AP LIT Literary Devices for Poetry and Prose Analysis

Allegory

The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

Allusion

A reference to a canonical work of literature, usually the Bible, Shakespeare, or mythology

Ex. “I’m the Hermes of verses, I write my curses in cursive.”

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of successive words or phrases.

Ex. “…my mind on my money and my money on my mind…”

Anachronism

An error of chronology or timeline in a literary piece; Italian and Shakespearean

Ex. A story about a caveman who microwaves his dinner

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or phrases.

Ex. “It was the best of time, it was the worst of time.”

Antagonist

The protagonist’s adversary/enemy, not always “the bad guy” or “the villain” but typically so

Ex. Darth Vader, The Joker, Voldemort

Anti-Hero

Character who has characteristics opposite of the conventional hero

Ex. Holden form “The Catcher in the Rye”

Antithesis

Juxtaposition of two opposing elements through parallel grammatical structure.

Ex. Hope for the best; prepare for the worst

Apostrophe

When a character speaks to a character or object that is not present or unable to respond.

Ex. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, How I wonder what you are!”

Assonance

Repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase or line of poetry.

Ex. “Whose woods these are I think I know.”

Asyndeton

Omission of conjoining conjunctions when not grammatically necessary for emphasis or to maintain meter/iambic pentameter.

“The words, the records, the style, the records I spin.”

Bildungsroman

A novel of/about coming-of-age, formation, growth, change

Ex. “The Hobbit”, “Catcher in the Rye”, “Harry Potter”

Blank Verse

Poetic lines on unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Ex. “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Caesura

A brief pause in a line of poetry caused by enjambment or punctuation anywhere in the line.

Ex. “To be or not to be - that is the question.”

Catharsis

The emotional release of the audience by experiencing vicariously the suffering of the characters.

Ex. Criminal Minds, CSI, Law & Order

Cacophony

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds

Ex. He grunted and in a gruff voice said, “Give me that trash and I’ll throw it out!”

Chiasmus

Words, grammatical constructions, or concepts repeated in reverse order, in the same or modified form.

Ex. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,”

Colloquialism

Informal, conversational language; can also be phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region.

Ex. “Yo, what up dawg?” “Nope”

Conceit

Establishes a comparison between two very different concepts or objects; a specific use of extended metaphor.

Ex. “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.”

Connotation

An idea or meaning suggested or associated with a word or thing.

Ex. Cold: ice or cold-hearted

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry.

Ex. Mike likes his new bike.

Couplet

Two rhyming lines in poetry.

Ex. “For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings / that I scorn to change my state with kings.”

Denotation

dictionary definition.

Ex. The denotation of hot is “having or giving off heat”; the connotation of hot could be used to suggest the attractiveness of a person

Diction

Specific word choice

Ex. “I hate Billy with every fiber of my being.” vs. “Billy is not always the easiest to get along with.”

Denouement

Final resolution or calcification of a dramatic or narrative plot.

Ex. The last chapter of “The Great Gatsby”

Double Entendre

Word/phrase open to two interpretations.

Ex. “Marriage is a fine institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.”

Elegy

Poem/song composed especially as lament for a deceased person.

Ex. “O Captain, My Captain!” By Walt Whitman

Enjambment

Continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next with not pause.

Ex. “I went out and / lost my way”

End-Stopped Line

Metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break.

Ex. “Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey. / Without her you wouldn’t have set out. / She has nothing left to give you now.”

Epic

Extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language.

Ex. “The Odyssey”

Epigraph

Introductory quote at the beginning of a novel or play

Ex. “You are all a lost generation” from Gertrude Stein, in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises

Epilogue

Short poem or speech spoken directly to audience following conclusion of song or play.

In novels: short explanation at the end of the book which indicates when happens after the plot ends.

Ex. Final chapter of “The Great Gatsby”

Epistolary

Describes a novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another.

Ex. The first 4 “chapters” of Frankenstein

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word or phrase at end of sentence or clause.

Ex. “Where now? Who now? When now?”

Euphemism

Substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive comments for a more accepted or positive one.

