Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

AP Literature > Vocab > Flashcards

Vocab Flashcards

1
Q

Litotes

A

Ironic understatement using a contradiciton. (e.g. I shan’t be sorry for I shall be glad).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Caricature

A

A distorted representation of a person

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Proscenium


A

the part of a theater stage in front of the curtain.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Aside

A

a short comment, often seen as a fourth wall break, delivered while other characters are onstage.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Assonance

A

resembles into stressed vowels

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Denotation

A

Ex. - deno definition
Idea- Literal meaning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Frame story:

A

A narrative technique in which a main story is composed for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories within it; a story within a story.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Metaphor, controlling:

A

A metaphor that is applied throughout the entire poem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

metaphor, extended: 


A

A metaphor that is developed further throughout the poem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Metonymy


A

Object is represented through a part (crown for king).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Oxymoron: 


A

Two contradictions used together.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Paradox: 


A

A union of words that appear contradictory but can be seen as true in consideration.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Dramatic Point of View

A

Narration that is confined to report action without commentary or character’s thoughts.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Limited Omniscient

A

Narrator who can see inside up to two character’s head.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Objective

A

Narration that is entirely detached from the characters.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Omniscient

A

Narration that is all-knowing knowing inside the minds of all characters.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Bildungsroman

A

a story with the goal of maturity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Stream of Conciseness

A

A form of narrative in which the words resemble the flow of human thought. The intent is to connect the reader directly to the images, thoughts, and feelings of a character without the interference or interpretation of a narrator.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Synecdoche:

A

Symbol for a whole thing. (Hand/ workers)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Fables

A




Short tales teaching a lesson through animals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Parables

A

Narratives of moral and religious themes.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Myths


A

Explain the unexplainable (Greek Gods).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Legends


A

Refer to historical events in recent history dramatized.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Elliptical Construction


A

Omitting words or phrases from a sentence to make it more concise

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Invested symbols

A

Author gives meaning through specific story.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Syntax


A

Arrangement of words to create meaning.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Petrarchan sonnet

A

Octave and sestet
Totaling 14 lines with rhyme: ABBAABBA, CDCDCD or CDECDE

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

Harlem Renaissance: 


A

Artistic expression by African Americans in the early 20th century

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Petrarchan Conceit 


A

A metaphor between completely different things e.g. lover and tomb.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Metaphysical Conceit

A

Describes unequal lovers. Uses comparison, hyperbole, and oxymorons.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Metaphysical poets

A

John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan and George Herbert.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Dialect

A

A style of speaking in a particular social group or geographic region at a particular point in time.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

Diction

A



Word choice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

Abstract Diction


A

Expresses an emotion or abstract thing (Love).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

Concrete diction

A

Literal meaning of words.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

Formal diction

A



Sophisticated language (Business).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
37
Q

Informal diction


A

Conversational language

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
38
Q

Neutral Diction 


A

Use of informal and formal.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
39
Q

Slang

A

An informal language.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
40
Q

Poetic diction

A

Vocabulary and phrasing to create poetic affect

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
41
Q

Decorum


A

Style and tone.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
42
Q

Direct Characterization


A

Author tells the characters personality.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
43
Q

Indirect Characterization

A

Character’s personality is discovered by reader.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
44
Q

Round characters

A

Develop as real people (Main character).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
45
Q

Flat characters

A

Lack of complexity (villains).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
46
Q

Foils

A

Characters who reveal the purpose of the main one.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
47
Q

Arena stage/ in a round:

A

A stage that is set in the middle of the audience.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
48
Q

Concatenation

A

Linking thing to produce a particular result

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
49
Q

Proscenium Stage

A

Classic stage.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
50
Q

Technical Climax

A

No other options leads to the resolve.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
51
Q

Thrust Stage

A

Audience stands and sits on three sides around it.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
52
Q

Naturalism


A

Social problems that shape lives.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
53
Q

Allegory


A

Ex.- Young Goodman Brown
Idea- symbolic meaning outside of the literal story

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
54
Q

Aubade

A

Poem which sings to the situations of lovers in the morning.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
55
Q

Didactic poem 


A

poems with a ‘moral’.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
56
Q

Devotional Literature


A

Religious

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
57
Q

Dramatic monologue

A

Character describes their situation and events.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
58
Q

Elegy

A

Idea- meditates on mortality or death memorlizing the dead

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
59
Q

Epic

A

Heroic poem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
60
Q

Free verse

A

Unconstrainted by form or rhyme.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
61
Q

Ode

A

Poem which celebrates its subject.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
62
Q

Syntactical Eccentricity

A

Arranging words in unusual ways

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
63
Q

Sonnet


A

14 line poem

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
64
Q

Elizabethan Sonnet

A

14 lines (abab cdcd efef gg).

