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AP LIT > Figurative Language > Flashcards

Figurative Language Flashcards

1
Q

pertains to any sentence with an active verb.

A

ACTIVE VOICE

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2
Q

An extended narrative (in poetry or prose) in which the characters and actions - and sometimes the setting as well - are contrived to make sense on the literal level and at the same time to signify a second, correlated order of characters, concepts, and events. In other words, an allegory carries a second, deeper meaning, as well as its surface story.

A

ALLEGORY

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3
Q

The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of several words in a sentence or a line of poetry.

A

ALLITERATION

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4
Q

A reference to another person, another historical event, another work, and the like. To understand allusions requires familiarity at the very least with Greek and Roman mythology, Judeo-Christian literature, and Shakespeare. Identify the impact of an allusion the same way you would a metaphor: consider the purpose of the comparison.

A

ALLUSION

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5
Q

Multiple meanings a literary work may communicate, especially two meanings that are incompatible.

A

AMBIGUITY

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6
Q

A person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set.

A

ANACHRONISM

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7
Q

A term that signifies a comparison of or similarity between two objects or ideas.

A

ANALOGY

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8
Q

The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive poetic lines, prose sentences, clauses or paragraphs. It is used to emphasize an idea.

A

ANAPHORA

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9
Q

Inverted syntax.

A

ANASTROPHE

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10
Q

A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist, produces tension.

A

ANTAGONIST

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11
Q

A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences.

A

ANTITHESIS

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12
Q

A brief statement of an opinion or elemental truth.

A

APHORISM

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13
Q

A direct address to someone who is not present, to a deity or muse, or to some other power.

A

APOSTROPHE

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14
Q

An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form.

A

ARCHETYPE

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15
Q

The repetition of a vowel sound within a group of words or lines.

A

ASSONANCE

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16
Q

The omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

A

ASYNDETON

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17
Q

A short poem in song format (sometimes with refrains) that tells a story.

A

BALLAD

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18
Q

A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment.

A

BARD

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19
Q

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

A

BLANK VERSE

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20
Q

Harsh, discordant, or unpleasing sounds.

A

CACOPHONY

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21
Q

A pause in a line of poetry in order to make the meaning clear or to follow the natural rhythm of speech.

A

CAESURA

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22
Q

The works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied.

A

CANON

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23
Q

Latin for “Seize the day.”

A

Carpe Diem

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24
Q

A purging of emotion, experienced by audiences especially through the pity they feel when witnessing the tragic hero’s fall from grace.

A

CATHARSIS

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25
Q

A group of characters in a play who comment on, but do not participate in, the action.

A

CHORUS

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26
Q

The high point, or turning point, of a story or play.

A

CLIMAX

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27
Q

An extended metaphor comparing two unlike subjects with dramatic effect.

A

CONCEIT

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28
Q

The associations or moods attached to a word. Words generally are positive, negative, or neutral. The connotation of words usually contributes to an author’s tone.

A

CONNOTATION

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29
Q

The repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants but with a change in the intervening vowel.

A

CONSONANCE

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30
Q

A pair of rhymed lines.

A

COUPLET

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31
Q

The dictionary definition of a word.

A

DENOTATION

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32
Q

The resolution that occurs at the end of a play or work of fiction.

A

DENOUEMENT

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33
Q

A regional speech pattern, often used to make a passage feel personal and authentic.

A

DIALECT

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34
Q

The specific words an author uses in her writing; word choice. An author’s choice of words serves to create meaning, portray characters, convey tone, develop themes, and much more.

A

DICTION

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35
Q

A formal meditative poem or lament for the dead.

A

ELEGY

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36
Q

Three periods that indicate words have been left out of a quotation. Ellipses are also used to create suspense.

A

ELLIPSES

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37
Q

A feeling of association or identification with an object or person.

A

EMPATHY

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38
Q

A line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark are end-stopped lines.

A

END-STOPPED:

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39
Q

In poetry, the use of successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them.

A

ENJAMBMENT

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40
Q

An extended narrative poem that tells of the adventures of a hero who is generally on a quest.

A

EPIC POEM

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41
Q

A short quotation or verse that precedes a poem (or any text) that sets a tone, provides a setting, or gives some other context for the poem.

