AP English Literary Devices

Good for both AP Lang and AP Lit!!

Rhetorical situation

Collectively refers to the exigence, purpose, audience, context, and message

rhetoric

the study and practice of effective communication

Authors exigence

• problem/situation that needs attention

Rhetorical exigence

• wtv has prompted writing of given passage

Ethos

• CREDIBLITY OF SPEAKER
• Appeals to writer's character
• Ethos can also be thought of as role of writer in the argument & how credible their argument is

Pathos

• EMOTIONAL APPEAL
• Appeals to emotions & sympathetic imagination & beliefs & values
• Can also be thought of as role of audience in the argument

Logos

• Appeals to reason
• Can also be thought of as text of argument & how well a writer has argued his/her point

symbol

A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance, or convention) represents
something other than itself.

Motif

• a repeated pattern—an image, sound, word, or symbol that comes back again and again within a
  particular story

Personification

• A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human
  qualities or abilities.

Allusion

Definition:

• reference to text, person, place, historical event, artwork, or any other item that the audience likely knows

Effect:

• Establish better understanding of idea/perspective
• Allow audience to related to speaker due to shared background knowledge
• Spark particular emotional response associated w/ reference
• Allow audience to understand subtext of speaker's language

Allusion Example:
"I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."

Analysis: King begins his speech with both an indirect and direct allusion to Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation." The first phrase of King's speech, "Five score years ago," directly mirrors Lincoln's historic speech, which opens with "four score and seven years ago." By associating himself with a prominent figure in the fight against injustice, King implies that he shares Lincoln's values and establishes a sympathetic relationship with his audience.

Analogy

Definition:

• comparison of concept to another idea, object, situation or image meant to explain the concept in a simpler and more understandable way

Effects:

• Make idea seem less daunting
• Alter mood thro humorous or serious comparisons
• Create striking image in audience's mind
• Cause an "aha" moment
• Appeal to audience's sense of logic (logos)
• Dispel myths/misconceptions

Analogy Example:
"What True Education Should Do" by Sydney J. Harris (1994)

"Pupils are more like oysters than sausages. The job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we knew how to cultivate them with ardor and persistence."

Analysis:

• Harris compares students to oysters whom we should help "open and reveal the riches within." Through her analogy, Harris establishes a basis on which readers can shift their perspective. Rather than simply listing specific traits of students, Harris helps her readers change their perception of how students should be treated, and gives readers a concrete and memorable lense through which readers should view the classroom.

Antithesis

Definition:

• Literary device that refers to the juxtaposition of two opposing elements through parallel grammatical structure.

Effects:

• Highlight key distinctions b/n ideas

• Sound rhythmic/harmonious

• Portray topic as moral issue

• Describe counter-argument

• Simplify complex issue/controversy

• "What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated" (Douglass 49).

Antithesis Example:
Neil Armstrong's moon landing (1969)

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind"

Analysis:

• Armstrong's antithesis serves to highlight the monumental impact that the moon landing will have on the human race. By contrasting his "small step" with the "giant" effect that this step will have, he emphasizes its significance.

Irony

• Irony is a kind of reversal, inversion, or deliberate frustration of expectation.
• At a sentence level, reversal is known as antithesis, "Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy" (30). & "What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated" (49).

3 Types of Irony

1. Verbal
2. Dramatic
3. Situational

Verbal Irony

• SARCASM
  Definition:
• when person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning

Ex:

• Character stepping out into a hurricane and saying, "What nice weather we're having!"

Dramatic Irony

• when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

Ex:
Oedipus: bro marries his mom…

Situational Irony

Definition:

• when the outcome of a situation is contrary to or different from what is expected

Example:

• Calm and Relaxing Tea spilling on computer
• Firehouse burning down

antithesis

• references the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences

• Ex:
  "Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy" (30).
  "What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated" (49).

Antithesis Example:
Neil Armstrong's moon landing (1969)

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind"

Analysis:

• Armstrong's antithesis serves to highlight the monumental impact that the moon landing will have on the human race. By contrasting his "small step" with the "giant" effect that this step will have, he emphasizes its significance.

