Ap Lit Terms

Front 1

Allegory

Back 1

characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events, abstract ideas or qualities

Front 2

Anaphora

Back 2

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. Deliberate, helps make author's point more clear.

Front 3

Anastrophe

Back 3

Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion. (Changing up the word order in a sentence)

Front 4

Anecdote

Back 4

brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual

Front 5

Antimetabole

Back 5

Repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.
"One should eat to live, not live to eat" -Moliere
In poetry, this is caused Chiasmus

Front 6

Antithesis

Back 6

Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure

Front 7

Antihero

Back 7

what it sounds like, a central character lacking traditional qualities associated with heroes. May lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.

Front 8

Anthropomorphism

Back 8

attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification).

Front 9

Aphorism

Back 9

brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or a generally accepted truth. (also called Maxim, Epigram)

Front 10

Apostrophe

Back 10

Calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation.
ex. "Loacoon! Thou great embodiment/ Of human life and human history!" - Holland

Front 11

Apposition

Back 11

Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first, often set off by a colon.
ex. "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink for the service of his country; but he that stands in Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." -Paine

Front 12

Assonance

Back 12

The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together.

Front 13

Asyndeton

Back 13

Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally.
ex. Instead of X, Y, and Z the writer uses X,Y, Z...see polysyndeton

Front 14

Balance

Back 14

Constructing sentences so that both halves are about the same length and importance. Also, sentences can be unbalanced for special effect as well.