AP English Literature and Composition literary devices
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METAPHORICAL DEVICES/IMAGERY: AP Literature Terms#1
1. Metaphor: Comparison of two seemingly unlike things
2. Simile: Comparison using like or as
3. Personification: Characteristics of humans given to non-humans
4. Synecdoche: Part for the whole
5. Metonymy: Substitution of associated word for word itself
6. Allusion: Reference to well-known being or event
7. Symbol: Is what it is and something more
8. Image: Sensory detail
9. Archetype: Recurrent image that touches collective subconscious
1. Abstract/Concrete: Classifications of imagery
2. Motif: Recurrent image, idea, or theme in specific piece of literature
IRONIC DEVICES:
Literary Terms #2
1. Verbal irony: Say one thing, mean another
2. Dramatic irony: Audience knows, character doesn’t
3. Situational irony: Unexpected result
4. Understatement: Making big things seem small
5. Hyperbole: Exaggeration
6. Paradox: Seeming contradiction – long style
7. Oxymoron: Seeming contradiction – short style
8. Litotes: Affirmation from negative
9. Ambiguity: Purposeful multiple meanings as in pun and double entendre
RHETORICAL DEVICES:
Literary Terms #3
1. Diction: Word choice
2. Syntax: Sentence and phrase structure
3. Antithesis: Balancing of contrasting ideas
4. Polysyndeton: Stringing a sentence out with conjunctions
5. Anacoluthon: Breaking off a sentence…
6. Parallelism: Repetition of similar syntactical structure
7. Point of View: Narrative perspective—1st, 2nd, 3rd Person
8. Apostrophe: Addressing person/entity not present
9. Analogy: Extended comparison of similar things
10. Colloquialism: Informal diction
SONIC AND RHYTHMIC DEVICES; STRUCTURE:
Literary Terms #4
1. Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sound in initial position
2. Assonance: Repetition of a vowel sound
3. Consonance: Repetition of consonant sound in any position
4. Euphony: Soft, pleasing sounds
5. Cacophony: Harsh sounds
6. Onomatopoeia: Word whose sound suggests meaning
7. Metric Feet: Spondee, iamb, anapest
8. Amphibrach: Unaccented, accented, unaccented syllable
9. Metric Lines: Ex. Tetrameter, Pentameter, Hexameter Stanzas
1. Stanzas: Ex. Couplet, quatrain, octave
2. Ballad Stanza: abcb, alternating tetrameter and trimeter
3. Rhyme Scheme: end rhyme expressed alphabetically (abbacdcd)]
4. Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter
5. Free Verse: Poetry with no regular rhyme or rhythm
6. Heroic Couplet: Two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter; complete thought
POETRY TYPES AND TERMS: Literary Terms#5
1. Lyric Poetry: Short verse stressing emotional over story
2. Narrative Poetry: Verse that tells a story (Ex.: ballad)
3. Epic Poetry: Long story in verse
4. Canto: Division of a long poem (like chapter to novel)
5. English Sonnet: Fourteen line poem with three quatrains and a couplet
6. Italian Sonnet: Fourteen line poem with octave and sestet
7. Epigram: Witty poem or saying
8. Epitaph: Memorial poem
9. Enjambment: Running over of a sentence from one line or stanza to another
1. Refrain: Repetition of line or phrase at regular intervals (like chorus)
NARRATIVE TERMS/PLOT TERMS: Literary Terms#6
1. Atmosphere: Effect of physical environment
2. Tone: Author’s or speaker’s attitude
3. Conflict: interplay of opposing forces
4. Comic Relief: Lightens narrative
5. Complication: Plot reversals
6. Deus Ex Machina: Contrived ending
7. Epiphany: Sudden awareness
8. Flashback: Device to supply background
9. Foreshadowing: Hints at coming events
1. Stream of Consciousness: Thoughts and feelings recorded as they occur
2. Theme: Central idea
3. Motif: Often-repeated idea or theme
4. Plot: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action
5. Denouement: Resolution, outcome replicating thought
6. In media res: beginning in the middle of things
CHARACTER TERMS:
Literary Terms#7
1. Round Character: Complex, multi-faceted, not predictable
2. Flat Character: Recognizable type; lacks complexity
3. Confidant: Protagonist’s intimate
4. Foil: Character’s illuminator through contrast
5. Protagonist: Character around which the action is centered
6. Antagonist: Person or force working against the protagonist
7. Omniscience: Teller knows all about everyone
8. Limited Omniscience: Teller knows all about one character
9. Dramatic Perspective: Teller presents just the facts
1. Doppelganger: Mysterious double
2. Antihero: An ordinary, modern man/woman groping through life
LITERARY MOVEMENTS: Literary Terms#8
1. Renaissance: 14th—17th Century, rebirth of humanism
2. Neoclassicism: Restoration—18th Century, order and reason
3. Romanticism: 18th—19th c., imagination over reason
4. Realism: Verisimilitude
5. Naturalism: Extreme realism
6. Existentialism: Humans inadequate to explain complex world
7. Magical Realism: Begins real, gets weird
8. Expressionism: Objectify inner experience
LITERARY GENRES: Literary Terms #9
1. Tragedy: Starts good, gets bad, hero destroyed
2. Comedy: Starts bad, gets good, hero triumphs
3. Comedy of Manners: Elevated, often satirical, from Restoration Period
4. Farce: Crude, often obscene
5. Melodrama: Excessive appeal to emotions
6. Bildungsroman: Novel about young person’s maturation (Coming of Age)
7. Allegory: Persons equated with meanings beyond the narrative
8. Satire: Improving human conditions through exaggeration, comedy
9. Novel: Extended fictional narrative
1. Novella/Novelette: Longer than a short story
2. Parody: Ridicule of a serious work by exaggerated imitation
3. Picaresque Novel: Life story of a rascal
4. Short Story: Brief fictional narrative in prose
5. Essay: Prose discussion of a limited topic
6. Horatian Satire: Gentle ridicule
7. Juvenalian Satire: Angry ridicule
8. Myth: Traditional story explaining natural phenomena or cultural practice
9. Didactic Literature: Seeks to instruct
ESSAY TERMS: Literary Terms #10
1. Hook: Initial attention getter
2. Central Idea: Core of writer’s assertion
3. Thesis: Outline of writer’s proofs
4. Topic Sentence: Focus of paragraph, part of thesis
5. Structure: Introduction, body, conclusion
6. Expository Essay: Presentation of information, facts, ideas
7. Persuasive Essay: Presentation to convince reader
8. Descriptive Essay: Single clear picture of person, place, thing, or idea
9. Narrative Essay: Tells a story
1. Literary Criticism: Analyzes and comments on literature
2. Formalist Criticism (New Criticism): Emphasizes the work as an independent creation
utilizing personal response and close examination of the work. Dominant from 30’s to
70’s; most often used with student criticism.
3. Deconstructive Criticism: Opposite of formalist criticism; seeks to reveal author’s social,
cultural, or philosophical assumptions by close examination of the text.
4. Historical Criticism: Works are studied within historical context. The study
of Macbeth would involve Elizabethan attitudes towards ghosts.
5. Psychological Criticism: Utilizes Freudian theories and psychoanalytic interpretations.
6. Gender Criticism: Feminist and Gay criticism reflecting cultural framework.