AP LITERARY
TERMS
2014
ANAPHORA

It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on
the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the
place."

(Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in
the Rye, 1951)
ANAPHORA

We saw the bruised children of these fathers
clump onto our school bus, we saw the abandoned
children huddle in the pews at church, we saw the
stunned and battered mothers begging for help at
our doors."

(Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence,"
1989)
ANAPHORA

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight
with growing confidence and growing strength in
the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the
cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender."

(Winston Churchill, speech to the House of
Commons, June 4, 1940)
ANASTROPHE

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to
conquer."

(Winston Churchill, address delivered at the
Guildhall, London, Sep. 14, 1914)
ANASTROPHE

Gracious she was. By gracious I mean full of graces.
...

"Intelligent she was not. In fact, she veered in the
opposite direction."

(Max Shulman, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
Doubleday, 1951)
ANASTROPHE

On a black cloak sparkle the stars.
ANTIMETABOLE/CHIASMUS

•"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock
landed on us."

(Malcolm X)
ANTIMETABOLE/CHIASMUS

•"Stops static before static stops you."

(Advertising slogan of Bounce fabric softener
sheet, 1990s)
Antimetabole/Chiasmus

•"You have to know how to accept rejection and
reject acceptance.“ Ray Bradbury

•"Don't sweat the petty things--and don't pet the
sweaty things.“ anonymous
Antimetabole/chiasmus

People the world over have always been more
impressed by the power of our example than by the
example of our power."

(President Bill Clinton, August 2008)
ANTITHESIS

“They promised freedom and provided slavery.”
ANTITHESIS

Hillary has soldiered on, damned if she does,
damned if she doesn't, like most powerful women,
expected to be tough as nails and warm as toast at
the same time."

(Anna Quindlen, "Say Goodbye to the Virago."
Newsweek, June 16, 2003)
ANTITHESIS


"It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the
epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it
was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of
hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way."
(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
ANTIHERO

JAY GATSBY
ANTIHEROINE

LADY MACBETH
ANTIHERO

Holden Caulfield – THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (J.
D. Salinger)
ANTIHERO

RASKOLNIKOV
APHORISM

Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a
regret.

Benjamin Disraeli
APHORISM

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged
by entering its prisons.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky
APHORISM

If you have built castles in the air, your work need
not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put
the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau
APHORISM

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is
composed of two characters. One represents
danger and the other represents opportunity.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
APOSTROPHE


"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--"
(John Keats, "Bright Star")
APOSTROPHE

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own."

(Lorenz Hart, "Blue Moon)
APOSTROPHE

•"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky."

(Jane Taylor, "The Star," 1806)
APPOSITION

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,

grew lean while he assailed the seasons."

(E.A. Robinson, "Miniver Cheevy
APPOSITION


•"This was not Aunt Dahlia, my good and kindly aunt,
but my Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken
bottles and kills rats with her teeth."
(P.G. Wodehouse)
ASSONANCE

•"Try to light the fire

If I bleat when I speak it's because I just got . . .
fleeced."

(Al Swearengen in Deadwood, 2004)
ASYNDETON


He tried to betray you, to cheat you, to deceive
you.
Smile, talk, bye-bye.
ASYNDETON

"I came, I saw, I conquered.”
ASYNDETON

"...and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people shall not perish from the
earth."

-Quoted by Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg
Address
Balance

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks
truth, and every other man has a right to knock him
down for it."

(Samuel Johnson, quoted by James Boswell in The
Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791)
BALANCE

•"Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun."