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AP Literary Terms

Subjects : english, ap, literature
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A narrative told by a character involved in the story - using first-person pronouns such as I and we.






2. In poetry - the use of successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them






3. An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places






4. An eight-line rhyming stanza of a poem






5. An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form






6. The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning






7. French term for the world of books - criticism - and literature in general






8. A story containing unreal - imaginary features






9. A feeling of association or identification with an object or person






10. A person - scene - event - or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set






11. The pattern of rhymes within a given poem






12. A saying or proverb expressing common wisdom or truth






13. A narrator with unlimited awareness - understanding - and insight of characters - setting - background - and all other elements of the story






14. The main idea or meaning - often an abstract idea upon which a work of literature is built






15. In literature - the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem






16. A term that describes characters' excessive emotional response to experience; also nauseatingly nostalgic and mawkish






17. A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole ('fifty masts' for fifty ships) or the whole signifies the part ('days' for life - as in 'He lived his days in Canada'). Also when the name of the material stands for the thing itself ('pigskin'






18. A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things






19. A work of fiction of roughly 20 -000 to 50 -000 words--longer than a short story - but shorter than a novel






20. A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics






21. The main character in a work of literature






22. A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. Ex: 'The White House says...'






23. The interpretation or analysis of a text.






24. The high point - or turning point - of a story or play






25. The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to the story or subject matter of a poem.






26. A humorous play on words - using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings






27. A forceful sermon - lecture - or tirade






28. A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words - clauses - or sentences: 'They promised freedom but provided slavery'






29. A subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play - usually connected to the main plot






30. A saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language






31. A brief explanation - summary - or evaluation of a text or work of literature






32. The work of poets - particularly those of the seventeenth century - that uses elaborate conceits - is highly intellectual - and expresses the complexities of love and life






33. The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker






34. Three periods (. . .) indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation






35. A term that describes a line of poetry that ends with a natural pause often indicated by a mark of punctuation.






36. The quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that suprise and delight by their unexpectedness; the power to comment subtly and pointedly on the foibles of the passing scene






37. Faulty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects






38. A poet; in olden times - a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment






39. A kind of poetry without rhymed lines - rhythm - or fixed metrical feet






40. A version of a text put into simpler - everyday words






41. A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature






42. Similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is.






43. The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature






44. A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line.






45. The dictionary definition of a word






46. The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose






47. A synonym for view or feeling; also a refined and tender emotion in literature






48. The grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry






49. A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main though only at the end. In other words - the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support.






50. A verse with five poetic feet per line