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AP Literature Vocab > Allusion and Explanations > Flashcards

Allusion and Explanations Flashcards

1
Q

Adonis

A
  • handsome
  • greek
  • fertility
  • Persephone vs Aphrodite (Love Triangle)
  • man turned into bull and killed
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2
Q

“All the World’s a Stage”

A
  • Shakespeare
  • Richard Edward’s “Damon and Pithius”
  • everyone has a role for something
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3
Q

Alpha and Omega

A
  • First and Last
  • greek
  • Biblical - Jesus Christ
  • juxtaposition
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4
Q

Apocalypse

A
  • Biblical
  • revealing something that was previously hidden (heaven)
  • world’s end
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5
Q

Armageddon

A
  • final battle between good and evil

- place final battle takes place

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6
Q

Byronic

A
  • characteristic of Lord Byron

- satirical, romantic, paradoxic poems

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7
Q

Cain and Abel

A
  • Biblical
  • brother kills brother because brother’s gifts to God are better
  • killer branded as first murderer
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8
Q

Camelot

A
  • Arthurian

- rich, wealthy kingdom with young ruler

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9
Q

Cyrano

A
  • play

- military, talented but not attractive

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10
Q

David and Bathsheba

A
  • Biblical

- King sees Bathsheba bathing and falls in love so he puts her husband (Uriah) on the frontlines in war to kill him

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11
Q

David and Goliath

A
  • Biblical

- kid kills giant to win war

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12
Q

Don Quixote

A
  • pretends to be a hero

- looks foolish

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13
Q

Don Juan

A
  • womanizer
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14
Q

Dorian Gray

A
  • novel in which main character is narcissistic

- fatal flaw

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15
Q

Excalibur

A
  • Arthurian
  • magic sword in stone
  • only the true King can pull it out
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16
Q

Eye of the Needle

A
  • easier to fit a camel in the eye of a needle than a rich man into heaven
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17
Q

“Face That Launched a Thousand Ships”

A
  • mythology
  • Helen of Troy
  • power of a woman’s beauty
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18
Q

Four Horsemen

A
  • Biblical
  • 4 of 7 seals brought to four horsemen
  • apocalypse, famine, war, death
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19
Q

Galahad

A
  • Arthurian
  • son of Lancelot - Holy Grail - perfect knight
  • purity, virginity, only knight to attain Grail
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20
Q

Gauntlet

thrown down

A
  • medieval method of challenging someone to a duel

- to accept, pick up the glove

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21
Q

Good Samaritan

A
  • Biblical
  • rival helps severely injured rival
  • enemy to friend
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22
Q

Handwriting on the Wall

A
  • impending misfortune
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23
Q

Harpy

A
  • mythology

- creature that eats people

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24
Q

Hatfields and McCoys

A
  • two families at war
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25
Hector
- mythology - Prince of Troy who is bullied - killed by Achilles
26
Icarus
- mythology - son of Daedalus - both prisoners in Labyrinth in Crëte - Daedalus builds wings to escape but son dies
27
Ishmael
- Biblical - Abraham’s first son (adopted) - banished and raised by God - father of Islam
28
Jezebel
- Biblical - Queen of Israel, evil sorceress - falsely accused a commoner of theft - seduces would-be killer
29
Job
- Biblical - deal between Devil and God - God tests Job’s faith by taking his stuff - Job’s faith in God never falters
30
Judas
- Biblical - betrays Jesus with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver - ticket to hell
31
Immaculate Conception
- Biblical - Mary, Mother of Jesus - without original sin = perfect mother of Jesus
32
Lemmings
- rodents - mass, undesired inhabitation - run off cliffs (suicidal) because they follow the crowd
33
Lilliputians
- a trivial pr very small person or thing | - Gulliver’s Travels
34
Lothario
- man who behaves selfishly and irresponsibly in his sexual relationships with women - Rowe’s Fair Penitent
35
Machiavellian
- to be cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous especially in politics or in advancing one’s own career - Niccolo Machiavelli
36
Malaprop
- Literary - The Rivals, Mrs. Malaprop - replaces words with words of different meaning but similar sound - comedic affect
37
“Marriage of True Minds”
- Shakespeare - Sonnet 16 - love connection or soul mates
38
Mercurial
- Roman god Mercury (Hermes) | - mood swings, temper, changeable
39
Modest Proposal
- essay - ironic, not modest - to survive famine, eat babies
40
Muse
- mythology - greek - story tellers (art, music, etc)
41
Narcissism
- mythology - greek - Narcissus - cursed to love himself devoutly - overbearing pride, arrogance, selfish
42
Olympian
- mythology - greek gods (12) from Mount Olympus - superiority, greatness
43
“Out, Damned Spot”
- Shakespeare - MacBeth - blood on hands - guilt
44
Pandora’s Box
- mythology - greek - curiosity, temptation, things that shouldn’t be seen but are - Pandora opens box and releases everything bad to humanity but hope stays
45
Pavlovian
- learning procedure | - ring the bell before feeding dogs, dogs learn to expect food
46
Pericles
- greek - ruler of Athens - great and influential leader
47
Poetic Justice
- a fitting or deserved retribution for one’s actions
48
“Pound of Flesh”
- someone’s insistance of being repaid even if it ruins the debtor
49
Primrose Path
- a facade of niceness
50
Prodigal Son
- Biblical - son takes his inheritance early, spends it all, and returns to his father for aid. The father is so happy to see him that he throws a party
51
Pyrrhic Victory
- victory so devastating not an actual victory - huge cost of winning - greek
52
Samson and Delilah
- Biblical | - Delilah is paid to betray her husband. She takes his strength and turns him in to people who hate him.
53
Sodom and Gomorrah
- Biblical - two cities of pure evil and sinners - angels go down to test them and they fail so God destroys them - Pillar of Salt
54
Solomon
- Biblical | - God talks to Solomon. Solomon will be wise if he follows God. He fails.
55
“Sound and Fury”
- Shakespeare - uproar and drama over a small matter - MacBeth
56
Svengali
- Trilby - seduces Jewish and then takes advantage of her fame - a manipulator
57
Tantalize
- greek - mythology - Tantalus - punished by never eating or drinking but in a pond under a fruit tree - to tease with something unattainable
58
“The best of all possible worlds”
- series of letters from essays - Earth is the best of all world’s - battle with God
59
The phoenix
- greek - mythology - bird dies in fire and is reborn from the ashes - rebirth
60
Titanic
- greek - mythology - strong, powerful being before the gods
61
Uncle Tom
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin - derogatory term for a subservient, low-class person - kiss-up
62
Valhalla
- viking/ Norse - mythology - special heaven for warriors and heros
63
Waterloo
- Napoleon Bonaparte - huge defeat/ absolute destruction - to have a goal but fail epically
64
Yahoo
- Gulliver’s Travels - crude British person searching for jewels and money’ - savage, uncivilized humans

AP Literature Vocab (3 decks)

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