AP Lit - Literary Terms Quiz #2

abstract

a summary of points (as of a writing) usually presented in skeletal form; something that summarizes or concentrates the essentials of a larger thing or several things

anticlimax

a letdown at the highest point of tension within a story

archaism

the use of writing that is today considered outdated or old fashioned

ballad

a poem with a musical quality

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

epic

a long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds

euphony

the combining of words to create a pleasing sound

foot

the basic unit of measurement of accentual-syllabic meter

foreshadowing

a narrative device in which suggestions or warnings about events to come are dropped or planted

gothic novel

a genre associated with the mystery and intrigue surrounding the supernatural and the unknown

hyperbole

deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis

irony

contrast between what is stated and what is really meant

masculine rhyme

a monosyllabic rhyme or a rhyme that occurs only in stressed final syllables

nemesis

someone who has villainous qualities and/or does something that stymies the main character’s (protagonist) goals

paradox

a statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning

personification

giving characteristics of life to inanimate object

pun

a figure of speech that plays with words that have multiple meanings, or that plays with words that sound similar but mean different things

simile

a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”

symbolism

a literary device in which a writer uses one thing–usually a physical object or phenomenon–to represent something more abstract

travesty

the treatment of a noble and dignified subject in an inappropriately trivial manner