that can be described in one sentence	162
9887682044	Heptameter	Meter with seven feet	163
9887686127	Litote	Form of understandment	164
9887690255	Octave	Eight-line poem or stanza	165
9887696262	Static Character	Stays the same at the end and the beginning of the story	166