A

EPIGRAPH

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42
Q

A moment of insight, spiritual or personal; a character’s sudden revelation about life or his own circumstances.

A

EPIPHANY

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43
Q

The ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words, used to emphasize the word or group of words for emotional impact.

A

EPISTROPHE

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44
Q

An adjective or phrase that expresses a striking quality of a person or thing.

A

EPITHET

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45
Q

A term for the title character of a work of literature.

A

EPONYMOUS

46
Q

To use an inoffensive or more socially acceptable word for something that could be inappropriate or offensive to some.

A

EUPHEMISM

47
Q

Pleasing, melodious, pleasant sounds.

A

EUPHONY

48
Q

The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature.

A

EXPOSITION

49
Q

A return to an earlier time in a story or play in order to clarify present action or circumstances.

A

FLASHBACK

50
Q

A minor character whose situation or action parallel those of a major character and thus by contrast set off or illuminate the major character.

A

FOIL

51
Q

The combination of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up the metric unit of a line. The most commonly used feet are the iambic foot and the trochaic foot. (monometer/one foot, dimeter/two feet, trimeter/three feet, tetrameter/four feet, pentameter/five feet, hexameter/six feet (also called an Alexandrine), heptameter/seven feet (also called a fourteener), octometer/eight feet)

A

FOOT

52
Q

Providing hints of things to come in a story or play.

A

FORESHADOWING

53
Q

Poetry that doesn’t follow a prescribed form but is characterized by irregularity in the length of the lines and a lack of regular metrical pattern and rhyme.

A

FREE VERSE

54
Q

Characterized by distortions or incongruities.

A

GROTESQUE

55
Q

A tragic flaw or an unwitting error in judgment.

A

HAMARTIA

56
Q

Excessive pride.

A

HUBRIS

57
Q

Overstatement or gross exaggeration of an event or feeling.

A

HYPERBOLE

58
Q

Language that appeals to one or another of the five senses and relies on vivid adjectives, similes, or metaphors.

A

IMAGERY

59
Q

A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.

A

in media res

60
Q

The use of words to express something other than - and often the opposite of - the literal meaning. There are three types of irony. Verbal irony contrasts what is said and what is meant. Situational irony contrasts what happens and what was expected to happen. Dramatic irony contrasts what the character thinks to be true and what the reader knows to be true.

A

IRONY

61
Q

A pattern of speech and vocabulary associated with a particular group of people (i.e. medical doctors, computer analysts, teachers).

A

JARGON

62
Q

The placement of one idea next to its opposite to make it more dramatic.

A

JUXTAPOSITION

63
Q

A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity.

A

LITOTES

64
Q

Any poem in which a speaker expresses intensely personal emotion or thoughts. The term was originally applied to poems meant to be sung; now the term is sometimes used to refer to any poem that has a musical quality or is characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination.

A

LYRIC

65
Q

A figure of speech in with an implicit comparison is made between two things that are essentially dissimilar. Metaphors, unlike similes, do not use “like” or “as.”

A

METAPHOR

66
Q

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or the units of stress patterns. (iambic: a light followed by a stressed syllable (balloon); trochaic: a stressed followed by a light syllable (soda); anapestic: two light followed by a stressed syllable (contradict); dactylic: a stressed followed by two light syllables (maniac); spondaic: two successive syllables with approximately equal strong stresses (man-made); pyrrhic: two successive syllables with approximately equal light stresses)

A

METER

67
Q

A figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

A

METONYMY

68
Q

The dominant tone in a piece or passage, typically the emotional quality of the scene or setting.

A

MOOD

69
Q

A recurring element, an image or idea, in a work of literature, whose repetition emphasizes some aspect of the work (theme, plot, etc.).

A

MOTIF

70
Q

A lyric poem that is serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, and elaborate in its stanzaic structure.

A

ODE

71
Q

A figure of speech in which a word when spoken imitates the sound associated with the word.

A

ONOMATOPOEIA

72
Q

A combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms.

A

OXYMORON

73
Q

A story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question. are allegorical stories.

A

PARABLE

74
Q

A figure of speech that seeks to create mental ambiguity, which then forces the reader to pause and seek clarity. A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true.

A

PARADOX

75
Q

A composition that imitates the style of another composition normally for comic effect.

A

PARODY

76
Q

The passive voice is used when something happens to someone.