65
Q

Petrarchan Sonnet

A

14 lines (abba abba cde cde).

66
Q

Tropes: 


A

Metaphors, simile, personification, metonymy

67
Q

Schemes

A

Repetition of words, syllables, syntactical patterns

68
Q

Caesura

A

A pause in the rhythm.

69
Q

Foot

A

10 syllables of stress and unstressed.

70
Q

Meter 


A

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

71
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

A word describing sound “(HISS).

72
Q

Rhythm

A

Reoccurrence of stresses and pauses.

73
Q

Stress

A

The emphasis of a syllable.

74
Q

Attitude

A

The feeling of a poem.

75
Q

Anaphora

A

Repetition at the beginning of clauses (Every one must, Every person must)

76
Q

Antithesis 


A

Contrasting ideas put in parallel phrases.

77
Q

Blank verse:


A

Poem with a meter but no rhyme.

78
Q

Continuous form


A

Lines that follow each other informally.

79
Q

Ellipsis:


A

The omission of clearly implied words.

80
Q

Fixed form:

A

A poem which follows the same continuous pattern.

81
Q

Inverted sentence

A

Switches verb placement.

82
Q

Irony

A

Contradictions of expected and reality.

83
Q

Dramatic Irony

A

Ex. Juliet being asleep instead of dead
Idea- audience knowing something the characters don’t

84
Q

Situational irony

A

Expectations and reality.

85
Q

Verbal irony


A

Words that don’t mean what you really feel.

86
Q

Juxtaposition 


A

Putting seperate things together to highlight their differences.

87
Q

Mood


A

The feeling with details, images, sounds.

88
Q

Parallel/parallelism:

A


Repetition of the same grammatical forms.

89
Q

Syntax: 


A

Grammar structure of writing.

90
Q

Tone

A

Author’s attitudes/

91
Q

Alliteration

A

Ex. ALALAiteration
Idea- Repetition of consonances in a sentence

92
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of a vowel sound that can occur either initially or internally.

93
Q

Consonance

A

Ex. Flick, chick, black, shock
Idea- repetition of consonance

94
Q

Couplet

A

Ex. I always hear / chariot hurrying near
Idea- pair of rhyming lines of similar length

95
Q

Iambic pentameter: 


A

Stressed and unstressed (da DAH, da DAH, da DAH, da DAH, da DAH).

96
Q

Octave

A

A stanza with eight lines.

97
Q

Quatrain

A


A stanza that contains four lines of verse.

98
Q

Scansion

A

The process of labeling stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

99
Q

Sestet

A

Stanzas with six lines.

100
Q

Spenserian sonnet 


A

Three quatrains (abab/bcbc/cdcd).

101
Q

Tercets

A

Three-lined stanzas.

102
Q

Villanelle

A

Five tercets (aba).

103
Q

Textual evidence

A

References to text.

104
Q

Verbal play


A

Puns, rhyme words, and tease,

105
Q

Cyclical story 


A

A story that begins and ends in the same place.

106
Q

Direct discourse

A

Character dialogue.

107
Q

Free indirect discourse

A

Involves both third-person narration and the character’s thoughts

108
Q

Indirect discourse 


A

Third-person narration.

109
Q

Magical realism 


A

The combination of both realistic and magical elements in the same story.

110
Q

Playing the dozens


A

An African-American style of argument.

111
Q

Signifying


A

The African-American tradition of playing with language.

112
Q

Modern Fiction:


A

Daily life.

113
Q

Premise

A

Main idea behind a story.

