AP Literature Literary Terms Flashcards

14302728437	ad hominem	An argument attacking an individual's character rather than his or her position on an issue	0
14302732464	allegory	A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions; a form of an extended metaphor	1
14302743028	alliteration	The repetition of initial sounds in successive neighboring words; repetition of initial consonant or vowel sounds	2
14302750778	allusion	A reference to something literary, mythological, or historical	3
14302754369	anecdote	A brief personal narrative which focuses on a particular incident or event	4
14302757420	analogy	A comparison between two different things which are similar in some way	5
14302763170	anaphora	The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences	6
14302773493	antithesis	A statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced; juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases	7
14302779271	aphorism	A concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance; usually implies specific authorship and compact, telling expression	8
14302784370	apostrophe	The act of speaking directly to an absent or imaginary person, or to some abstraction; breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, or a nonexistent character	9
14302789215	assonance	Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words	10
14302794402	chiasmus	A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed	11
14302800649	cliche	A trite expression--often a figure of speech whose effectiveness has been worn out through overuse and excessive familiarity	12
14302803533	climax	Mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of a series of events or of an experience	13
14302808416	colloquialism	Informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing; slang, contractions, and lively conversational rhythms	14
14302812750	conceit	A fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor; the term designates fanciful notions and may be a brief metaphor or the framework of an entire poem	15
14302816668	connotation	The implied or associative meaning of a word; must be shared to be intelligible to others; depends on usage and a particular linguistic community and climate; the emotional implications and associations that words may carry, as distinguished from their denotative (or dictionary) meanings	16
14302826545	denotation	The literal meaning of a word, independent of its emotional coloration or associations	17
14302835371	dependent clause	Needs the rest of the sentence (the independent, or main, clause) for the full impact of its meaning to be felt	18
14302838665	diction	Having to do with the words choices made by a writer: plain or fancy; archaic or current	19
14302846355	didactic	Something which has as its primary purpose to teach or instruct	20
14302849147	ellipsis	The omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the text; omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader	21
14302858844	epiphany	A moment of sudden revelation or insight	22
14302862314	epithet	Using an appropriate adjective (often habitually) to qualify a subject	23
14302865831	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant	24
14302868952	foil	In literature, the term is applied to any person who, through contrast, underscores the distinctive characteristics of another	25
14302873245	genre	A major category or type of literature: western, mystery, romance	26
14302876021	hyperbole	Intentional exaggeration to create an effect; an extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect	27
14302882086	imagery	Concrete, sensory details which contribute to the themes or ideas of a work	28
14302885016	independent clause	Makes sense by itself and could make it as a separate sentence	29
14302891455	invective	An intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack	30
14302896649	irony	A situation or statement where the truth is the opposite of appearances; use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; a statement or situation where the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance of the idea	31
14302903325	litotes	A type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite; a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite	32
14302907817	metaphor	A direct comparison of two different things which suggests they are somehow the same; the traditional meaning of metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common	33
14302914335	metonymy	The substitution of the name of an object closely associated with a word for the word itself	34
14302919918	motif	A standard theme or dramatic situation which recurs in various works	35
14302921924	non sequitur	An inference that does not logically follow from the premise(s)	36
14302926519	onomatopoeia	A word formed by the imitation of natural sounds	37
14302932525	oxymoron	An expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined; the yoking of two terms that are ordinarily contradictory	38
14302937343	paradox	An apparently contradictory statement which actually contains some truth	39
14302939916	parody	A humorous imitation of a serious work	40
14302942717	parallelism	Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses	41
14302952611	pathos	The quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity or sorrow	42
14302954983	pedantic	Describing an excessive display of learning or scholarship	43
14302961762	periodic sentence	One that is not grammatically complete before its end; effective because it holds an idea in suspense before its final revelation	44
14302963905	personfication	Endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics	45
14302967217	proverb	Short, pithy statement of a general truth, one that condenses common experience into memorable form	46
14302969302	pun	A play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings	47
14302973738	refutation	When a rhetor anticipates opposing arguments and answers them	48
14302975752	rhetoric	(1) The study and practice of effective communication (2) The art of persuasion (3) An insincere eloquence intended to win points and manipulate others	49
14302989330	rhetorical question	A question proposed for its persuasive effect and not requiring a reply or intended to induce a reply	50
14302991164	sarcasm	Harsh, cutting language/tone designed to ridicule	51
14302993499	satire	The use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions; a work or manner that blends a censorious attitude with humor and wit for improving human institutions or humanity	52
14303003358	simile	A stated comparison (usually formed with like or as) between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common	53
14303010719	syllepsis	The linking of one word with two other words in two strikingly different ways	54
14303013855	syllogism	A logical argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise; a formula for presenting an argument logically; the syllogism affords a method of demonstrating logic through analysis; in its simplest form, it consists of three divisions: a major premise; a minor premise, and a conclusion (if a =b, and b=c, then a=c)	55
14303020288	symbol	An object which is something in itself yet is used to represent something else	56
14303024625	synecdoche	Using one part of an object to represent the entire object	57
14303037092	style	The overall manner in which an individual writer expresses idea	58
14303040036	syntax	The manner in which words are arranged by a writer into sentences	59
14303043039	tautology	Needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding	60
14303046845	tone	The attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience	61
14303051585	understatement	The deliberate representation of something as less in magnitude than it really is	62
14303056597	zeugma	Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use is grammatically or logically correct with only one	63