AP Literature Literary Terms Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key literary terms, critical lenses, narrative structures, and character types from the provided AP Literature lecture notes.

Irony

A literary device or event in which the expectations of a given situation do not reflect the reality of the situation, featuring three distinct forms: verbal, situational, and dramatic.

Verbal Irony

A form of irony where a character says something but really means the opposite, requiring the audience to know what the character intends to mean for it to be effective.

Situational Irony

A form of irony where the outcome of a situation is different from the intended outcome, and the audience or reader is not aware of the actual outcome until encountering it.

Dramatic Irony

A form of irony where the audience or reader knows something the characters within the story do not, requiring the audience to be aware of the situation's intended outcome.

Allegory

A story, picture, or piece of art that can be interpreted both literally and figuratively, sustaining an underlying moral, philosophical, or political meaning throughout the entire work.

Antagonist

A person, group, or force that fights or competes against the main character (protagonist) and creates the main tension or conflict in the story.

Archetype

An easily recognizable example, model, or recurring pattern in stories, human behavior, or psychology, such as a familiar character type, plot, or theme.

Atmosphere

The way an author uses setting, objects, or internal thoughts of characters to create emotion, mood, or an experience for a reader, developing through description rather than action.

Catharsis

An emotional release or cleansing for the audience, developed first by Aristotle, caused by art or media that evokes strong negative emotions but ultimately makes the audience feel better.

Character

Any person, animal, or being that takes part in the action of a story and drives the plot forward.

Dynamic Character

A character that learns, grows, and changes internally throughout the story.

Static Character

A character that stays the same throughout the story.

Round Character

A complex character that seems realistic because of many traits and feelings.

Flat Character

A simple figure with only one or two main traits.

Conflict

A disagreement, argument, conflicting opinions or ideas, or mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or demands.

Diction

The choosing of words and the pronunciation of words in writing or speech.

Critical Lenses

Literary analysis techniques that use different perspectives to interpret or evaluate a text, uncover deeper themes, or understand character motivations.

Marxism (Critical Lens)

A critical lens focusing on class struggle, power, or economic disparities to examine how social hierarchy plays a foundational role in a text.

Postcolonialism (Critical Lens)

A critical lens focusing on the impacts and perspectives of European colonialism, including concepts like othering, resistance, and silenced perspectives.

Feminism (Critical Lens)

A critical lens focusing on gender roles and how traditional gender roles are defined within a text.

Psychoanalytic (Critical Lens)

A critical lens focusing on an individual's behavior and how it is influenced by their unconscious thoughts, fears, repressed memories, and desires.

Epigraph

A quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme.

Symbolism

The use of an object, person, setting, or word that represents a large or abstract idea beyond its literal meaning.

Fable

A short fictional story, ranging from a few sentences to a page, that teaches a moral lesson and often includes personified animals or supernatural elements.

Foil

An intentional comparison or contrast used to highlight specific traits between characters or settings, often enhancing qualities of a protagonist.

Frame Story (Narrative Frame)

A narrative structure that includes a story within a story, achieved through a secondhand effect where an outer narrator introduces context.

Single Embedded Frame Story

A frame narrative where one outer story wraps around an inner story that serves as the main event, while the outer event provides context.

Collective Frame Story

A frame narrative where an outer story combines a collection of otherwise unrelated smaller stories into a single novel.

Nested Frame Story

A frame narrative that acts like an onion, where each narrator peels back a layer to introduce another narrator or substory.

Imagery

The use of descriptive or figurative language in literature and art that creates mental pictures appealing to the reader's five senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile.

Narrator / Speaker

The perspective through which a piece of writing is seen at a given time, which can shift in point of view (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person) or in who is speaking and thinking.

New Criticism

A literary analysis method focusing solely on close reading of the text itself and its literary devices, rather than the author's life or historical background.

Plot

The sequence of events that develop throughout a narrative, serving as a framework that commonly includes exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Post Colonial Literature

Literature representing the aftermath and lasting effects of European imperialist colonization on impacted cultures and societies.

Protagonist

The central character that the story revolves around emotionally and plot-wise, whose growth and change are followed throughout the narrative.

Setting

Where and when a story or scene takes place, shaping main events and character motivations through landscape, time, weather, and architecture.

Symbol

A literary device used to represent an idea or concept with an object or character, allowing authors to communicate complex themes.

Universal Symbol

A symbol that represents surface-level, easily recognizable universal themes, such as a rose for love or a dove for peace.

Contextual Symbol

A symbol specific to a book's themes that develops its meaning internally through plot, character arcs, and experiences within the story.

Motif

A literary device where a symbol or idea is repeated multiple times throughout a piece of literature to emphasize specific themes.

Theme

The main idea, central message, or specific stance about a topic in a piece of writing that connects ideas to the real world.

Tragedy

A serious drama describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (like destiny), resulting in a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror.

Complex Tragedy

A form of tragedy driven by plot twists and discovery.

Pathetic Tragedy

A form of tragedy driven by suffering and passion.

Ethical Tragedy

A form of tragedy driven by moral character.

Simple Tragedy

A form of tragedy driven by fate or calamity without complex turns.

Thesis

The broad connection between claims an author makes to link intellectual arguments into one cohesive, arguable opinion that answers an analytical question.

Adage

An intentionally brief literary device used to express a universally understood or accepted truth and outline a common philosophical belief.