AP Prose Terms Flashcards

6704496904	allegory	a narrative or description having a second or symbolic meaning	0
6704501710	allusion	a reference to history or another work of literature	1
6704505071	cacophony	a harsh, discordant, or unpleasant sound	2
6704507864	euphony	a smooth, pleasant-sounding arrangement of sounds	3
6704516583	imagery	language dependent of sensory experience	4
6704524974	mood	the pervading impression of a work	5
6704527644	prose	non-metrical language; not poetry	6
6704529452	theme	the overall meaning of a work of literature	7
6704531830	tone	the writer or speaker's attitude toward a subject	8
6704535201	setting	time and place a story takes place	9
6704541859	symbol	something that means more than what it is	10
6704543934	voice	the distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or character in a book	11
6704551646	antagonist	character or force that opposes the main character	12
6704554895	dynamic character	a character who changes	13
6704554896	flat character	a one-dimensional character	14
6704557850	foil	a character who reveals something about another character through contrast	15
6704582115	hero	a man who has great courage and strength, is celebrated for bold exploits, and is favored by the gods	16
6704582116	hubris	overbearing and excessive pride	17
6704585215	protagonist	main character	18
6704585216	round character	multi-dimensional character	19
6704589716	static character	a character who does not change	20
6704591979	tragic flaw	a flaw in the character of the protagonist that brings the character to ruin or sorrow	21
6704629309	aside	a brief speech that is direct at the audience	22
6704629310	colloquial	informal, conversational language	23
6704630916	dialect	a regional variety of language	24
6704630917	diction	word choice	25
6704633106	hyperbole	overstatement	26
6704652501	exposition	the beginning of a work that introduces the setting and characters	27
6704652502	conflict	a clash of actions, desires, and goals	28
6704655530	rising action	plot events that lead to the climax	29
6704655531	climax	the turning point or the highest point of tension	30
6704657496	falling action	shows the after-effects of the events of the climax	31
6704664544	denouement	the conclusion or resolution	32
6704784808	irony	a situation or use or language involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy	33
6704784809	dramatic irony	the audience knows something the characters don't	34
6704788060	situational irony	a situation in which there is incongruity between appearance and reality or expectation and actuality	35
6704790920	verbal irony	a character says something but means the opposite	36
6704841681	epistolary novel	a novel written as a series of documents	37
6704846750	first-person point-of-view	a character tell the story; uses "I" pronouns	38
6704846751	flashback	an earlier event is inserted into the narrative	39
6704849648	in media res	the narrative starts in the middle or at the end of the story	40
6704851933	limited omniscient p.o.v.	third person narrator reveals thoughts, feelings, etc. about one character in the text	41
6704851981	objective p.o.v.	third person narrator recounts events, but does not make judgments or draw conclusions	42
6704855863	omniscient p.o.v.	third person narrator reveals thoughts, feelings, etc. about multiple characters in the text	43
6704855864	narrator	the voice telling the story	44
6704861301	point-of-view (p.o.v.)	the angle of vision from which the story is told	45
6704919617	stream of consciousness	narrative that presents the private thoughts of a character without commentary	46
6704922247	unreliable (fallible) narrator	a narrator whose credibility is compromised	47
6704922248	Deus ex machina	the resolution of the plot by highly improbable chance or coincidence	48
6704927095	indeterminate ending	the plot ends without resolving the conflict	49
6704927096	paradox	an apparent contradiction	50
6704929072	plot	the sequence of events of which a story is composed	51
6704931109	suspense	a quality of a story that makes the reader eager to find out what will happen next	52
6704933389	suspension of disbelief	an agreement between the author and reader to "believe" something that is unbelievable	53
6758154820	anecdote	a short account of an incident	54
6758158911	artistic unity	the condition of a successful literary work whereby all its elements work together for the achievement of a central purpose	55
6758167208	genre	type or class of literature	56
6758168820	topic	subject matter of a literary work	57
6758170420	verse	metrical language (opposite of prose)	58
6758177165	character	any of the persons involved in the story or play	59
6758182768	characterization	the process of conveying information about the characters	60
6758184436	deuteragonist	the second most important character in the text	61
6758191175	direct characterization	the narrator or another character tells the reader what a character is like	62
6758198736	stock character	a stereotyped character	63
6758200092	archetype	a character who follows a previously established pattern	64
6758206130	indirect characterization	the author shows the character in action, compelling the reader to infer what the character is like from what he has said or done	65
6758214200	dialogue	conversation between characters	66
6758352036	euphemism	substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for a harsh, blunt, or offensive one	67
6758362376	figure of speech	any way of saying something and meaning another	68
6758367262	invective	denunciatory or abusive language	69
6758374203	monologue	a dramatic soliloquy (character alone, speaking to the audience)	70
6758378836	proverb	a short, pithy saying that expresses a basic truth or a practical precept	71
6758386070	pun	a play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words	72
6758392207	sarcasm	bitter or cutting speech	73
6758397202	soliloquy	character relates his/her thoughts or feelings to the audience without addressing the other characters	74
6758400647	slang	non-standard language	75
6758407711	understatement	saying less than one means	76
6758411018	flashforward	something that happens at a later time is inserted into the narrative	77
6758415819	linear structure	plot follows chronological order	78
6758418255	nonlinear structure	plot does not follow linear structure	79
6758426764	anticlimax	a sudden descent from the impressive of significant to the ludicrous and inconsequential	80
6758431778	catastrophe	the concluding action of the classical tragedy including the resolution of the plot	81
6758439704	comic relief	something inserted into the narrative to reduce the tension	82
6758450331	dilemma	the character must choose between two undesirable courses of action	83
6758467862	inversion	a reversal in order	84
6758472116	motivation	an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as a reason to act	85
6758487156	mystery	an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation	86
6758499265	plot manipulation	a situation in which the author gives the plot a twist unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved	87
6758506560	plot device	a character, event, or object whose only reason for existence is to advance the plot	88
6758514610	prologue	an intro or preface (often a poem) that introduces a play	89
6758522679	red herring	a literary tactic of diverting attention from something important	90
6758529506	scene	a subdivision of an act in a play	91
6758534099	subplot	a plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work	92
6758554304	surprise	an unexpected turn in the development of the plot	93