AP Lang Literary Devices and Elevated Words - Elevated Words Part Two Flashcards
metaphysical
A term describing poetry that uses elaborate conceits, expresses the complexities of love and life, and is highly intellectual. More generally, it refers to ideas that are neither analytical nor subject to empirical verification; that is, ideas that express an attitude about which rational argument is impossible.
metonymy
A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated.
Middle English
The language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.
mock epic
A parody of traditional epic form.
mock solemnity
Feigned or deliberately artificial seriousness, often for satirical purposes.
mode
The general form, pattern, and manner of expression of a piece of discourse.
montage
A quick succession of images or impressions used to express an idea.
mood
The emotional tone or prevailing atmosphere in a work of literature or other discourse. In grammar, it refers to the intent of a particular sentence.
indicative mood
used for statements of fact
subjunctive mood
used to express doubt or a conditional attitude
imperative mood
give commands
moral
A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature.
motif
A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in an essay or other discourse.
muse
(n.) One of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts; the imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer. (v.) To reflect deeply; to ponder.
myth
An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group of society.
narrative
A form of verse or prose (both fiction and nonfiction) that tells a story. A storyteller may use any number of narrative devices, such as skipping back and forth in time, ordering events chronologically, and ordering events to lead up to a suspenseful climax.
naturalism
A term often used as a synonym for realism; also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic.
non sequitur
A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before.
objective
(adj.) Of or relating to facts and reality, as opposed to private and personal feelings and attitudes.
ode
A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.
Old English
The Anglo-Saxon language spoken from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D. in what is now Great Britain.
omniscient narrator
A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story.
onomatopoeia
The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning.
oxymoron
A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect.
parable
A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived.
paradox
A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.
parallel structure
The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank. Coordinate idea,s compared and contrasted ideas and correlative constructions call for parallel construction.
parody
An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.
paraphrase
A version of a text put into simple, everyday words or summarized for brevity.
pastoral
A work of literature dealing with rural life.
pathetic fallacy
Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.
pathos
That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.
pedantic
Narrowly academic instead of broad and humane; excessively petty and meticulous.
periodic sentence
A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support.
persona
The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader or other audience.
personification
A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics.
plot
The interrelationship among the events in a story
plot line
the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution
point of view
The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to a subject of discourse.
internal POV
A matter discussed in the first person has this
external POV
an observer uses this
predicate
the part of a sentence that is not the grammatical subject. It often says something about the subject
predicate nominative
A noun that provides another name for the subject
prose
Any discourse that is not poetry
prose poem
a selection of prose that, because of its language or content, is poetic in nature
proverb
A short pithy statement of general truth that condenses common experience into memorable form.
pseudonym
A false name or alias used by writers.
pulp fiction
Novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots.
pun
A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings.
realism
The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect.
rebuttal/ refutation
The part of discourse wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and answered.
reiteration
Repetition of an idea using different words, often for emphasis or other effect.
repetition
Reuse of the same words, phrases, or ideas for rhetorical effect, usually to emphasize a point.
retraction
The withdrawal of a previously stated idea or opinion.
rhetoric
The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience.
rhetorical mode
A general term that identifies discourse according to its chief purpose. Includes exposition, argumentation, description, and narration.
exposition
to explain, analyze, or discuss an idea
argumentation
to prove a point or to persuade
description
to recreate or present with details
narration
to relate an anecdote or story
rhetorical question
A question to which the audience already knows the answer; a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.
rhetorical stance
Language that conveys a speaker’s attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject.
rhyme
The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry but not unheard of in prose.
rhythm
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up speech and writing.
romance
An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places.
sarcasm
A sharp, caustic attitude conveyed in words through jibes, taunts, or other remarks; differs from irony, which is more subtle.
satire
A literary style used to poke fun at, attack, or ridicule and idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change.
sentence structure
The arrangement of the parts of a sentence. A sentence may be simple, compound, or complex. Sentences may also contain any of these structures in combination with each other. Each variation leaves a different impression on the reader, and along with other rhetorical devices, may create a countless array of effects.
simple sentence
one subject and one verb
compound sentence
two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction
complex sentence
an independent claus plus one or more dependent clauses
sentiment
A synonym for view or feeling; also a refined and tender emotion in literature.
sentimental
A term that describes characters’ excessive emotional response to experience; also nauseatingly nostalgic and mawkish.
setting
An environment that consists of time, place, historical milieu, and social, political, and even spiritual circumstances.
simile
A figurative comparison using the words like or as.
stream of consciousness
A style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind.
style
The manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes ideas, forms sentences, and creates a structure to convey ideas.
stylistic devices
A general term referring to diction, syntax, tone, figurative language, and all other elements that contribute to the “style” or manner of a given piece of discourse.
subject complement
The name of a grammatical unit that is comprised of predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives.
subjective
(adj.) Of or relating to private and personal feelings and attitudes as opposed to facts and reality.
subtext
The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of an essay or other work.
syllogism
A form of deductive reasoning in which given certain ideas or facts, other ideas or facts must follow. (think transitive property)
symbolism
The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object.
synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part. When the name of a material stands for the thing itself, that, too, is this.
syntax
The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular this, or pattern of words.
theme
The main idea of meaning, often an abstract idea upon which an essay or other form of discourse is built.
thesis
The main idea of a piece of discourse; the statement or proposition that a speaker or writer wishes to advance, illustrate, prove, or defend.
tone
The author’s attitude toward the subject being written about. This is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work – the spirt or quality that is the word’s emotional essence.
tragedy
A form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw or by a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish.
transition
A stylistic device used to create a link between ideas. These often endow discourse with continuity and coherence.
trope
The generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor.
understatement
A restrained statement that departs from what could be said; a studied avoidance of emphasis or exaggeration, often to create a particular effect.
verbal irony
A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words.
verse
A synonym for poetry; also a group of lines in a song or poem; also a single line of poetry.
verisimilitude
Similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is or could have been.
voice
The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker.
active voice
(refers to the use of verbs) A verb is in this when it expresses an action performed by its subject. Stylistically, this leads to more economical and vigorous writing.
passive voice
(refers to the use of verbs) A verb is in this when it expresses an action performed upon its subject or when the subject is the result of the action.
whimsy
An object, device, or creation that is fanciful or rooted in unreality.
wit
The quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that surprise and delight by their unexpectedness; the power to comment subtly and pointedly on the foibles of the passing scene.
