Midterm Literary Devices - AP Lit

Metaphor

Figure of speech that compares unlike things by stating one as the other without like or as

simile

Makes a direct comparison between two different things

hyperbole

Using extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect

understatement

Something is intentionally represented as less important, serious, or significant that it actually is

Personification

When human qualities, emotions, or actions are given to inanimate objects, animals or abstract ideas

dramatic irony

When the audience knows something the characters dont creating tension, suspense, or humor

synecdoche

Where a part represents a whole (“wheels” for a car) or a whole represents a part

alliteration

When the same consonant sound is repeated at the beginning of adjacent or nearby words

asyndeton

Omits conjunction like “and” “but” “or” from a series of words or clauses

Polysyndenton

Repitition of coordinating conjunctions “like” “and” “or” “but” in close sucession

situational irony

When the outcome of events is opposite of what y is expected or intended

verbal irony

When a speaker says one thing but means the opposite (sometimes sarcasm)

Ambiguity

Quality of having multiple, deliberate, meanings

metonymy

When a word or phrase is substituted for another that is closely related with it - “Hollywood” for the film industry

absolute

Usually a quantity amount that is all or nothing - “all” “none” “everything”

Apostrophe

A speaker directly addresses an absent person, a deceased person, a personified object

caesure

Pause or break within a line of poetry often marked by punctuation

enjambment

When a sentence or phrase runs from one line of poetry to the next without a pause