AP English Literature Rhetorical Devices Flashcards

12191952260	allegory	story or poem that can be used to reveal a hidden meaning	0
12191952261	allusion*	A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art	1
12191952262	anaphora*	repetition in first part of a sentence , to have an artistic meaning	2
12191952263	apostrophe	figure of speech used to adresss an imaginary character	3
12191952264	approximate rhyme	words in rhyming pattern that sound alike	4
12191952265	aside	when a character's dialogue is spoken but not heard by other actors on the stage	5
12191952266	blank verse	poetry written in meter without an ending rhyme	6
12191952267	cacophony	blend of unharmonious sounds	7
12191952268	caesura	pause in the middle of a line	8
12191952269	catharsis	the release of emotions through art (emotional cleanse)	9
12191952270	characterization*	process of revealing characters personality	10
12191952271	comedy	drama that is amusing or funny	11
12191952272	didactic writing	writing with a primary purpose to teach or preach	12
12191952273	dramatic exposition*	prose commentaries, to provide background information about the characters and their world	13
12191952274	end stopped line	line ending in regular punctuation	14
12191952275	epiphany	when a character receives a spiritual insight into their life	15
12191952276	euphony	smooth choice and arrangement of sounds	16
12191952277	extended figure	A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.	17
12191952278	figurative language	Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling.	18
12191952279	figure of speech	a way of saying something other than the ordinary way	19
12191952280	foot	basic unit in the scansion or measurement of verse , stressed and un stressed syllables	20
12191952281	form	external pattern or shape of a poem	21
12191952282	hamartia*	tragic flaw which causes a character's downfall	22
12191952283	verbal irony	A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant	23
12191952284	dramatic irony	Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play.	24
12191952285	situational irony*	refers to an occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended	25
12191952286	meter	A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry	26
12191952287	metonymy	A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it	27
12191952288	motivation*	A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior	28
12191952289	hyperbole*	A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor	29
12191952290	oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	30
12191952291	paradox	A contradiction or dilemma	31
12191952292	rhythm	A regularly recurring sequence of events or actions.	32
12191952293	sarcasm*	the use of irony to mock or convey contempt	33
12191952294	satire	A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.	34
12191952295	simile*	A comparison using "like" or "as"	35
12191952296	soliloquy	A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage	36
12191952297	stream of consciousness	private thoughts of a character without commentary	37
12191952298	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa	38
12191952299	synesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")	39
12191952300	theme*	Central idea of a work of literature	40
12191952301	tone*	Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character	41
12191952302	understatement	the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis	42
12191952303	polysyndeton*	the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural	43
12191952304	asyndeton*	a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions	44
12191952305	ambiguity	An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.	45
12191952306	archetype	an original model on which something is patterned	46
12191952307	antecedent action	action or events which occur before the story begins	47
12191952308	aphorism	A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.	48
12191952309	analogy	method of comparing two similar things using parallelism to show similarities	49
12191952310	anecdote	a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person	50
12191952311	antithesis	an exact opposite; an opposite extreme	51
12191952312	colloquial	characteristic of informal conversation	52
12191952313	chiasmus	a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed	53
12191952314	coherence	the quality of being logical, orderly, and clearly connected	54
12191952315	conceit	a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor	55
12191952316	diacope	repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words	56
12191952317	explication	a detailed explanation of the meaning of a text	57
12191952318	juxtaposition	placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast	58
12191952319	hypophora	the technique of asking a question, then proceeding to answer it	59
12191952320	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant	60
12191952321	enumeratio	detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly	61
12191952322	enjambment	line of poetry that ends with no punctuation and consequently runs over into the next line	62
12191952323	invective	insulting, abusive, or highly critical language	63
12191952324	litotes	A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite	64
12191952325	motif	A recurring theme, subject or idea	65
12191952326	parallelism	the use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form	66
12191952327	prosody	the study of sound and rhythm in poetry	67
12191952328	syntax	the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences	68
12191952329	volta	the shift or point of dramatic change in a poem	69
12191952330	rhetoric	the art of using language effectively and persuasively	70
12191952331	rhetorical question	A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.	71
12191952332	parody	a work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner	72
12191952333	inference	A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning	73
12191952334	tragedy	A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow	74
12191952335	undertone	a hidden or implied meaning	75
12191952336	dissonance	lack of agreement or harmony	76
12191952337	frame story	story that contains another story/stories that is/are usually significant to the main story	77
12191952338	expletive	an exclamation or oath, often obscene	78
12191952339	atmosphere/mood	the mood/ feeling of the literary work created for the reader by the writer.	79
12191952340	auditory imagery	use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sound	80
12191952341	universal theme	A message about life that can be understood by most cultures	81
12191952342	implied meaning	the meaning of a word understood, though unexpressed, usually through connotations and imagery; where you have to read between the lines to get the underlying meaning/subtext of a text	82
12191952343	interior monologue	a form of stream-of-consciousness writing that represents the inner thoughts of a character	83
12191952344	case history	medical approach involving the observation and analysis of individual patients	84
12191952345	character sketch	a short piece of writing that reveals or shows something important about a person or fictional character	85
12191952346	epilogue	a short passage added at the end of a literary work	86
12191952347	epistle	a letter or literary composition in letter form	87
12191952348	hexameter	a line of poetry containing six feet	88
12191952349	tetrameter	a line of poetry containing four feet	89
12191952350	pentameter	a line of poetry containing five feet	90
12191952351	lament	a passionate expression of grief or sorrow	91