Antithesis Example:

Epistolary

Definition:

• A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters

Frederick Douglass:

• Effect = Call to action, sounds like Douglass is talking directly to reader

Anecdote

Definition:

• Brief story, usually told from one person or character to another, that illustrates a point in a way that provides greater insight for the reader

Frederick Douglass:

• Effect = To humanize, establish connection with reader, establish authority (ethos); e.g., aunt whipping

Anecdote Example:
"Gender Equality is Your Issue Too" by Emma Watson (2014)

"I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called "bossy," because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not. When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press. When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn't want to appear "muscly." When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings. I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me."

Analysis: By sharing a short anecdote about being "sexualized" and called "bossy," while acknowledging her male friends being "unable to express their feelings," Watson establishes her authority to speak on gender-related issues, and she appeals to her audience's sense of emotion and empathy as she aims to establish a common experience between both men and women in the United Nations.

Sensory imagery

Definition:

• A literary device writers employ to engage a reader's mind on multiple levels
• Sensory imagery explores the five human senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

Frederick Douglass:

• Highlight extent of atrocities; create mental pictures; feel pain and suffering; visceral, primal

Diction

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing

denotation

direct/dictionary meaning of a word

connotation

the emotional implications and associative meaning of a word

syntax

word order

passive voice

• The subject of the sentence receives the action.
• takes blame away
• obscures subject of sentence

structure

• sentence structure
• structure of piece as a whole (ex: argument structure, structure of autobiography)

deductive

• structure
• big to small
• general premises to make specific conclusions (all does have ears; gold retrievers are dogs; gold retrievers have ears)

inductive

• structure
• small to big
• specific observations to general conclusions (this fish needs water; that fish needs water; all fish need water)

tone

author's attitude (sarcastic, elegiac, etc)

mood

the feeling evoked

style

• the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work
• aphoristic/preach/pithy
• colloquial/conservational/casual
• didactic/teacherly
• expository/explanatory
• exegetic/analytical
• stream of consciousness/meditative/meandering

Metaphor or figurative language

a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract.

Frederick Douglass: Humanizing/evocative language (/pathos)

to make reader feel [sad/empathetic/horrified/uncomfortable]

Frederick Douglass: Authoritative language (/ethos)

• to establish experience as knowledge
• Academic language to appeal to a particular audience/to educate (creates didactic tone)

Frederick Douglass: Language/diction of inventory

traditionally robust, contrasted here with scarcity

Frederick Douglass: Structure, syntax, diction (of autobiography)

• allusion (to the aesthetic (design/structure) of autobiography) — to contrast the dehumanized experience of a slave
• highlight the absence of conventional markers of humanity
• highlight detachment from/theft of origin or genesis

Frederick Douglass: Analogy

[simile/metaphor ≤ analogy ≤ allegory]: (singing to tears)

Frederick Douglass: Antithesis or contrast or paradox or irony

inversion or reversal of savage and civilized persons

Chiasmus

• Definition: repetition of ideas in inverted order (AB, BA)

• Effect: Creates feeling of newness

Chiasmus Example
JFK

Example: John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1971)

• "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country

Analysis:

• In his 1971 Inaugural Address, Kennedy encourages his audience to have faith in their generation and in their country in the midst of a trying Cold War. Kennedy attempts to unite the audience under a national identity and purpose, inviting them to consider not what their "country can do for" them, but what they "can do for" their country. By employing chiasmus, Kennedy highlights the difference between an archaic mentality and the attitude that he wants the country to adopt moving forward. Because Kennedy repeats the same simple ideas, he also creates a memorable phrase that allows his message to spread easily among the American people.

Analysis: The need to reverse course and change the way we think about citizenship.

Chiasmus Example
Frederick Douglass

• Example: Douglass: "They would sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone, and the most rapturous sentiment in the most pathetic tone."
• Analysis: highlights the emotional toil of slavery and establishes the depth and constancy of their sorrow and longing for freedom—all expressed at once in their songs

Anaphora

Definition:

• This rhetorical device references repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines

Effects:

• Shows insistence & commitment to an idea
• Issue call to action
• Create strong emotional response
• Build up anticipation/excitement
• Reinforce a point to ensure the audience does not forget it
• Encourage the audience to pay attention

Anaphora Example
"I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)

"I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Analysis:

• By employing anaphora, King asserts the urgency and importance of his vision. King repeats the phrase, "I have a dream," to emphasize and establish his unshakeable commitment to the mission of racial equality in the United States.
• King repeats the phrase, "I have a dream" to emphasize his vision for racial equality in the United States. By employing anaphora to underscore his beliefs, King connects his ideas with a common motif, helping his audience follow his speech and make it more memorable. King thus invites his audience to share in his "dream," as he reminds them that it is their dreams for a more equal future that unite their movement.

Anaphora Example
Douglass: "No words, no tears, no prayers"

Douglass: "No words, no tears, no prayers"

Analysis:

• language of negation, of being perpetually denied their humanity

Epistrophe

ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words

Epistrophe example:
Ex: Madelynn Albright's commencement speech for Mount Holyoke College (1997)

• As you go along your own road in life, you will, if you aim high enough, also meet resistance, for as Robert
  Kennedy once said, "if there's nobody in your way, it's because you're not going anywhere." But no matter
  how tough the opposition may seem, have courage still—and persevere.
  There is no doubt, if you aim high enough, that you will be confronted by those who say that your efforts to
  change the world or improve the lot of those around you do not mean much in the grand scheme of things.
  But no matter how impotent you may sometimes feel, have courage still — and persevere.
  It is certain, if you aim high enough, that you will find your strongest beliefs ridiculed and challenged;
  principles that you cherish may be derisively dismissed by those claiming to be more practical or realistic
  AP Language and Composition Rhetorical Terms Review Sheet
  than you. But no matter how weary you may become in persuading others to see the value in what you
  value, have courage still—and persevere.
  Inevitably, if you aim high enough, you will be buffeted by demands of family, friends, and employment that
  will conspire to distract you from your course. But no matter how difficult it may be to meet the
  commitments you have made, have courage still—and persevere.

Analysis: In her commencement speech, Albright encourages women to stand firm and to "aim high,"
despite the prevalence of gender inequality. Albright recognizes that women face unrelenting opposition
and glass ceilings, but she urges them to "have courage still— and persevere," repeating the phrase after
each challenge she discusses. Like her attitude towards success, Albright's speech always returns to the
idea that women must "have courage still — and persevere," regardless of the obstacles presented to her.
Albright's motto to "h

Elegiac (TONE)

Definition:

• a tone involving mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past

Elegiac (TONE) Example:
Ronald Reagan's address following the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle (1986)

"Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss. For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much."

Analysis:

• At the beginning of his address, Reagan adopts an elegiac tone, declaring that "today is a day for mourning and remembering." He describes the deaths of the astronauts as a "national loss" that pains "all of the people" in the United States. By taking the time to recognize the tragic loss of the astronauts and by empathizing with the American people's shock at the explosion, Reagan appeals to his audience's grief and establishes an emotional connection with them before he begins speaking about the future of the United States space exploration program.

Elegiac Example:
Frederick Douglass

"Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds."

Analysis:

• Douglass's elegiac tone captures the pain and sorrow still haunts him, also serves as an elegy or tribute to his fellow slaves

Apostrophe

Definition:

• a literary device writers use to address someone or something that is not physically present
• The subject may be dead, absent, inanimate, or abstract.

Apostrophe Example:
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1605)

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?"

Analysis:

• By addressing an absent Yorick in his meditation on the eschatological (i.e., what happens to the soul after death), Hamlet's use of apostrophe emphasizes at once the silence of death and meaninglessness of life. He asks for his former court jester's customary jokes, songs, and merriment, knowing they will not come—now or ever—indicating the transience of life's pleasures and permanence of death's annihilation.

Apostrophe Example:
Frederick Douglass

"If any one wishes to be impressed with the soul-killing effects of slavery, let him go to Colonel Lloyd's plantation, and, on allowance-day, place himself in the deep pine woods, and there let him, in silence, analyze the sounds that shall pass through the chambers of his soul,—and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because 'there is no flesh in his obdurate heart.' "

Analysis:

• highlights the unimaginable scenario where one is not affected by the slave's humanity and despair

aesthetic

Definition:

• artistic elements or expressions within a textual work

• Note: aesthetic is not necessarily a specific device; it is the bigger picture. An author would use a rhetorical device (e.g. imagery, allusions, etc.) to achieve a certain aesthetic.

