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AP Lit > Terms for AP Lit > Flashcards

Terms for AP Lit Flashcards

1
Q

Abstract

A

Complex style, discussing intangible qualities like good/evil, rarely uses examples to support its points

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2
Q

Academic

A

Describing style, dry or theoretical writing

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3
Q

Accent

A

Stressed portion of a word in poetry

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4
Q

Aesthetic

A

Adjective meaning something appeals to senses or noun meaning coherent sense of taste/style

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5
Q

Allegory

A

Story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside of the tale itself

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6
Q

Alliteration

A

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

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7
Q

Allusion

A

Reference to another work or famous figure (can be historical allusion or popular allusion)

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8
Q

Anachronism

A

Taken out of time

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9
Q

Analogy

A

Comparison usually involving 2+ symbolic parts, used to clarify an action or relationship

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10
Q

Anecdote

A

Short narrative

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11
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

When inanimate objects are given human characteristics (different than personification because personification has the non-human quality/thing take a human shape)

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12
Q

Anticlimax

A

Occurs when action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect

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13
Q

Antihero

A

Protagonist (main character) who is markedly unheroic (morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, or other bad qualities)

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14
Q

Aphorism

A

Short + usually written witty saying

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15
Q

Apostrophe

A

Figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that isn’t human

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16
Q

Archaism

A

Use of deliberately old-fashioned language to create a feeling of antiquity

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17
Q

Aside

A

Speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience as though momentarily stepping out of the action on the stage

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18
Q

Assonance

A

Repeated use of vowel sounds

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19
Q

Ballad

A

Long, narrative poem (usually very regular in meter/rhyme), usually has naive folksy quality

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20
Q

Pathos

A

When the writing of a scene evokes feelings of dignified pity + sympathy

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21
Q

Bathos

A

Effect of anticlimax when an attempt to create feeling fails + seems ridiculous

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22
Q

Black humor

A

Use of disturbing themes in comedy

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23
Q

Bombast

A

Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language (trying to use more sophisticated words to sound more eloquent but it comes off poorly)

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24
Q

Burlesque

A

Broad parody that takes a style or form + exaggerates it to ridiculousness

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25
Q

Cacophony

A

Use of deliberately harsh + awkward sounds in poetry

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26
Q

Cadence

A

Beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense (ex: iambic pentameter)

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27
Q

Canto

A

Name for a section division in a long work of poetry (divides poem like chapters in a book)

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28
Q

Caricature

A

Portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality

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29
Q

Catharsis

A

Refers to “cleansing” of emotion an audience member experiences having lived (vicariously) through the experiences on stage

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30
Q

Chorus

A

Group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage + comment on it (in Greek drama)

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31
Q

Classic

A

Accepted masterpiece

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32
Q

Coinage (neologism)

A

New word usually invented on the spot

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33
Q

Colloquialism

A

Word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that isn’t a part of “accepted” English

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34
Q

Conceit

A

Startling or unusual metaphor or metaphor developed + expanded on over several lines

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35
Q

Controlling image

A

When the image dominates/shapes an entire work

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36
Q

Connotation

A

Everything that the word suggests or implies

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37
Q

Denotation

A

Word’s literal meaning

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38
Q

Consonance

A

Repetition of consonant sounds within words

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39
Q

Couplet

A

Pair of lines that end in a rhyme

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40
Q

Decorum

A

Character’s speech being styled to his/her social station, in accordance with the occasion

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41
Q

Diction

A

Author’s choice of words

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42
Q

Syntax

A

Ordering + structuring of words

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43
Q

Dirge

A

Song for the dead

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44
Q

Dissonance

A

Refers to grating of incompatible sounds

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45
Q

Doggerel

A

Drude, simplistic verse, often used in song/rhyme

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46
Q

Dramatic irony

A

When the audience knows something that the characters do not

47
Q

Dramatic monologue

A

When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience

48
Q

Elegy

A

Type of poem that meditates on death/morality in a serious/thoughtful manner

49
Q

Epic

A

Very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style

50
Q

Epitaph

A

Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place

51
Q

Euphemism

A

Word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality

52
Q

Euphony

A

When sounds blend harmoniously

53
Q

Farce

A

Extremely broad humor

54
Q

Feminine rhyme

A

Lines rhymed by their final 2 syllables

55
Q

Foil

A

Secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of the main character, usually by means of contrast

56
Q

Foot

A

Basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry (formed by a combination of 2/3 syllables, either stressed or unstressed)

57
Q

Foreshadowing

A

Event or statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event coming later on

