Terminology for AP Literature and Composition Flashcards

13827268957	ABSTRACT DICTION	Words which are general and "tell" something, without a picture.	0
13827268958	ACTION	The bare events in a story.	1
13827268959	ALLEGORY	An extended story which carries a deeper meaning below the surface. The story makes sense on a literal level but also conveys another more important meaning. The deeper meaning is usually spiritual, moral or political.	2
13827268960	ALLITERATION	A literary device which creates interest by the recurrence of initial consonant sounds of different words within the same sentence.	3
13827268961	ALLUSION	A literary device which creates interests through a brief, indirect reference (not a quotation) to another literary work, usually for the purpose of associating the tone or theme of the one work with the other.	4
13827268962	AMBIGUITY	When, for a higher purpose, an author intentionally suggests more than one, and sometimes contradictory, interpretations of a situation.	5
13827268963	ANALOGY	A comparison between two things, or pairs of things, to reveal their similarities; sometimes expressed as a simile.	6
13827268964	ANALYTICAL ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to identify an author's purpose and to evaluate his or her success in achieving it; often used as another name for a book review.	7
13827268965	ANAPHORA	Repeated words or phrases used to emphasize a point, especially at the beginning of successive sentences or paragraphs.	8
13827268966	ANTAGONIST	The character in a story who opposes the hero, or protagonist.	9
13827268967	ANTHROPOMORPHISM	A literary technique in which the author gives human characteristics to non-human objects.	10
13827268968	APHORISM	A short, pithy and instructive statement of truth; also called a maxim, or apothegm.	11
13827268969	APOSTROPHE	A literary device which consists of a rhetorical pause or digression to address a person (distant or absent) directly.	12
13827268970	ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way based upon an appeal to reason (logos)	13
13827268971	ASSONANCE	The close repetition of similar vowel sounds, in successive or proximate words, usually in stressed syllables.	14
13827268972	BLANK VERSE	Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter.	15
13827268973	BOOK REVIEW	Essay type. An attempt to introduce an audience to a new or unfamiliar book by combining elements of an expository essay, a persuasive essay, and sometimes an analytical essay.	16
13827268974	CATASTROPHE	The tragic conclusion of a story or play. The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot.	17
13827268975	CHARACTER	A person (or a non-human with a human personality) in a literary work. Can also refer to the particular, unique traits of a person in a literary work.	18
13827268976	CHARACTERIZATION	Tthe way in which an author presents and defines characters.	19
13827268977	CHIASM	A literary structure in which parallel ideas are first stated in one order, and then repeated in reverse order. The most important point is placed in the middle, just before the reversal, to emphasize its importance.	20
13827268978	CLIMAX	The decisive moment and the turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the outcome of the conflict.	21
13827268979	CONCEIT	An unusual, elaborate or startling analogy; a poetic literary device which was common among the Metaphysical poets of the 17th century.	22
13827268980	CONCRETE DICTION	A use of words which are specific and "show" the reader a mental picture.	23
13827268981	CONFLICT	The struggle between opposing forces that provides the central action and interest in any literary plot.	24
13827268982	CONNOTATION	A literary device: a suggested, implied or evocative meaning.	25
13827268983	CONTEXT	Anything beyond the specific words of a literary work that may be relevant to the meaning of a literary work.	26
13827268984	DECONSTRUCTION	A movement in literary criticism which denies that literature has any objective, enduring, or universal meaning (cf. nihilism). The reduction of literary meaning to political motives, power struggles and subjective emotions.	27
13827268985	DENOTATION	A literary device. The author uses an explicit or literal meaning of a word in order to emphasize a specific, important fact.	28
13827268986	DENOUEMENT	The final outcome or unraveling of the main dramatic complications in a play, novel, or other work of literature. It sometimes involves an explanation of secrets or misunderstandings. From the French word for "unknotting".	29
13827268987	DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to enable an audience to feel a certain way by using words to create a mood or emotion.	30
13827268988	DEUS EX MACHINA	A plot device when a conflict was resolved through a means that seems unrelated to the story (e.g. when a god suddenly appeared, without warning, and solves everything). The term is used negatively, as a criticism, when an author's solution to a conflict seems artificial, forced, improbable, clumsy or otherwise unjustified. From Latin: "God out of the machine"	31
13827268989	DIALOGUE	The lines which are spoken by, or between, the characters in a narrative.	32
