ap lit flashcards

Syntax

Sequence in which words are put together to form sentences.

Theme

A message that is prevalent in a text.

Motif

A recurring subject, theme, idea, etc. in a literary work.

Analogy

A comparison of two different things that are alike in some way.

Anastrophe

Inversion of the normal syntactic order of words.

Anathema

A formal solemn denunciation against an individual or institute.

Antithesis

Opposition or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.

Aphorism

A concise statement that expresses a general truth or piece of wisdom (ex. "if it ain't broke, don't fix it)

Apostrophe

Addressing someone absent, dead, or non-human as if that person or thing were present

Archetype

In poetry, this may be an idea, character, action, object, institution, event, or setting containing essential characteristics.

Conceit

A term for a particularly fanciful metaphor.

Epithet

A descriptive term or phrase that expresses a quality or characteristic of a person or thing (ex. Alexander the Great, Winnie the Pooh)

Inversion

The changing of the usual order of words, reversing the usual order and shifting the emphasis to the more important words.

Litotes

A particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used.

Meiosis

Using a negative to diminish or understate.

Metonymy

Substitution of one word for another which it suggests.

Paradox

Reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory.

Puns

A pun twists the meaning of words.

Synecdoche

A type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, or any portion for the whole.

Tone

The quality of something that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author.

Dirge

A funeral song lamenting someone's death.

Elegy

A type of literature expressing sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died.

Epistle

A poem written in the form of a letter.

Epitaph

An inscription carved on a gravestone or the final statement spoken by a character before his death.

Homily

A sermon or a short, exhortatory work to instruct spiritually or morally.

Lyric

A short poem expressing personal emotions and feelings.

Parody

A creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation.

Prose

Should tell a story, whether fictional or non-fictional, and have a clear beginning and end.

Satire

A literary tone used to ridicule human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting the subject of the satiric attack.

Sonnet

A lyric poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, expressing a single, complete idea or thought.

Shakespearean sonnet

Uses three quatrains with a final rhymed couplet, rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds excluding consonants.

alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or inside words.

blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter with ten syllables per line, even-numbered syllables accented.

caesura

Natural pause or break in a verse.

end-stopped rhyme

Line ending in a full pause, contrasting with enjambment.

enjambment

Run-on line without pause or end punctuation.

rhyme

Pattern of words with similar sounds.

onomatopoeia

Words imitating sounds they represent.

anadiplosis

Repeating the last word of a clause at the beginning of the next.

anaphora

Repetition of beginning clauses for artistic effect.

antimetabole

Repetition in reverse order for rhetorical effect.

asyndeton

Elimination of conjunctions in a sentence for effect.

chiasmus

Turning parallelism inside out to create a crisscross pattern.

ellipsis

Artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause.

epanalepsis

Repeating a word from the beginning at the end of the same clause.

interrupted sentence

Sentence with subordinate elements in the middle, often set off by dashes.

loose sentence

Complex sentence with the main clause first and subordinate clause following.

parallelism

Balancing sentence elements for rhetorical effect.

periodic sentence

Complex sentence with the main clause last, preceded by subordinate clauses.

polysyndeton

Use of many conjunctions for an overwhelming effect.

antecedent

Noun preceding a pronoun.

colloquial

Characteristic of spoken language, informal.

didactic

Preachy or instructive.

invective

Direct verbal assault or denunciation.

narrative devices

Includes style, tone, diction, and detail.

pedantic/bombastic

Using big words needlessly.