AP Literature Literary Devices Flashcards

9878837256	allegory	story or poem that can be used to reveal a hidden meaning	0
9878837257	alliteration	beginning of same letter or sound in closely connected words	1
9878837258	allusion	indirect of passing reference	2
9878837259	anaphora	repetition in first part of a sentence , to have an artistic meaning	3
9878837260	antagonist	a hostile person who is opposed to another character	4
9878837261	apostrophe	figure of speech used to adresss an imaginary character	5
9878837262	approximate rhyme	words in rhyming pattern that sound alike	6
9878837263	aside	when a character's dialogue is spoken but not heard by other actors on the stage	7
9878837264	assonance	repetition of vowel sounds	8
9878837265	blank verse	poetry written in meter without an ending rhyme	9
9878837266	cacophony	blend of unharmonious sounds	10
9878837267	caesura	pause in the middle of a line	11
9878837268	catharsis	the release of emotions through art (emotional cleanse)	12
9878837269	flat character	story character who have no depth, usually has one personality or characteristic	13
9878837270	round character	character who has complex personality: contradicted person	14
9878837271	dynamic character	changes throughout the story, through major conflict	15
9878837272	static character	person who doesn't change throughout story keeps same personality	16
9878837273	characterization	process of revealing characters personality	17
9878837274	climax	point where conflict hits its highest point	18
9878837275	comedy	drama that is amusing or funny	19
9878837276	conflict	struggle between opposing forces	20
9878837277	connotation	secondary meaning to a word	21
9878837278	consonance	repetition of same consonant in words close together	22
9878837279	couplet	two rhyming lines in a verse	23
9878837280	denotation	the literal meaning of a word	24
9878837281	denouement	final outcome of the story	25
9878837282	deus ex machina	resolution of a plot by chance or coincidence	26
9878837283	didactic writing	writing with a primary purpose to teach or preach	27
9878837284	direct presentation of character	author telling the reader how a character is and what actions it will do further in the story	28
9878837285	double rhyme	rhyme where the repeated vowel is in the second last syllable of words involved (ex; born scorn)	29
9878837286	dramatic exposition	prose commentaries, to provide background information about the characters and their world	30
9878837287	end rhyme	rhymes occurring at the end of line	31
9878837288	end stopped line	line ending in regular punctuation	32
9878837289	English sonnet	a sonnet rhyming ababcdcdededgg	33
9878837290	epiphany	when a character receives a spiritual insight into they life	34
9878837291	euphony	smooth choice and arrangement of sounds	35
9878837292	extended figure	A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.	36
9878837293	falling action	Events after the climax, leading to the resolution	37
9878837294	feminine rhyme	lines rhymed by their final two syllables	38
9878837295	figurative language	Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling.	39
9878837296	figure of speech	a way of saying something other than the ordinary way	40
9878837297	foot	basic unit in the scansion or measurement of verse , stressed and un stressed syllables	41
9878837298	form	external pattern or shape of a poem	42
9878837299	free verse	Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme	43
9878837300	hamartia	tragic flaw which causes a character's downfall	44
9878837301	imagery	Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)	45
9878837302	indirect presentation of character	the personality of a character is revealed by what he or she does or says	46
9878837303	internal rhyme	A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line	47
9878837304	irony	A contrast between expectation and reality	48
9878837305	verbal irony	A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant	49
9878837306	dramatic irony	Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play.	50
9878837307	irony of situation	refers to an occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended	51
9878837308	italian sonnet	A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd	52
9878837309	masculine rhyme	A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable	53
9878837310	melodrama	a play based upon a dramatic plot and developed sensationally	54
9878837311	metaphor	A comparison without using like or as	55
9878837312	meter	A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry	56
9878837313	metonymy	A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it	57
9878837314	motivation	A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior	58
9878837315	narrator	Person telling the story	59
9878837316	octave	8 line stanza	60
9878837317	onomatopoeia	A word that imitates the sound it represents.	61
9878837318	hyperbole	A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor	62
9878837319	oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	63
9878837320	paradox	A contradiction or dilemma	64
9878837321	paraphrase	A restatement of a text or passage in your own words.	65
9878837322	personification	A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes	66
9878837323	plot	Sequence of events in a story	67
9878837324	point of view	The perspective from which a story is told	68
9878837325	omniscient point of view	The point of view where the narrator knows everything about the characters and their problems - told in the 3rd person.	69
9878837326	third person limited point of view	narrator tells the story from only one character's pov	70
9878837327	first person point of view	a character in the story is actually telling the story himself/herself	71
9878837328	objective point of view	a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.	72
9878837329	protagonist	Main character	73
9878837330	quatrain	A four line stanza	74
9878837331	rhythm	A regularly recurring sequence of events or actions.	75
9878837332	rhyme scheme	A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem	76
9878837333	rising action	Events leading up to the climax	77
9878837334	sarcasm	the use of irony to mock or convey contempt	78
9878837335	satire	A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.	79
9878837336	scansion	Analysis of verse into metrical patterns	80
9878837337	sestet	6 line stanza	81
9878837338	setting	The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs.	82
9878837339	simile	A comparison using "like" or "as"	83
9878837340	soliloquy	A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage	84
9878837341	sonnet	14 line poem	85
9878837342	stanza	A group of lines in a poem	86
9878837343	stream of consciousness	private thoughts of a character without commentary	87
9878837344	syllabic verse	Verse measured by the number of syllables rather than the number of feet per line.	88
9878837345	symbol	A thing that represents or stands for something else	89
9878837346	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa	90
9878837347	synesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")	91
9878837348	tercet	3 line stanza	92
9878837349	terza rima	a verse form with a rhyme scheme: aba bcb cdc, etc.	93
9878837350	theme	Central idea of a work of literature	94
9878837351	tone	Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character	95
9878837352	tragedy	A serious form of drama dealing with the downfall of a heroic or noble character	96
9878837353	truncation	Utilizing a melody with part of the end omitted.	97
9878837354	understandment	the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis	98
9878837355	verse	A single line of poetry writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme	99
9878837356	vilanelle	a nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets and with both repeated at the close of the concluding quatrain.	100