114
Q

Picaresque novel

A

moves from adventure to adventure

115
Q

Comedic writing

A

human’s tragedies are humorous

116
Q

Limited point of view

A

sees the view of only one character which is more intimate

117
Q

Atmosphere

A

the story’s mood with setting, rhyme,

118
Q

Tone

A


Attitude toward subject and characters

119
Q

Symbolic value: 


A

meaning behind definition or use of an object

120
Q

Farce: 


A

Ludicrous comedy that relies relying on horseplay.

121
Q

Satire

A

Ridicules a specific political, philosophical, or social viewpoints.

122
Q

Comedy of Manners


A

Pokes fun at social conventions.

123
Q

Romantic Comedy:

A

Difficulties of a love affair, but always ends in happy reconciliation.

124
Q

Tragicomedy

A

Happy ending to a disaster-heavy plot.

125
Q

Tragic flaws

A

Leads the hero to his or her own demise.

126
Q

Etymology

A

Refers to the meanings of a word’s roots, suffixes, and prefixes, as well as its historical origins.

127
Q

Heroic couplet

A

Two lines of iambic pentameter are rhymed.

128
Q

Misread

A

ignoring basic meanings, with incorrect meanings for specific words

129
Q

Under-read

A

Miss other meanings besides main one

130
Q

Classic Tragedy

A


A type of tragedy that deals with the downfall of heroes

131
Q

Domestic Tragedy

A

A type of tragedy that deals with the downfall of common people.

132
Q

Revenge Tragedy

A

A type of tragedy that deals with the downfall of enemies.

133
Q

Romantic Tragedy

A

A type of tragedy that deals with the downfall of lovers.

134
Q

Gerund

A

Ex. - Gerund/Noun
Swimming across the lake
Idea- Noun/verb + ing

135
Q

Infinitive

A

Ex. - To swim across the lake is fun
Idea- to + verb

136
Q

Anachronsim

A

Ex. Wristwatch in Shakespeare
Idea- misplaced in time

137
Q

Analogy

A

Ex. Peas and carrots
Idea- comparison

138
Q

Anecdote

A

Ex. Antidote
You won’t believe what happened to me
Idea- small entertaining story

139
Q

Antecedent

A

Ex. Mary went there. The girl went there
Idea- the noun that pronouns replace

140
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

Ex.
Idea- human characteristics, behavior to non-human entities

141
Q

Personificiation

A

Ex. Wind whispers through the tree
Idea- non-human thing takes on a human shape

142
Q

Anticlimax

A

Ex. The anticlimax of a brilliant career
Idea- Decline after the climax often comedic

143
Q

Aphorism

A

Ex. Affirmation
Tis better to have loved and lost
Idea- memorable saying to connecting the reader to a moral

144
Q

Apostrophe

A

Ex. O’Romeo O’Romeo
Idea- addresses something/someone who is not present

145
Q

Archetypes

A

Ex. Rebel, jester, hero
Idea- stereotypes

146
Q

Ballad

A

Ex. Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Idea- regular meter and rhyme with folksy quality

147
Q

Bathos

A

Ex. Path on pathos
Women with elegant clothes in the Ritz orders grilled cheese
Idea- lead up and let down

148
Q

Burlesque/parady

A

Ex. The Starving Games
Idea- takes a tragic drama and exaggerates it into ridiculousness

149
Q

Cadence

A

Ex. Pulsing, conversational
Idea- the rhythm of poetry

150
Q

Catharsis

A

Ex. Crisis/epiphany
Idea- release of emotions through other’s expeiranced in entertainment

151
Q

Colloquialism

A

Ex. Gonna, ain’t, soda pop
Idea- informal language not used in textbook english

152
Q

Jargon

A

Ex. Idiopathic
Idea- used for a specific region or profession

153
Q

Idioms

A

Ex. break a leg
Idea- not to be taken literally especially regional

154
Q

Connotation

A

Ex. Dark forest
Idea- implied meaning (danger)

155
Q

Dirge

A

Ex. Dirge is dead
Idea- song for the dead

156
Q

Dissonance

A

Ex. Gr-rr
Idea- grating sound to contrast euphony

157
Q

Doggerel

A

Ex. - Limerick
Idea- funny, simple poem song like

158
Q

Dystopia

A

Ex. dystopian
Idea- perfect world which cause destruction

159
Q

Freitag’s Pyramid

A

Ex. 8 part
Idea- Exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, denouement

AP Literature (7 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions