AP Literature Terms Flashcards

14590649774	In media res	a piece of writing that begins in the middle of the action	0
14590649775	Flashback	a scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story.	1
14590649776	chronological	arranged in order of time	2
14590649777	Exposition	Background information presented in a literary work.	3
14590649778	rising action	A series of events that builds from the conflict. It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax.	4
14590649779	Climax	the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.	5
14590649780	Conflict	A struggle between opposing forces	6
14590649781	Resolution/Denouement	end of a literary work when loose ends are tied up and questions are answered	7
14590649782	author vs. narrator	An author is anyone who writes a book. A narrator can be someone who reads a story aloud or a character who tells the story within the book.	8
14590649783	Narrator	the person who tells the story	9
14590649784	objective point of view	a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.	10
14590649785	subjective point of view	the narrator gives the facts of the story plus the emotions and feelings of the characters	11
14590649786	first person narrator	a narrator within the story who tells the story from the "I" perspective	12
14590649787	Naïve narrator	a narrator who is too innocent to understand the story fully	13
14590649788	unreliable narrator	a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised	14
14590649789	second person narrator	consistently uses the second-person pronoun you	15
14590649790	third person narrator	a narrator outside of the action who tells the story from the he/she vantage point	16
14590649791	omniscient narrator	a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters	17
14590649792	editorial omniscience	an intrusion by the narrator in order to evaluate a character for a reader	18
14590649793	Limited omniscient third person narrator	a narrator who can see into the minds of some, but not all, characters	19
14590649794	Diction	word choice	20
14590649795	colloquial	characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation	21
14590649796	Denotation	The dictionary definition of a word	22
14590649797	Connotation	an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.	23
14590649798	Syntax	The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.	24
14590649799	Tone	Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character	25
14590649800	Mood	Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader	26
14590649801	literal	taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory	27
14590649802	figerative language	language that is not intended to be interpeted in a literal sense	28
14590649803	abstract	existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.	29
14590649804	Juxtaposition	Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts	30
14590682159	author vs. narrator	An author is anyone who writes a book. A narrator can be someone who reads a story aloud or a character who tells the story within the book.	31
14590682160	Line	a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided	32
14590682161	Stanza	a division of four or more lines having a fixed length, meter or rhyming scheme	33
14590682162	rhyme scheme	a poet's deliberate pattern of lines that rhyme with other lines in a poem or a stanza	34
14590682163	internal conflict	psychological struggle within the mind of a literary or dramatic character, the resolution of which creates the plot's suspense	35
14590682164	external conflict	A struggle between a character and an outside force	36
14590682165	Foreshadowing	a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story	37
14590682166	Protagonist	The central character in a work of literature	38
14590682167	Antagonist	opposes the protagonist	39
14590682168	dynamic character	A character who grows, learns, or changes as a result of the story's action	40
14590682169	round character	A character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work	41
14590682170	static character	A character that does not change from the beginning of the story to the end	42
14590682171	flat character	a type of character in fiction that does not change too much from the start of the narrative to its end	43
14590682172	stock character	the stereotyped character in which he is immediately known from typical characters in history	44
14590682173	foil character	a character's whose main purpose is to highlight the strengths of another character	45
14590682174	motivated character	a character with reasons for his or her actions	46
14590682175	plausible character	a character who is life like and believable	47
14590682176	consistent character	a character whose speech, thoughts, and actions are what the reader has been lead to expect from that particular character	48
14590682177	conventional symbol	widely recognized signs or sign systems that signify a concept or idea that all members of a group understand based on a common cultural understanding	49
14590682178	literary symbol	An object carrying symbolic meaning only within the context of a particular work of literature	50
14590682179	Archetype	a very typical example of a certain person or thing	51
14590682180	Motif	can be seen as an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme	52
14590682181	Bildungsroman	a special kind of novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of its main character from his or her youth to adulthood	53
14590682182	verbal irony	occurs when what is said contradicts what is meant or thought	54
14590694633	situational irony	occurs when the outcome of a work is unexpected, or events turn out to be the opposite from what one had expected	55
14590694634	dramatic irony	when the audience knows something the characters do not	56
14590694635	Simile	A comparison using "like" or "as"	57
14590694636	Metaphor	a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.	58
14590694637	Hyperbole	a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement	59
14590694638	Oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	60
14590694639	Paradox	A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.	61
14590694640	Personification	A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes	62
14590694641	Onomatopoeia	A word named for the sound it imitates	63
14590694642	Apostrophe	A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.	64
14590694643	Allusion	A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.	65
14590694644	visual	To use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses	66
14590735608	auditory	Having to do with the sense of hearing	67
14590735609	Kinesthetic	pertaining to movement	68
14590735610	olfactory	relating to the sense of smell	69
14590829926	gustatory	relating to the sense of taste	70
14590829927	Assonance	Repetition of vowel sounds	71
14590829928	Consonance	refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase	72
14590829929	Anaphora	the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses	73
14590829930	Satire	the use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual	74
14590829931	Allegory	a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.	75
14590829932	Irony	the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect	76
14590829933	Alliteration	Repetition of initial consonant sounds	77