AP Lit Terms - Test 2

Question 1

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is synatically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. In prose, this is called antimetabole.

Answer 1

Chiasmus

Question 2

A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.

Answer 2

Cliché

Question 3

A word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations.

Answer 3

Colloquialism

Question 4

In general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

Answer 4

Comedy

Question 5

An elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor.

Answer 5

Conceit

Question 6

A twentieth century term used t describe poetry that uses intimate material from the poet’s life.

Answer 6

Confessional Poetry

Question 7

The struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

Answer 7

Conflict

Question 8

Conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and a whole society.

Answer 8

External Conflict

Question 9

A conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person’s mind.

Answer 9

Internal Conflict

Question 10

The associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

Answer 10

Connotation

Question 11

Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.

Answer 11

Couplet

Question 12

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

Answer 12

Dialect

Question 13

A speaker or writer’s choice of words.

Answer 13

Diction

Question 14

Form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Answer 14

Didactic

Question 15

A poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died.

Answer 15

Elegy

Question 16

Great praise or recommendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died.

Answer 16

Eulogy

Question 17

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence.

Answer 17

Epanalepsis

Question 18

A long narrative poem, written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.

Answer 18

Epic

Question 19

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.

Answer 19

Epigraph

Question 20

Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase, is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora).

Answer 20

Epistrophe

Question 21

An adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality.

Answer 21

Epithet

Question 22

A compound adjective used with a person or thing

Answer 22

Homeric Epithet

Question 23

A short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.

Answer 23

Essay

Question 24

Act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

Answer 24

Explication

Question 25

A very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

Answer 25

Fable