AP English Literature and Composition Flashcards: How Plot Orders Events Poetry

What this deck covers

This deck focuses on How Plot Orders Events Poetry, giving you a quick way to review the definitions, rules, and examples that matter most for AP English Literature and Composition.

How to use these flashcards

Work through these flashcards in short sessions. Try to answer each prompt before flipping the card, then revisit any cards you miss until the explanation feels automatic.

Flashcard 1: What is dramatic irony created by plot ordering?

Answer: The audience knows crucial information before a character does. Plot reveals information to readers before characters.

Flashcard 2: What is foreshadowing as it relates to ordering events?

Answer: Early cues that anticipate later events, shaping reader expectations. Plants hints that gain significance retrospectively.

Flashcard 3: Identify the plot order: the narrative repeatedly skips years with brief summaries between scenes.

Answer: Time ellipses with summary to compress narrative time. Focuses on key moments while acknowledging passage of time.

Flashcard 4: What is suspense created by plot ordering?

Answer: Tension produced by delaying key information or outcomes. Withholds resolution to maintain reader engagement.

Flashcard 5: What is a frame narrative (framed story) as a way to order events?

Answer: An outer story encloses and organizes an inner story or stories. Creates layers through nested storytelling structure.

Flashcard 6: What is parallel plot (dual plot lines) in event ordering?

Answer: Two storylines are intercut to develop connections or contrasts. Alternating perspectives create thematic or causal links.

Flashcard 7: What is nonlinear plot order?

Answer: Events are presented out of time sequence through shifts in time. Disrupts linear time through flashbacks, flashforwards, or rearrangement.

Flashcard 8: Identify the plot order: the story opens with the climax, then explains earlier causes.

Answer: In medias res with backstory supplied through flashback/analepsis. Combines immediate engagement with gradual revelation.

Flashcard 9: What is the difference between story (fabula) and plot (sjuzhet)?

Answer: Story is event sequence; plot is how the text arranges it. Distinguishes actual events from their textual presentation.

Flashcard 10: Identify the plot order: the narrator reveals the ending early, then shows how it happened.

Answer: Prolepsis (flashforward) followed by retrospective narration. Creates dramatic irony as readers know the outcome.

Flashcard 11: What is a montage or compressed sequence in plot ordering?

Answer: Many events are rapidly summarized to condense time. Accelerates pacing by condensing extended time periods.

Flashcard 12: What is a frame narrative as a plot-ordering device?

Answer: An outer story encloses and contextualizes an inner story. Creates layers of meaning through nested narratives.

Flashcard 13: What is in medias res as an ordering strategy?

Answer: The narrative begins in the middle of the action, then fills in earlier events. Creates immediate engagement by starting mid-conflict.

Flashcard 14: Identify the ordering device: The narrator skips from 1910 to 1930 in one line.

Answer: Ellipsis. Time jump omits twenty years of story events.

Flashcard 15: What is nonchronological plot order?

Answer: Events are presented out of story-time sequence for effect. Disrupts linear time to create emphasis or reveal meaning.

Flashcard 16: What is in medias res as an opening strategy for plot order?

Answer: The narrative begins in the middle of the action, then fills in earlier events. Latin for "into the middle of things"; hooks readers immediately.

Flashcard 17: What is a flashforward as a plot-order device?

Answer: An interruption that jumps ahead to a later event or future scene. Less common than flashback; reveals outcomes before causes.

Flashcard 18: What is foreshadowing in relation to plot order?

Answer: A present detail that hints at a future event or outcome. Creates anticipation by planting clues about what's coming.

Flashcard 19: What is a time ellipsis in plot order?

Answer: A deliberate gap where time passes without narrated events. Omits unimportant events to maintain narrative momentum.

Flashcard 20: What is a summary in narrative pacing and order?

Answer: Condensed narration that covers multiple events quickly. Accelerates pace by compressing extended time periods.

Flashcard 21: What is a reverse-chronological plot structure?

Answer: Events are presented backward from later outcomes to earlier causes. Reveals causation by working from effect back to cause.

Flashcard 22: Identify the ordering device: The novel opens with the murder, then shows causes.

Answer: In medias res. Starting mid-action requires backfilling exposition.

Flashcard 23: What is analepsis in narrative time order?

Answer: A shift to earlier events; a formal term for flashback. Greek term emphasizing the backward temporal movement.

Flashcard 24: What is prolepsis in narrative time order?

Answer: A shift to future events; a formal term for flashforward. Greek term emphasizing the forward temporal leap.

Flashcard 25: What is a plot twist in terms of event arrangement?

Answer: A late revelation that reinterprets earlier events or assumptions. Subverts expectations by reframing prior understanding.

Flashcard 26: Identify the ordering device: A chapter shows childhood after an adult argument.

Answer: Flashback. Past events interrupt present narrative sequence.

Flashcard 27: Identify the plot order: the final scene mirrors the opening image, closing the story where it began.

Answer: Circular structure (return-to-beginning plot). Emphasizes cyclical themes or character transformation.

Flashcard 28: What is a nonlinear plot in a narrative?

Answer: A plot that uses shifts in time rather than a single forward sequence. Fragments chronology to mirror memory or theme.

Flashcard 29: Identify the plot order: chapters alternate between two characters' timelines until they meet.

Answer: Parallel plot lines (intercut dual narrative). Builds tension through converging storylines.

Flashcard 30: What is a flashback as a plot-order device?

Answer: An interruption that moves to an earlier event to supply context. Temporarily pauses present action to reveal past information.

Flashcard 31: What is an ellipsis in narrative time?

Answer: A deliberate omission that skips over a span of story time. Compresses time by leaving gaps in the narrative.

Flashcard 32: What is a scene in narrative pacing and order?

Answer: Event presentation at near real-time pace with detailed action. Slows pace to match story time with reading time.

Flashcard 33: Identify the ordering device: The narrator hints early that the marriage will fail.

Answer: Foreshadowing. Early clues prepare readers for later developments.

Flashcard 34: Identify the effect: The plot withholds the culprit until the final page.

Answer: Suspense. Delayed revelation creates anticipation and tension.