Ap Lit Terms

Front 1

archetype

Back 1

images, plot patterns, and symbols that reoccur and evoke emotional responses in the reader bc they resonate with an image already existing in our subconscious mind. eg. death, rebirth

Front 2

assonance

Back 2

repetition of a vowel sound within 2 or more words in close proximity eg. fake, lake, late

Front 3

carpe diem

Back 3

latin expression meaning to seize the day. carpe diem poems have a theme for living for today

Front 4

euphemism

Back 4

use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but also considered less distasteful or less offensive than another. eg. he is at rest instead of he is dead. technicolor yawn instead of vomitting

Front 5

foil

Back 5

a character whose traits are the opposite of another and who thus points up the strengths and weaknesses of the other character

Front 6

haiku

Back 6

a japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, usually about some form of nature

Front 7

hubris

Back 7

violent transgression. the sin par excellence of the tragic or over-aspiring hero. though it is usually translated as pride, hubris is probably better understood as a sort of insolent daring, a haughty overstepping of cultural codes or ethical boundaries.

Front 8

litotes

Back 8

opposite of hyperbole; litotes intensifies an idea understatement by stating through the opposite. eg. saying "it wasn't my best day" instead of "it was my worst day."

Front 9

lyric

Back 9

once referred to poetry meant to be sung to music, but now describes any short, concentrated poem expressing personal feelings

Front 10

metaphor

Back 10

comparison without like or as

Front 11

parallelism

Back 11

sentence construction which takes places in close proximity two or more equal grammatical constructions. may be as simple as listing two or three modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb

Front 12

polysyndeton

Back 12

sentence which uses AND or another conjunction, with no commas, to separate the items in a series, usually appearing in the form of x and y and z, stressing equally each member of the series. it makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in the asyndeton

Front 13

simile

Back 13

comparison using like or as

Front 14

understatement

Back 14

deliberately representing something as much less than it really is.

Front 15

villanelle

Back 15

a 19 line poem consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes. the first and third lines of the first tercet repeat alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain