AP LANG - Literature Terms Flashcards

14737815293	alliteration	the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.	0
14737815294	allusion	a direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as a myth.	1
14737815295	anadiplosis	repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next. - Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.	2
14737815296	anaphora	repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row. - Reach for a leaf. Reach for a cloud. Reach for a sky of blue.	3
14737815297	anastrophe	the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses. - This much we pledge - and more. - About suffering they were never wrong.	4
14737815298	antimetabole	repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order. - I mean what I say, and I say what I mean. - If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.	5
14737815299	antithesis	the opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite. - Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. - That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.	6
14737815300	aphorism	a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. - A penny saved is a penny earned. - Winners never quit and quitters never win.	7
14737815301	apostrophe	a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction.	8
14737815302	apposition	placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first. - My sister, Christine, was on television last night. - Have you ever seen the movie Bring The Soul?	9
14737815303	assonance	repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity.	10
14737815304	asyndeton	the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.	11
14737815305	circumlocution	an indirect way of expressing something.	12
14737815306	climax	the most exciting, intense or important point of something; a culmination or apex.	13
14737815307	consonance	repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.	14
14737815308	denotation	the literal explicit meaning of a word, without its connotation.	15
14737815309	connotation	a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly.	16
14737815310	diction	the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.	17
14737815311	ellipsis	three periods indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation.	18
14737815312	epanalepsis	repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning. - Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. - Love is something only understood by those who are no longer in love.	19
14737815313	epistrophe	ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word(s). - I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, - See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.	20
14737815314	euphemism	a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept.	21
14737815315	extended metaphor	a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.	22
14737815316	figures of speech	the various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or significance.	23
14737815317	foreshadowing	a narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.	24
14737815318	hyperbole	exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.	25
14737815319	imagery	descriptions that appeals to the senses and creates a picture in the reader's mind.	26
14737815320	verbal irony	irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.	27
14737815321	situational irony	irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.	28
14737815322	dramatic irony	irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters.	29
14737815323	malapropism	the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar.	30
14737815324	metaphor	a comparison without using like or as.	31
14737815325	mood	feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader.	32
14737815326	motivation	a character's incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that which impels a character to act.	33
14737815327	narration	the telling of a story.	34
14737815328	onomatopoeia	the use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.	35
14737815329	oxymoron	a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	36
14737815330	paradox	a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.	37
14737815331	parallelism	phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other. - Either she likes to see him or she doesn't like to see him.	38
14737815332	periphrasis	the use of excessive and longer words to convey a meaning which could have been conveyed with a shorter expression or in fewer words.	39
14737815333	personification	the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.	40
14737815334	plot	the sequence of events in a literary work.	41
14737815335	point of view	the perspective from which a story is told.	42
14737815336	polysyndeton	the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural.	43
14737815337	prosody	the study of sound and rhythm in poetry.	44
14737815338	protagonist	the main character in a literary work.	45
14737815339	pun	a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.	46
14737815340	repetition	repeated use of words, sounds, or ideas for effect and emphasis.	47
14737815341	rhetorical question	a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.	48
14737815342	rhyme	repetition of sounds at the end of words.	49
14737815343	sarcasm	witty language used to convey insults or scorn.	50
14737815344	satire	a work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.	51
14737815345	setting	the context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs.	52
14737815346	shift	a change or movement in a piece resulting from an epiphany, insight, or realization gained by the speaker or a character.	53
14737815347	simile	a comparison using like or as.	54
14737815348	sound devices	elements such as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and onomatopoeia - gives poetry a musical quality.	55
14737815349	structure	the arrangement or framework of a sentence, paragraph, or entire work.	56
14737815350	style	the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work.	57
14737815351	suspense	a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story.	58
14737815352	symbol	a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract..	59
14737815353	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole. - Do you like my new wheels? (Do you like my new car?)	60
14737815354	syntax	the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.	61
14737815355	theme	a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work.	62
14737815356	tone	a writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels.	63
14737815357	understatement (litotes)	deliberately underplaying or undervaluing a thing to create emphasis.	64