A

PASSIVE VOICE

77
Q

A reference to or a description of simple country life. Older pastoral poems usually include shepherds who live in an idyllic setting. Generally, the word “” suggests being carefree or returning to a time of innocence.

A

PASTORAL

78
Q

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things.

A

PERSONIFICATION

79
Q

The plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

A

PLOT

80
Q

The perspective from which the writer chooses to tell his or her story. Point of view can be in the first, second, or third person, and limited, omniscient, or objective.

A

POINT OF VIEW

81
Q

The main character in a work of literature.

A

PROTAGONIST

82
Q

A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings.

A

PUN

83
Q

A line, part of a line, or group of lines repeated in the course of a poem, sometimes with slight changes.

A

REFRAIN

84
Q

A quality of some fictional narrators whose word the reader can trust. There are both reliable and unreliable narrators, that is, tellers of a story who should or should not be trusted.

A

RELIABILITY

85
Q

The repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis.

A

REPETITION

86
Q

A question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply. No reply is expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer.

A

RHETORICAL QUESTION

87
Q

The echo or imitation of a sound.

A

RHYME

88
Q

The sense of movement attributable to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Although rhythm is sometimes used to signify meter, it includes tempo (pacing) and natural fluctuations of movement.

A

RHYTHM

89
Q

A form of writing in which a subject (usually a human vice) is made fun of or scorned, eliciting amusement, contempt, or indignation. to provoke change or reform.

A

SATIRE

90
Q

The total environment for the action in a novel or play. It includes time, place, historical milieu, and social, political, and even spiritual circumstances.

A

SETTING

91
Q

A change in setting (place or time), tone, or speakers. is especially important for determining the overall purpose and tone of a poem.

A

SHIFT

92
Q

A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made using “like,” “as,” or “than” between two very different things in order to express an idea that is more familiar or understandable.

A

SIMILE

93
Q

A speech in which a character in a play, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts. may reveal the private emotions, motives, and state of mind of the speaker. |also known as dramatic monologue.

A

SOLILOQUY

94
Q

A fixed form of fourteen lines, normally in iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme conforming to or approximating one of two main types.

A

SONNET

95
Q

The narrative voice of a poem.

A

SPEAKER

96
Q

A group of lines that forms one division of a poem.

A

STANZA

97
Q

The voice of the writer as reflected by types and lengths of sentences, word choice, use of figurative language and imagery.

A

STYLE

98
Q

A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. begins with a major premise followed by a minor premise and a conclusion.

A

SYLLOGISM

99
Q

An object that signifies something greater than itself.

A

SYMBOL

100
Q

The addition of multiple conjunctions between the parts of a sentence.

A

SYNDETON

101
Q

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.

A

SYNECDOCHE

102
Q

In general, the order of words in a sentence that results in various sentence types used for a variety of rhetorical effects

A

SYNTAX

103
Q

An insight into life conveyed by a poem or story.

is the main point the author wants to make with the reader, and is often a basic truth, an acknowledgement of our humanity, or a reminder of human beings’ shortcomings. This general insight is usually about life, society, or human nature.

often explore timeless and universal ideas.

Most are implied rather than stated explicitly.

Short works of fiction may have only one or two ; however, a novel may include many because of the number and depth of the characters and the numerous events within the plot.

A

THEME

104
Q

The speaker or narrator’s (or author’s) attitude toward another character, a place, an idea or a thing, or the emotional quality of a passage.

A

TONE

105
Q

Typically a drama in which a tragic hero experiences a fall from noble stature. The audience feels pity for the hero, but also fear that they, but for chance, could have been or might be in the hero’s place.

A

TRAGEDY

106
Q

A person of greater than normal stature (more noble, more attractive, smarter, etc.) who falls from grace (station of power, respect, or goodness) due to a tragic flaw (hamartia), or, more typically, pride (hubris).

A

TRAGIC HERO

107
Q

Saying less than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates the truth.

A

UNDERSTATEMENT

108
Q

Lines of poetry or metrical language in general, in contrast to prose.

A

VERSE

109
Q

Any shift or turning point in a work of prose or poetry. may mark a shift in point of view, tone, mood, style, or any other manner of expression.

A

VOLTA

110
Q

A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one.

A

ZEUGMA

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