AP Test Terms Flashcards
(116 cards)
1
Q
Abstract
A
Complex style, discusses intangible qualities, rarely uses examples
2
Q
Academic
A
Dry + theoretical writing
3
Q
Accent
A
Stressed portion of a word
4
Q
Aesthetic
A
Appealing to senses or coherent sense of taste
5
Q
Allegory
A
Story in which each aspect has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself
6
Q
Alliteration
A
Repetition of initial consonant sounds
7
Q
Allusion
A
Reference to another work or famous figure
8
Q
Anachronism
A
Misplaced in time
9
Q
Analogy
A
Comparison usually involving 2+ symbolic parts used to clarify an action or relationship
10
Q
Anecdote
A
Short narrative
11
Q
Anthropomorphism
A
Inanimate objects having human characteristics (doesn’t require object to take on human shape like personification)
12
Q
Anticlimax
A
Action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect, frequently comedic
13
Q
Antihero
A
Protagonist who is markedly unheroic
14
Q
Aphorism
A
Short + usually witty saying
15
Q
Apostrophe
A
Speaker talks directly to something nonhuman
16
Q
Archaism
A
Use of deliberately old-fashioned language
17
Q
Aside
A
Speech made by an actor to an audience, usually short
18
Q
Assonance
A
Repeated use of vowel sounds
19
Q
Atmosphere
A
Emotional tone or background surrounding a scene
20
Q
Ballad
A
Long narrative poem, usually regular in meter + rhyme, has naive folksy quality
21
Q
Bathos
A
Abrupt + ridiculous transition from elevated to ordinary (form of anticlimax) or excessively sentimental pathos
22
Q
Black humor
A
Use of disturbing themes in comedy
23
Q
Bombast
A
Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language
24
Q
Burlesque
A
Broad parody, takes a style or form and exaggerates it
25
Cacophony
Use of deliberately harsh + awkward sounds
26
Cadence
Beat or rhythm of poetry
27
Canto
Section division in long work of poetry
28
Caricature
Portrait exaggerating a facet of personality
29
Catharsis
Cleansing of emotion experienced by audience member after living vicariously through experiences of theater
30
Chorus
Group of citizens standing outside the main action on stage + provide commentary, part of Greek theater
31
Classic
Accepted masterpiece
32
Coinage
New word, usually invented on the spot
33
Colloquialism
Word or phrase used in everyday conversational English that is not formally accepted
34
Conceit
Startling + unusual metaphor or metaphor expanded on over course of several lines, called controlling image when it dominates the work
35
Connotation
Things that a word suggests or implies
36
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds within words (unlike alliteration at beginnings of words)
37
Couplet
Pair of lines that end in rhyme
38
Decorum
Character's speech styled according to social station + occasion
39
Denotation
Literal meaning of word
40
Diction
Author's choice of words
41
Dirge
Song for dead, typically slow, heavy, depressed, + melancholy
42
Dissonance
Grating of incompatible sounds
43
Doggerel
Crude + simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme
44
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows something characters in a drama do not
45
Dramatic monologue
When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience
46
Elegy
Type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious + thoughtful manner
47
Epic
Long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style, typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter
48
Epitaph
Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place, usually one or several lines, often serious + religious but sometimes witty + irrelevant
49
Euphemism
Word or phrase taking place of harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality
50
Euphony
Sounds blend harmoniously
51
Farce
Extremely broad humor, funny play or comedy
52
Feminine rhyme
Lines rhymed by their final 2 syllables
53
First person narrator
Narrator who is a character in the story + tells it from their point of view
54
Foil
Secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of the main character, usually by contrast
55
Foot
Basic rhythmic unit of poetry, composed of combination of 2 or 3 syllables
56
Foreshadowing
Event or statement in a narrative in miniature that suggests a larger event coming later
57
Free verse
Poetry written w/o regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern
58
Genre
Sub-category of literature
59
Gothic
Sensibility derived from gothic novels
60
Hubris
Excessive pride or ambition leading to main character's downfall
61
Hyperbole
Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement
62
In medias res
In the midst of things
63
Interior monologue
Writing recording mental talking going on inside of a character's head (more coherent than stream of consciousness)
64
Inversion
Switching customary order of elements in sentence or phrase
65
Irony
Statement that means opposite of what it seems to mean
66
Lament
Poem of sadness or grief over death of a loved one or intense loss
67
Lampoon
Satire
68
Loose sentence
Complete before its end
69
Lyric
Type of poetry that explores personal interpretation of + feelings about the world
70
Masculine rhyme
Rhyme ending on final stressed syllable
71
Melodrama
Form of cheesy theater
72
Metaphor
Comparison or analogy stating that one thing is another
73
Metaphysical conceit
Form of metaphor used in metaphysical poems
74
Metonym
Word used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated w/
75
Nemesis
Protagonist's arch enemy or supreme + persistent difficulty
76
Neologism
Formal term for coinage
77
Objectivity
Impersonal or outside view of events, have objective point of view
78
Omniscient Narrator
Third person narrator who sees into each character's mind + understands all actions going on, limited can only report on one character
79
Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like what they mean
80
Oxymoron
Phrase composed of opposites
81
Parable
Story that instructs
82
Paradox
Situation or statement that seems to contradict itself but does not upon closer inspection
83
Parallelism
Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect
84
Parenthetical phrase
Phrase set off by commas that interrupt the flow of sentence to add commentary or detail
85
Parody
Work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness
86
Pastoral
Poem set in tranquil nature or one about shepherds
87
Pathos
Scene evokes feelings of dignified pity + sympathy
88
Periodic sentence
Not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase
89
Persona
Narrator in non first-person novel, gives aspect of author's personality
90
Personification
Inanimate object takes human shape
91
Plaint
Poem or speech expressing sorrow
92
Point of view
Perspective from which the action of a novel is presented
93
Prelude
Introductory poem to longer work of verse
94
Protagonist
Main character of novel or play
95
Pun
Usually humorous use of word to suggest 2+ meanings
96
Refrain
Line or set of lines repeated several times over course of poem
97
Requiem
Song of prayer for dead
98
Rhapsody
Intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise
99
Rhetorical question
Question that suggests an answer
100
Satire
Exposes common character flaws to humor, attempts to improve things by pointing out mistakes
101
Simile
Comparison using like or as
102
Soliloquy
Speech spoken by character alone on stage (unlike aside in that it isn't meant to imply that the actor acknowledges audience's presence)
103
Stanza
Group of lines roughly analogous in function in verse to paragraph's function in prose
104
Stock characters
Standard or chliched character types
105
Stream of consciousness
Method like first person narration showing all of character's thoughts as they arise
106
Subjectivity
Using interior or personal view of single observer, typically colored with observer's emotional responses
107
Suspension of disbelief
Demand made of theater audience to accept limitations of staging + supply detials with imagination, acceptance on audience's or reader's part of incidents of plot in play or story
108
Symbolism
Object represents idea
109
Syntax
Ordering + structuring of words
110
Thesis
Main position of argument, central contention that will be supported
111
Tragic flaw
Weakness of character in otherwise good individual leading to their demise in tragedy
112
Travesty
Grotesque parody
113
Truism
Way-too obvious truth
114
Unreliable narrator
First person narrator that isn't entirely credible
115
Utopia
Idealized place
116
Zeugma
Use of word to modify 2+ words for different meanings
