Literary Terms - 4Th Set

Front 1

figurative language

Back 1

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and
is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.

Front 2

figure of speech

Back 2

A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare
dissimilar things. Figures of speech include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor,
oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement.

Front 3

fixed form

Back 3

A set of rules for poetry governing the number of lines, rhyme scheme,
meter, etc. Some examples of fixed forms include haiku, sestina, sonnet, etc.

Front 4

flashback

Back 4

An interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an incident
that occurred prior to the main time frame of a work's action. Writers use flashbacks to
complicate the sense of chronology in the plot of their works and to convey the
richness of the experience of human time.

Front 5

foil

Back 5

A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story.

Front 6

foot

Back 6

A metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, an
iamb or iambic foot is represented by ˘', that is, an unaccented syllable followed by an
accented one.

Front 7

foreshadowing

Back 7

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

Front 8

free verse

Back 8

Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not
being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit
and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad.
Modern and contemporary poets of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries often
employ free verse.

Front 9

generic conventions

Back 9

This term describes traditions for each genre. These conventions
help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and journalistic
writing or an autobiography and political writing. On the AP language exam, try to
distinguish the unique features of a writer’s work from those dictated by convention.

Front 10

genre

Back 10

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature
are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genre is a flexible term; within these broad
boundaries exist many subdivisions that are often called genres themselves. For
example, prose can be divided into fiction (novels and short stories) or nonfiction
(essays, biographies, autobiographies, etc.). Poetry can be divided into lyric, dramatic,
narrative, epic, etc. Drama can be divided into tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce,
etc. On the AP language exam, expect the majority of the passages to be from the
following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic,
political, scientific, and nature writing. There may be fiction or poetry.

Front 11

homily

Back 11

This term literally means “sermon,” but more informally, it can include any
serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

Front 12

hyperbole

Back 12

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. (The
literal Greek meaning is “overshoot.”) Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however,
a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony. The opposite of
hyperbole is understatement.

Front 13

iamb

Back 13

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in to-DAY.

Front 14

Iambic pentameter

Back 14

A line of five iambic feet, or ten syllables.

Front 15

imagery

Back 15

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion,
or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five
senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. On a broader and deeper
level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose
may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman’s cheeks
and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection. An author may use complex imagery
while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile.
In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work. On the AP exam,
pay attention to how an author creates imagery and to the effect of this imagery.