AP Literature Terms Summer Flashcards

14361343703	absolute	a word free from limitations or qualifications ("best," "all," "unique," "perfect")	0
14361348395	adage	a familiar proverb or wise saying	1
14361349814	allegory	a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstrations	2
14361352231	alliteration	the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words	3
14361354974	allusion	a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize	4
14361358281	analogy	a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way	5
14361360269	anaphora	the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences	6
14361362087	anecdote	a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event	7
14361363748	antecedent	the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers	8
14361366093	antithesis	a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced	9
14361367320	aphorism	a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance	10
14361371198	apostrophe	a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction	11
14361373130	archetype	a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response	12
14361378149	argument	a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work	13
14361379713	asyndeton	a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions	14
14361381709	balanced sentence	a sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against each other to emphasize a contrast	15
14361385109	bathos	insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity	16
14361387470	bildungsroman	a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character: in particular, his or her psychological development and moral education	17
14361391339	chiasmus	a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed (Ex: "Fair is foul and foul is fair.")	18
14361395492	cliche	an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off	19
14361402687	climax	the point of highest interest in a literary work	20
14361403647	colloquialism	informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing	21
14361404680	complex sentence	a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions	22
14361407288	conceit	a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor	23
14361408900	concrete details	details that relate to or describe actual, specific things or events	24
14361411538	connotation	the implied or associative meaning of a word	25
14361413075	cumulative sentence	a sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases	26
14361423924	declarative sentence	a sentence that makes a statement or declaration	27
14361424898	deductive reasoning	reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case (The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning.)	28
14361429232	denotation	the literal meaning of a word	29
14361429836	dialect	a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region	30
14361435069	dialogue	conversation between two or more people	31
14361435070	diction	the word choices made by a writer	32
14361436271	didactic	having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing	33
14361437695	dilemma	a situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives	34
14361439951	dissonance	harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds	35
14361441425	elegy	a formal poem presenting a meditation on death or another solemn theme	36
14361442847	ellipsis	the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but ban be deduced from the context ("Some people refer cats; others, dogs.")	37
14361446867	epic	a long narrative poem written in elevated style which presents the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation	38
14361452029	epigram	a brief, pithy, and often paradoxical saying	39
14361455122	epigraph	a saying or statement on the title page of a work, or used as a heading for a chapter or other section of a work	40
14361456052	epiphany	a moment of sudden revelation or insight	41
14361456053	epitaph	an inscription on a tombstone or burial place	42
14361457233	epithet	a term used to point out a characteristic of a person. Homeric epithets are often compound adjectives ("swift-footed Achilles") that become an almost formulaic part of a name. Epithets can be abusive or offensive but are not so by definition. For example, athletes may be proud of their given epithets (Ex: "The Rocket")	43
14361470316	eulogy	a formal speech praising a person who has died	44
14361471431	euphemism	an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant	45
14361472885	exclamatory sentence	a sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an exclamation mark	46
14361472886	expletive	an interjection to lend emphasis; sometimes, a profanity	47
14361474222	fable	a brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters	48
14361475693	figurative language	language employing one or more figures of speech (simile, metaphor, imagery, etc.)	49
14361478644	flashback	the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative	50
14361479418	flat character	a character who embodies a single quality and who does not develop in the course of a story	51
14361481471	foreshadowing	the presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come later in the work	52
14361482943	frame device	a story within a story. An example is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which the primary tales are told within the "frame story" of the pilgrimage to Canterbury	53
14361483729	genre	a major category or type of literature	54
14361483730	homily	a sermon, or a moralistic lecture	55
14361494661	hubris	excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy	56
14361496658	hyperbole	intentional exaggeration to create an effect	57
14361497853	hypothetical question	a question that raises a hypothesis, conjecture, or supposition	58
14361499516	idion	an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect	59
14361501717	imagery	the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the senses	60
14361503472	implication	a suggestion an author or speaker makes (implies) without stating it directly Note: the author/sender implies the reader/ audience infers	61
14361510165	inductive reasoning	deriving general principles from particular facts or instances ("Every cat I have ever seen has four legs; cats are four-legged animals")	62
14361512836	inference	a conclusion one draws (infers) based on premises or evidence	63
14361514391	invective	an intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack	64
14361516704	irony	the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs	65
14361518997	jargon	the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession	66