13827268990	DICTION	The distinctive vocabulary of a particular author.	33
13827268991	DIGRESSION	A literary device in which the author creates a temporary departure from the main subject or narrative in order to focus on a related matter.	34
13827268992	DOUBLE-ENTENDRE	From the French: "double meaning". A literary device which consists of a double meaning, especially when the second meaning is impolite or risqué.	35
13827268993	ELEGY	A meditative poem in the classical tradition of certain Greek and Roman poems, which deals with more serious subject (e.g. justice, fate or providence). It often begins with an appeal to a muse for inspiration and includes ALLUSIONS to classical mythology.	36
13827268994	EPIC	A long, grand, narrative (story-telling) poem about the brave, exemplary deeds of ancient heroes.	37
13827268995	EPISTOLARY NOVEL	A novel which takes the form of letters which pass between the main characters.	38
13827268996	EPITHET	a picturesque tag or nickname associated with a certain character. Can serve as a mnemonic device to remember and distinguish different characters. (e.g. 'grey-eyed', 'lord of men', etc.)	39
13827268997	EPONYM	the person for whom something is named, such as the central characters of Hamlet and King Lear, from whom those plays take their titles.	40
13827268998	ESSAY	a short work of nonfiction prose in which a writer attempts to fulfill a specific purpose.	41
13827268999	EXPOSITORY ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to enable an audience to understand something unfamiliar through a clear explanation which sets forth a number of connected facts.	42
13827269000	FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY	A standard essay format which sets forth the thesis in the first paragraph; supports the thesis in the following three paragraphs; and states the conclusion in the final paragraph.	43
13827269001	FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE	Descriptive language in which one thing is associated with another, through the use of SIMILE, METAPHOR, or PERSONIFICATION.	44
13827269002	FORESHADOWING	Hints of future events through unusual circumstances in the present.	45
13827269003	FRAME STORY	The literary device of creating a larger story for the purpose of combining a number of shorter stories in a unity.	46
13827269004	FREE VERSE	A type of poetry which avoids the patterns of regular rhyme or meter. Rhyme may be used, but with great freedom. There is no regular meter or line length. The poet relies instead upon DICTION, IMAGERY and SYNTAX to create a coherent whole.	47
13827269005	GENRE	A distinct classification in literature. A classification according to what different works have in common, in their structure and treatment of a subject.	48
13827269006	HEROIC COUPLET	One of the most common forms of English poetry, consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter which together express a complete thought.	49
13827269007	HYPERBOLE	Exaggeration for effect.	50
13827269008	IMAGERY	The use of words to create pictures. May involve all the senses, but usually involves the sense of sight.	51
13827269009	IMAGE-AS-TEXT	The use of pictures to convey messages.	52
13827269010	INTERPRETATION	The general explanation of the meaning of a literary work. May also be called "explication" when applied to poetry.	53
13827269011	IRONY	Using a word or situation to mean the opposite of its usual or literal meaning, usually done in humor, sarcasm or disdain.	54
13827269012	JUXTAPOSITION	The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development.	55
13827269013	LETTER TO THE EDITOR	Essay type. An attempt to introduce or respond to a current issue of civil importance by combining elements of an argumentative (rational) and persuasive (emotional) essay in a very brief format.	56
13827269014	LYRIC	A type of poem which was originally a song meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, the lyre. It was associated with songs of celebration and dancing.	57
13827269015	MALAPROPISM	A comic misuse of common words.	58
13827269016	METAPHOR	A figure of speech in which one thing is equated with something else. A comparison of different things by speaking of them directly, as if they were the same.	59
13827269017	METER	Repeated patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.	60
13827269018	METONYMY	A figure of speech in which something is referred to by one of its distinct characteristics; e.g. referring to the theater as "The Stage," the monarchy as "The Crown," or the judicial system as "The Bench."	61
13827269019	MODERNISM	A literary movement in the early 20th century which prided itself on its novelty in breaking away from established rules and traditions.	62
13827269020	MOOD	The atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from the audience.	63
13827269021	MOTIF	One of the key ideas or literary devices which supports the main THEME of a literary work. It may consist of a character, a recurrent image or verbal pattern.	64
13827269022	NARRATIVE ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to enable an audience to understand something unfamiliar through a compelling story which sets forth a series of connected events.	65
