Ap Lit Terms

Front 1

Abstract vs. Concrete

Back 1

Somethings as an idea vs. Something experienced

Front 2

Allegory

Back 2

A story with two or more meanings, one literal and one symbolic

Front 3

Alliteration

Back 3

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in 2 or more neighboring words

Front 4

Allusion

Back 4

Brief reference to another text

Front 5

Analogy

Back 5

Comparisom of two things which are alike in many aspects for clarification

Front 6

Anaphora

Back 6

Same phrase being repeated at the beginning of 2 or more lines

Front 7

Apostrophe

Back 7

Figure of speech directly addressing an absent or imaginary person or thing as a personified abstraction

Front 8

Assonance

Back 8

Repetition of vowel sounds

Front 9

Cacophony

Back 9

Sounds ehich are discordant; harsh

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Caesura

Back 10

Audible pause in a line or verse

Front 11

Chiasmus

Back 11

Inversion in the second of twp parallel phrases

Front 12

Cliché

Back 12

Overused phrase

Front 13

Colloquial

Back 13

The use of slang or informalities in writing

Front 14

Connotation

Back 14

Implied meaning of a word

Front 15

Consonance

Back 15

Repetition of consonant sounds

Front 16

Couplet

Back 16

Two line grouping of poetry

Front 17

Denotation

Back 17

The strict, literal meaning of a word

Front 18

Dialect

Back 18

Use of words or phrases to capture everyday colloquial language

Front 19

Diction

Back 19

Word choice

Front 20

Elegy

Back 20

Song or poem expressing sadness or lamentation

Front 21

Enjambment

Back 21

Continuation of one syntactic unit from one line of verse to the other

Front 22

Euphemism

Back 22

Less harsh substitute for an unpleasant word or concept

Front 23

Euphony

Back 23

Sounds which are harminous and pleasant

Front 24

Figurative language

Back 24

Language that goes beyond the normal meaning of the words

Front 25

Foot

Back 25

Unit of rhythm within a poem

Front 26

Form

Back 26

General term for structure of a text

Front 27

Hyperbole

Back 27

Exaggeration for emphasis or humor

Front 28

Iambic pentameter

Back 28

Five foot line of poetry made up of unstressed-stressed poetic feet

Front 29

Imagery

Back 29

The use of language to paint a picture in tje audiences mind

Front 30

Irony

Back 30

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant

Front 31

Juxtaposition

Back 31

Arrangement of two or more ideas side by side to compare, contrast, emphasise, etc

Front 32

Metaphor

Back 32

One thiMg is spoken of as though it were something else

Front 33

Meter

Back 33

The nimber and type of feet in each line of poetry

Front 34

Metonymy

Back 34

Figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another object closely associsted with it

Front 35

Mixed metaphor

Back 35

Metaphors which are incongruous or inconsistent are mixed together

Front 36

Narrator

Back 36

Speaker in the text

Front 37

Ode

Back 37

Poem of appreciation

Front 38

Oxymoron

Back 38

Combination of contradictory words and meanings

Front 39

Onomatopoeia

Back 39

Words imitate the natural sounds they make

Front 40

Paradox

Back 40

A statement that appears self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer examination contains some degree of truth

Front 41

Parody

Back 41

A work that closely imitates the style or content with the specific aim of comedic effect

Front 42

Parallelism

Back 42

A repetition of patterns of grammatical structure or length

Front 43

Pastoral

Back 43

A work that generally idealizes a simple, rural existence

Front 44

Personification

Back 44

Presenting concepts or objects with human qualities

Front 45

Point of View

Back 45

Authors position on a subject, 1st 2nd 3rd

Front 46

Pun

Back 46

Play on words

Front 47

Quatrain

Back 47

Four line stanza in a poem

Front 48

Repetition

Back 48

Words, phrases, actions, and ideas that appear over and over again

Front 49

Rhetoric

Back 49

The art or writing and speaking effectively and persuasively

Front 50

Sarcasm

Back 50

Biting, causric language that is meant to hurt or ridicule

Front 51

Satire

Back 51

A work that uses irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement and sarcasm to target human vices and follies

Front 52

Sentimentality

Back 52

An attempt to evoke an emptional response beyond bounds of reason

Front 53

Shift

Back 53

A change in verb tense, location, speaker, narrative method, setting or tone

Front 54

Simile

Back 54

A comparison between two things which are not alike using like or as

Front 55

Stanza

Back 55

Grouping of lines in a poem

Front 56

Style

Back 56

The sum of choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, and other literary devices

Front 57

Symbolism

Back 57

The use of words or objects to stand for other words or objects

Front 58

Synecdoche

Back 58

A part of something used to srand for the whole

Front 59

Synesthesia

Back 59

Figure of speech where one sense experience is used to describe another

Front 60

Syntax

Back 60

Sentence construction

Front 61

Text

Back 61

Something written or spoken considered as an object to be examined

Front 62

Theme

Back 62

The central idea or message of a text; the insight it offers

Front 63

Thesis

Back 63

A sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the writers opinion, purpose, idea or meaning

Front 64

Tone

Back 64

The authors written attitude

Front 65

Transition

Back 65

Something which provides a connection from one section of a text to another

Front 66

Understatement

Back 66

The minimization of fact or presentation of something as less significant than it is; the opposite of hyperbole