58
Q

Free verse

A

Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme/metrical pattern

59
Q

Genre

A

Sub-category of literature

60
Q

Gothic

A

Supernatural horrors + unknown terrors are an important part of the plot

61
Q

Hubris

A

Excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character’s downfall

62
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement

63
Q

In medias res

A

Meaning “in the middle of things” (ex: starting book in middle of a war)

64
Q

Interior monologue

A

Term for novels + poetry referring to mental talking that goes on inside a character’s head (more coherent than stream of consciousness)

65
Q

Inversion

A

Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase

66
Q

Irony

A

Statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean

67
Q

Lament

A

Poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over some other intense loss

68
Q

Lampoon

A

Satire

69
Q

Loose sentence

A

Complete before its end

70
Q

Periodic sentence

A

Not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase

71
Q

Lyric

A

Type of poetry that explores that explores the poet’s personal interpretation of + feelings about the world

72
Q

Masculine rhyme

A

Rhyme ending on a final stressed syllable

73
Q

Melodrama

A

Form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very good/pure and the villain is very bad

74
Q

Metaphor

A

Comparison or analogy stating that one thing is another

75
Q

Simile

A

Comparison using like or as

76
Q

Metonym

A

Word used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with

77
Q

Nemesis

A

Protagonist’s arch enemy or supreme + persistent difficulty

78
Q

Objectivity

A

Treatment of subject matter is an impersonal or outside view of events

79
Q

Subjective

A

Uses the interior or personal view of a single observer + is typically colored with that observer’s emotional responses

80
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

Words that sound like what they mean

81
Q

Parable

A

Story that instructs (ex: fable or allegory)

82
Q

Paradox

A

Situation or statement that seems to contradict itself but doesn’t upon closer inspection

83
Q

Parallelism

A

Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect

84
Q

Parenthetical phrase

A

Phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence w/ some commentary/added detail

85
Q

Parody

A

Work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness

86
Q

Pastoral

A

Poem set in tranquil nature (more specifically one about shepherds)

87
Q

Persona

A

Narrator in a non-first-person novel (“shadow-author” is the author’s persona)

88
Q

Personification

A

When an inanimate object takes on human shape

89
Q

Plaint

A

Poem or speech expressing sorrow

90
Q

Point of view

A

Perspective from which the action of a novel or narrative poem is presented

91
Q

Omniscient narrator

A

3rd person narrator who sees into characters’ minds + understands all action going on

92
Q

Limited omniscient narrator

A

3rd person narrator who generally reports only what 1 character sees

93
Q

Objective narrator, camera eye narrator

A

3rd person narrator who only reports on what would be visible to a camera (doesn’t report on characters’ thoughts unless they are directly spoken)

94
Q

1st person narrator

A

Narrator who tells the story from his/her point of view, can be unreliable

95
Q

Stream of consciousness technique

A

Method is like the first person narration but instead of the character telling the story, the author places the reader inside the main charcter’s head + makes the reader privy to all of the charactr’s thoughts as they scroll through his/her consciousness

96
Q

Prelude

A

Introductory poem to a longer work of verse

97
Q

Protagonist

A

Main character of a novel or play

98
Q

Pun

A

Usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest 2+ meanings

99
Q

Refrain

A

Line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem

100
Q

Requiem

A

Song of prayer for the dead

101
Q

Rhapsody

A

Intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love/praise

102
Q

Rhetorical question

A

Question that suggests an answer

103
Q

Satire

A

Exposes common character flaws to the cold light of humor

104
Q

Soliloquoy

A

Speech given by a character alone on the stage

105
Q

Stanza

A

Group of lines roughly analogous in function in verse to the paragraph’s function in prose

106
Q

Stock characters

A

Standard or cliched character types (ex: drunk, miser, foolish girl, etc.)

107
Q

Suspension of disbelief

A

Demand made of a theater audience to accept the limitations of staging + supply the details w/ their imaginations

108
Q

Symbolism

A

Device in literature where an object represents an idea

109
Q

Thesis

A

Main position of an argument (central connection, will be supported)

110
Q

Tragic flaw

A

Weakness of a character in an otherwise good/great individual that ultimately leads to their demise in a tragedy

111
Q

Travesty

A

Grotesque parody

112
Q

Truism

A

Way too obvious truth

113
Q

Utopia

A

Idealized place (imaginary community of peace, prosperity, + happiness)

114
Q

Zeugma

A

Use of a word to modify 2+ words, but used for different meanings (ex: she broke his car + his heart)

AP Lit (3 decks)

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