13827269023	NARRATOR	The speaker in a work of prose.	66
13827269024	NOVEL	An extended piece of prose fiction: a major category in literature.	67
13827269025	ONOMATOPOEIA	The use of words which sound like what they describe.	68
13827269026	OXYMORON	A figure of speech that combines opposite qualities in a single term.	69
13827269027	PARADOX	A statement that appears to be contradictory, but which reveals a deeper (or higher) truth.	70
13827269028	PARODY	A literary technique which imitates and ridicules (usually through exaggeration) another author or literary genre.	71
13827269029	PERSONA	The speaker in a work of poetry.	72
13827269030	PERSONIFICATION	Attributing human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, things or ideas.	73
13827269031	PERSUASIVE ESSAY	Essay type. An attempt to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way based upon emotional appeals (pathos)	74
13827269032	PLAGIARISM	Accidental or intentional intellectual theft in which a writer, poet, artist, scholar, or student steals an original idea, phrase, or section of writing from someone else and presents this material as his or her own work without indicating the source via appropriate explanation or citation.	75
13827269033	PLOT	The author's plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose. The unified structure of events and incidents (usually including "conflict," "climax" and "denouement") which expresses the author's purpose for writing.	76
13827269034	POETRY	A type of literature that emphasizes metaphor and other figures of speech in lines which are arranged for emotional effect, usually according to meter. It is one of the two most basic types of literature.	77
13827269035	POST-MODERNISM	A term used for the pessimistic, contemporary worldview which began in the 1960s, rejecting tradition, resisting authority, and denying any final or enduring meaning and purpose in life (and literature).	78
13827269036	PROSE	The ordinary use of language, without the artistic embellishments of rhythm, meter or rhyme. In general usage, it is any form of language, written or spoken, which is not poetry.	79
13827269037	PROTAGONIST	The central character in a literary work.	80
13827269038	ANTAGONIST	A character who is opposite to, or challenges, the central character.	81
13827269039	PUN	A humorous use of words which sound alike.	82
13827269040	PUNCTUATION	The distinctive use of punctuation by different authors.	83
13827269041	SATIRE	a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the attack.	84
13827269042	SETTING	The locale, time, and CONTEXT in which the ACTION of a literary work takes place.	85
13827269043	SIMILE	A comparison of different things by speaking of them as "like" or "as" the same.	86
13827269044	SOLILOQUY	An extended speech in which a lone character expresses his or her thoughts; a dramatic monologue which allows the audience to "hear" what the character is "thinking."	87
13827269045	SONNET	A fourteen-line lyric poem in predominantly iambic pentameter, with a formal rhyme scheme.	88
13827269046	STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS	The writer expresses a character's thoughts and feelings as a chaotic stream, with no apparent order or logic. The text is held together through psychological association and realistic characterization.	89
13827269047	SYMBOLISM	The use of words or objects to stand for or represent other things; something that stands for something else.	90
13827269048	SYNECDOCHE	A figure of speech by which a part of something refers to the whole, as in "Give us this day our daily bread" (for basic necessities of life) or "fifty wagging tails" (for fifty dogs).	91
13827269049	SYNTAX	An author's distinctive form of sentence construction.	92
13827269050	THEME	An author's insight about life. The main idea or universal meaning, the lesson or message of a literary work.	93
13827269051	TONE	The writer's attitude, mood or moral outlook toward the subject and/or readers.	94
13827269052	UNDERSTATEMENT	A statement which says less than is really meant. It is a figure of speech which is the opposite of HYPERBOLE.	95
13827269053	VIEWPOINT/POINT OF VIEW	The intellectual or emotional perspective held by a NARRATOR or PERSONA (not to be confused with the author) in connection with a story.	96
13827269054	FIRST PERSON PARTICIPANT	The story is narrated by one of the main characters in the story.	97
13827269055	FIRST PERSON OBSERVER	The story is narrated by a minor character, someone who plays only a small part in the plot.	98
13827269056	THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT	The story is narrated not by a character, but by an impersonal author who sees and knows everything, including characters' thoughts.	99
13827269057	THIRD PERSON LIMITED	The story is narrated by the author, but he/she focuses on the thinking and actions of a particular character.	100
13827269058	OBJECTIVE	The story describes only what can be seen, as a newspaper reporter.	101
13827269059	VOICE	An author's distinctive literary style, basic vision and general attitude toward the world.	102