Ap Lit Term Flashcards

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Allegory

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a form of extended metaphor in which objects and persons in a narrative, either in prose or verse, are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. thus it represents one thing in the guise of another--an abstraction in that of a concrete image. the characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities

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Alliteration

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the recurrence of initial consonant sounds

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Allusion

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A casual and brief reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event

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Analogy

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the comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explanations or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult ida or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. while the simile and this technique often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while this device serves the more practical purpose of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended

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Anaphora

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the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism

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Anecdote

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a brief story used in an essay to illustrate a point

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Aphorism

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a brief sometimes clever saying that expresses a principle, truth or observation about life. examples; "a man is God in ruins" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Apostrophe

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the direct address of a person or personified thing, either present or absent. its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back

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Chiasmus

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a crossing parallelism, where the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order.

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Conceit

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an elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an anology or metaphor in which say a beloved is compared to a ship, planet, etc. the comparison may be brief or extended

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Ellipsis

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a sudden leap from one topic to another

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Epigraph

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a brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work

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Euphemism

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the substitution of a mild or less negative word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one, as in the use of "pass away" instead of "die" . the basic psychology of this type of language is the desire to put something bad or embarrassing in a positive or at least neutral light. thus many terms referring to death, sex, crime, and excremental functions are expressed using this device. since this device is often chosen to disguise something horrifying, it can be exploited by the satirist through the use of irony and exaggeration

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Foreshdowing

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a literary technique in which the author gives hints about future events

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Hyperbole

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Exaggeration used for emphasis. this device can be used to heighten effect, to catalyze recognition or to create a humorous perception

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Irony

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a mode of expression, through words or events, conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation. a writer may say the opposite of what he means, create a reversal between expectation and its fufillment, or give the audience knowledge that a character lacks, making the character's words have meaning to the audience not perceived by the character

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Litotes

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a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used. depending on the tone and context of the usage, this device either retains the effect of understatement or becomes an intensifying expression

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Malapropism

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a ludicrous misuse of words that sound alike

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Metonymy

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another form of metaphor, very similar to synecdoche in which a closely associated object is substituted for the object or idea in mind. Ex; the orders came directly from the White House

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Metaphor

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a comparison which imaginatively identifies one thing with another dissimilar thing, and transfers or ascribes to the first thing (tenor or idea) some of the qualities of the second (the vehicle or image). unlike a simile or analogy, this device asserts that one thing is another thing, not just that one thing is like another.

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Neologism

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a new word, usage or expression

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Non- Sequitur

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a statement that does not follow logically from anything previously said

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Onomatopoeia

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the use of words which in their pronunciation suggests their meaning. "Hiss" for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of steam or a snake. slam, buzz, screech, whirr, crush, sizzle

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Oxymoron

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a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun or adverb-adjective relationship and is used for effect to emphasize contrasts, incongruities, hypocrisy, or simply the complex nature of reality. ex; wise fool, laughing sadness

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Palindrome

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a word, verse, or sentence or number that reads the same backwards and forwards

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Parable

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a short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson

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Paradox

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a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd

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Parallelism

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a recurrent syntactical similarity. in this structural arrangement several parts of a sentence or several sentences are developed and phrased similarly to show that the idea is the parts or sentences are equal in importance. this structural arrangement also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence

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Personification

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the metaphorical representation of an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes- attributes of form, character, behavior and so on. as the name implies, a thing or idea is treated as a person

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Rhetorical Question

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a question that is not answered by the writer, because its answer is obvious or obviously desired, and is usually just yes or no. it is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a concluding statement from the facts at hand

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Simile

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a direct, expressed comparison between two things essentially unlike each other, but resembling each other in at least one way. in formal prose this is a device both of art and explanation, comparing the unfamiliar thing to dome familiar thing known to the reader

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Symbol

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something that is itself and yet also represents something else, like an idea

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Synecdoche

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a form of metaphor in which part of an entity is used to refer to the whole. example; my wheels substituted for my car

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Tautology

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a needless repetition of an idea in a different word or phrase

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Understatement

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expressing an idea with less emphasis or in a lesser degree than is the actual case. the opposite of hyperbole. this literary device is employed for ironic emphasis