14361520018	juztaposition	placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast	67
14361530072	legend	a narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements	68
14361532569	limerick	light verse consisting of five lines of regular rhythm in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, and the second and third lines rhyme	69
14361538024	limited narrator	a narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a single character and restricts information to what is seen, heard, thought, or felt by that one character	70
14361539181	literary license	deviating from normal rules or methods in order to achieve a certain effect (intentional sentence fragments, for example.)	71
14361541562	litotes	a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite (describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, "It was not a pretty picture.")	72
14361548190	malapropism	the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar ("The doctor wrote a subscription.")	73
14361551471	maxim	a concise statement, often offering advice; an adage	74
14361552295	metaphor	a direct comparison of two different things	75
14361552296	metonymy	substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it ("The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting].")	76
14361560840	mood	the emotional atmosphere of a work	77
14361582492	motif	a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works	78
14361583763	motivation	A character's incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that which impels a character to act	79
14361583765	myth	a traditional story presenting supernatural characters and episodes that help explain natural events	80
14361584523	narrative	a story or narrated account	81
14361586540	non sequitur	an inference that does not follow logically from the premises (literally, "does not follow.")	82
14361588239	omniscient narrator	a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters	83
14361589116	onomatopoeia	a word formed form the limitation of natural sounds	84
14361591362	oxymoron	an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined	85
14361592374	parable	a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson	86
14361593542	paradox	an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth	87
14361593549	parallelism	the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms	88
14361595835	paraphrase	a restatement of a text in a different form or in different words, often for the purpose of clarity	89
14361596863	parody	a humorous imitation of a serious work	90
14361598314	parenthetical	a comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or explain	91
14361599737	pastoral	literature that deals with living off the land, revealing the challenges and blessings of nature	92
14361602180	pathos	the quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity	93
14361603604	pedantic	characterized by an excessive display of learning or scholarship	94
14361605069	personification	endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics	95
14361606149	philippic	a strong verbal denunciation	96
14361606955	point of view	the vantage point from which a story is told	97
14361607607	polysyndeton	the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural	98
14361608853	pun	a play on words, often using words with similar sounds but different meanings	99
14361614509	resolution	the falling action of a narrative; the events following the climax	100
14361614510	rhetoric	the art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasive manner	101
14361617796	rhetorical question	a question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer	102
14361618649	rhetorical devices	literary techniques used to heighten the effectiveness of expression	103
14361619606	riddle	a question requiring thought to answer or understand; a puzzle or conundrum	104
14361620394	romantic	a term describing a character or literary work that reflects the characteristics of Romanticism, the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century that stressed emotion, imagination, and individualism	105
14361622319	round character	a character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work	106
14361623717	sarcasm	harsh, cutting language or tone intended to ridicule	107
14361625225	satire	the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions	108
14361625809	scapegoat	a person or group that bears the blame for another	109
14361626849	simile	A comparison using "like" or "as," or other specifically comparative words	110
14361629143	simple sentence	a sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause	111
14361630400	solecism	nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules	112
14361632837	style	the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work	113
14361634943	surrealism	an artistic movement emphasizing the imagination and characterized by incongruous juxtapositions and lack of conscious control	114
14361636348	syllepsis	a construction in which one word is used in two different senses ("After he threw the ball, he threw a fit.")	115
14361637305	syllogism	a three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise ("All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.")	116
14361638207	symbol	an object that is used to represent something else	117
14361639318	synecdoche	using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example, referring to a car simply as "wheels.")	118
14361641202	synesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")	119
14361644196	syntax	the manner in which words are arranged into sentences	120
14361645088	tautology	needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding ("widow woman," "free gift.")	121
14361647228	theme	a central idea of work	122
14361648084	thesis	the primary position taken by a writer or speaker	123
14361649741	tone	the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience topic-- the subject treated in a paragraph or work	124
14361653194	tragedy	a work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a significant struggle and which ends in ruin or destruction	125
14361654760	trilogy	a work in three parts, each of which is a complete work in itself	126
14361655625	trite	overused and hackneyed	127
14361655626	turning point	the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs	128
14361657146	understatement	the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis	129
14361658513	usage	the customary way language or its elements are used	130
14361659217	vernacular	the everyday speech of a particular county or region, often involving nonstandard usage	131