AP English Literature Literary Terms Flashcards

13850486643	allegory	story or poem that can be used to reveal a hidden meaning	0
13850486644	allusion	A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art	1
13850486645	anaphora	repetition in first part of a sentence , to have an artistic meaning	2
13850486646	apostrophe	figure of speech used to adresss an imaginary character	3
13850486647	approximate rhyme	words in rhyming pattern that sound alike	4
13850486648	aside	when a character's dialogue is spoken but not heard by other actors on the stage	5
13850486649	blank verse	poetry written in meter without an ending rhyme	6
13850486650	cacophony	blend of unharmonious sounds	7
13850486651	caesura	pause in the middle of a line	8
13850486652	catharsis	the release of emotions through art (emotional cleanse)	9
13850486653	characterization	process of revealing characters personality	10
13850486654	comedy	drama that is amusing or funny	11
13850486655	didactic writing	writing with a primary purpose to teach or preach	12
13850486656	dramatic exposition	prose commentaries, to provide background information about the characters and their world	13
13850486657	end stopped line	line ending in regular punctuation	14
13850486658	epiphany	when a character receives a spiritual insight into their life	15
13850486659	euphony	smooth choice and arrangement of sounds	16
13850486660	extended figure	A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.	17
13850486661	figurative language	Language that cannot be taken literally since it was written to create a special effect or feeling.	18
13850486662	figure of speech	a way of saying something other than the ordinary way	19
13850486663	foot	basic unit in the scansion or measurement of verse , stressed and un stressed syllables	20
13850486664	form	external pattern or shape of a poem	21
13850486665	hamartia	tragic flaw which causes a character's downfall	22
13850486666	verbal irony	A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant	23
13850486667	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
13850486668	situational irony	refers to an occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended	25
13850486669	meter	A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry	26
13850486670	metonymy	A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it	27
13850486671	motivation	A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior	28
13850486672	hyperbole	A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor	29
13850486673	oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	30
13850486674	paradox	A contradiction or dilemma	31
13850486675	rhythm	A regularly recurring sequence of events or actions.	32
13850486676	sarcasm	the use of irony to mock or convey contempt	33
13850486677	satire	A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.	34
13850486678	simile	A comparison using "like" or "as"	35
13850486679	soliloquy	A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage	36
13850486680	stream of consciousness	private thoughts of a character without commentary	37
13850486681	synecdoche	a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa	38
13850486682	synesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")	39
13850486683	theme	Central idea of a work of literature	40
13850486684	tone	Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character	41
13850486685	understatement	the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis	42
13850486686	polysyndeton	the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural	43
13850486687	asyndeton	a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions	44
13850486688	ambiguity	An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.	45
13850486689	archetype	an original model on which something is patterned	46
13850486690	antecedent action	action or events which occur before the story begins	47
13850486691	aphorism	A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.	48
13850486692	analogy	method of comparing two similar things using parallelism to show similarities	49
13850486693	anecdote	a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person	50
13850486694	antithesis	an exact opposite; an opposite extreme	51
13850486695	colloquial	characteristic of informal conversation	52
13850486696	chiasmus	a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed	53
13850486697	coherence	the quality of being logical, orderly, and clearly connected	54
13850486698	conceit	a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor	55
13850486699	diacope	repetition of a word or phrase with one or two intervening words	56
13850486700	explication	a detailed explanation of the meaning of a text	57
13850486701	juxtaposition	placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast	58
13850486702	hypophora	the technique of asking a question, then proceeding to answer it	59
13850486703	euphemism	An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant	60
13850486704	enumeratio	detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences to make a point more forcibly	61
13850486705	enjambment	line of poetry that ends with no punctuation and consequently runs over into the next line	62
13850486706	invective	insulting, abusive, or highly critical language	63
13850486707	litotes	A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite	64
13850486708	motif	A recurring theme, subject or idea	65
13850486709	parallelism	the use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form	66
13850486710	syntax	the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences	67
13850486711	volta	the shift or point of dramatic change in a poem	68
13850486712	rhetoric	the art of using language effectively and persuasively	69
13850486713	rhetorical question	A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.	70
13850486714	parody	a work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner	71
13850486715	inference	A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning	72
13850486716	tragedy	A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow	73
13850486717	undertone	a hidden or implied meaning	74
13850486718	dissonance	lack of agreement or harmony	75
13850486719	frame story	story that contains another story/stories that is/are usually significant to the main story	76
13850486720	expletive	an exclamation or oath, often obscene	77
13850486721	atmosphere/mood	the mood/ feeling of the literary work created for the reader by the writer.	78
13850486722	auditory imagery	use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sound	79
13850486723	universal theme	A message about life that can be understood by most cultures	80
13850486724	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	81
13850486725	character sketch	a short piece of writing that reveals or shows something important about a person or fictional character	82
13850486726	epilogue	a short passage added at the end of a literary work	83
13850486727	epistle	a letter or literary composition in letter form	84
13850486728	hexameter	a line of poetry containing six feet	85
13850486729	tetrameter	a line of poetry containing four feet	86
13850486730	pentameter	a line of poetry containing five feet	87
13850486731	lament	a passionate expression of grief or sorrow	88