Ex. Passed away vs. died

Euphony

Succession of words which are pleasing to the ear.

Ex. “Whose woods these are I think I know”

Fable

Short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point; often employs animals as characters

Ex. Disney Pixar movies

Feminine Ending

An unstressed extra syllable at the end of a line of poetry.

Ex. “Of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off / Like a graveyard marble sculpture in the weather.”

Figurative language

Departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud.”

Flashback

When a character remembers a past event that is relevant to the current action of the story.

Ex. Majority of Forest Gump

Flat Character

Character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and doesn’t change over the course of the text.

Ex. Raegan, Goneril, or Kent in “King Lear”

Foil

Character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another.

Ex. Goneril and Reagan to Cordelia in “King Lear”

Foreshadowing

Clues in the text about incidents that will occur later in the plot.

Ex. When George kills Candy’s dog in “Of Mice and Men”

Free Verse

Verse that contains a variety of line lengths, is unrhymed, and last traditional meter.

Ex. “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

Hamartia

Greek word describing the tragic flaws of a character.

Ex. Brutus’s ambition is his hamartia in “Julius Caesar”

In medias res

Story that begins in the middle of things.

Ex. King Lear

Inversion

In poetry, it’s an intentional digression from the ordinary word order, which is used to maintain regular meter.

Ex. “Everything is fine when you listenin to the D-O-G / I got the cultivating music that be captivating he / who listens, to the words that I speak.”

Irony

When one thing should occur, is apparent, or in logical sequence but the opposite actually occurs.

Ex. A man in the ocean saying “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”

Masculine Ending

Stressed extra syllable at the end of a line.

Ex. “Tell me not, in mournful numbers / Life is but an empty dream!”

Meter

Measured arrangement of words in poetry, by accented rhythm, number of syllables grouped by stressed syllables, or the total number of syllables in a line

Ex. pentameter = 5 feet/line; trimeter = 3 feet/line

Metaphor

Figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, creating an implicit comparison.

Ex. “She’s a brick house.”

Metonymy

Use of word or phrase to stand in for something else which is often associated.

Ex. Crown: monarchy’s power and authority

Motif

Symbolic image or idea that occurs frequently

Ex. Solitude in “One Hundred Years of Solitude”

Novella

Short novel usually under 100 pages

Ex. “The Pearl”

Ode

Lyric poem of considerable length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style.

Ex. Ode to Pizza”

Paradox

statement which seems to contradict itself.

Ex. “His old face was youthful when he heard the news.”

Parody

Work that imitates the characteristic style of an author/work for comic effect

Ex. SNL

Polysyndeton

Use of multiple joining conjunctions when not grammatically necessary for emphasis or to retain meter.

Ex. “And again and again and again.”

Prologue

An introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play

Ex. The opening scene in “Romeo and Juliet”

Prose

Ordinary speech or writing without metrical structure, written in paragraph form.

Ex. novels, short stories, non-fiction, essays, etc.

Pun

Play on words, when two words have multiple meanings and spellings and are usually used in a humorous manner.

Ex. “…being heavy (sad), I will bear the light (torch/contrast to heavy).”

Satire

A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit; the goal is to change the behavior/issue

Ex. Gulliver’s Travels, SNL

Soliloquy

Dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character takes to themselves or reveals their thoughts without addresses a listener.

Ex. “To be or not to be…”

Sonnet

Traditionally, a poem of fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter; Italian & Shakespearean.

Style

Combination of distinctive features of literary expression.

Ex. Fitzgerald (descriptive, effusive, observant, etc) “The Great Gatsby”

Symbol

Something that represents something else by association resemblance or convention, esp. a material object used to represent something invisible.

Ex. The green light in “The Great Gatsby”

Synecdoche

Figure of speech in which a part is referred to by the whole or the whole refers to the part.

Ex. Check out my new wheels (wheels = car)

Tragedy

Drama or literary work in which main character is brought to ruin or suffered extreme sorrow, especially as consequence of tragic flaw.

Ex. Romeo and Juliet

Tone

reflects how the author feels about the subject matter or the feeling the author wants to instill in the reader through the use of specific diction

Ex. Serious, confident, didactic, tense