AP Lit Terms - test 3

Test on Thursday, November 5th

chiasmus

arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of X Y Y X.

(ex- “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” “you stood up for America; now America must stand up for you”)

chronological ordering

arrangement of ideas in the order in which things occur; may move from past to present or in reverse, from present to past

classification

arrangement of objects according to their class

(ex- Media includes print, TV, radio, internet)

comedy of manners

makes fun of polished and sophisticated society, highlighting its flaws

(ex- movies/plays where characters are in an upper class society but are screwing up almost every societal expectation)

comic relief

humorous speeches and incidents in the course of the serious action of a tragedy

(ex- Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare)

conceit

unusual comparison, extended metaphor in a poem

(ex- Poet John Donne, poem about a flea being a symbol/metaphor for premarital sex or Jesus)

concrete language

language that describes specific, observable things, people or places, rather than ideas or qualities.

connotation

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation.

(ex- “She’s hot!”)

consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.
(ex - Poet Emily Dickinson uses this. gives a poem its unity without having to rhyme.

ex - The silken, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain)

conventional

writings that follow traditional techniques

(ex- the 5-paragraph essay)

cumulative

a loose sentence that begins with a main idea and then expands on that idea with lots of extra details

deduction

A form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases.

(ex- all mammals have backbones. a dolphin is a mammal, therefore, a dolphin has a backbone)

diction

word choice. (important because it helps readers understand an author’s tone or purpose)

(ex- weep vs sob)

didactic

fiction or nonfiction that teaches a lesson

(ex- In the fiction novel Frankenstein, Shelly is being didactic by teaching readers the lesson to not fall into isolation)

digression

when a character or speaker temporary departs from the main subject in speaking or writing

(ex - Catcher In the Rye uses this a lot, Mark Twain uses this a lot)