Aesthetic Example:
The Flapper by Dorothy Parker

Analysis:

• Parker describes the aesthetic of flapper culture in her poem in order to support women who defied social norms and who adopted more liberal attitudes towards makeup, drinking, smoking, and sex.

allegory

• expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence
• Extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings that
  lie outside the text.

Allegory Example:
Animal Farm by George Orwell

"All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."

Analysis:

• In George Orwell's allegorical novel Animal Farm, overworked farm animals rise up against their owner and subscribe to the concepts of Animalism, which proclaims that "all men are enemies" and "all animals are comrades." The animals, who now work "like slaves" for the "benefit of themselves and those of that their kind," run a society that mirrors that of the Russian Revolution. Orwell's use of animals to describe contemporary political events creates distance between his novel and his potentially incendiary critique of the rise of Communism, which makes the topic more approachable

alliteration

repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words

• can create aesthetic or playful tone
• if bunch of hard consonants , can invoke aggression

Alliteration Example:
Ronald Reagan's Address at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (1988

"Our liberties, our values — all for which America stands — is safe today because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at freedom's front. And we thank God for them."

Analysis:

• Reagan acknowledges that the veterans of the Vietnam War were prepared to "face the fire at freedom's front." Through his use of alliteration, Reagan emphasizes the soldiers' willingness to sacrifice themselves for freedom, focusing the audience's attention on the value of the veterans' deeds.

ambiguity

• a word, phrase, or sentence whose meaning can be interpreted in more than one way

Ambiguity Example:
The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899)

"Exhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her.
"Good-by— because I love you." He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet would have understood if she had seen him — but it was too late; the shore was far behind her. And her strength was gone"

Analysis:

• At the end of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Edna lends herself to the tide with the vague last words, "good-by— because I love you," leaving Victor to question whether her death was intentional. Chopin's use of ambiguity to depict Enda's death illustrates Victor's lack of closure and his feeling of utter helplessness and confusion as he watches his loved one, both physically and metaphorically, swept away by the current.

Colloquial

characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

Colloquial Example
Barack Obama's message about political 'wokeness' (2019)

"This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically woke and all that stuff; you should get over that quickly. The world is messy. There are ambiguities."

Analysis:

• In his commentary regarding the call-out culture on the current socio-political stage, Obama uses the term "woke" to describe those who believe they are more aware of social injustices. By adopting a colloquial expression, Obama molds his message to resonate with young Americans. Obama is thus able to connect with his audience by mimicking their language.

rhetorical question

Definition:

• a question whose answers are implied by the questions themselves
• asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point more convincing rather than to get an answer

long sentences

allow authors to differentiate important ideas from less important ideas

several brief sentences in a row

no one sentence stands out

short sentences

makes its point quickly, often w/ considerable force

sentence structure

• end = best place for emphasizing idea

periodic sentence

A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end.

loose sentence

A type of sentence in which the main idea comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses

compound sentence

• author gives around equal emphasis to info in each of the clauses
• clauses of equal rank & structure called subordinate clauses & joined by coordinating conjunctions (and but or nor yet so)/semicolon w/ connective words (however, moreover, etc)

complex sentence

• contains both subordinate and main clause
• main clause is emphasized

-ex: b/c I got a cat (subordinate clause), I was happy (main clause).

Connotation vs. Denotation

Connotation: an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning; derived from ppl's common experience & individual's personal experience

Denotation: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests

metaphorical language

• functions as a means of making comparisons
• evokes mental images
• related to emotional content of piece of writing

Most common figure of speeches:

• metaphor
• simile
• allusion
• analogy
• metonymy
• synecdoche

allusion

• implied/direct reference to smt in history/culture
• like a richly connotative word

metaphorical language that seems inappropriate to general tone & purpose of passage

Can be bad

• may weaken over all effect author has in mind
• can suggest author lacks clear sense of purpose/doesn't know how to achieve a particular purpose

can be used on purpose

• can heighten interest by surprising readers
• may be used for sake of contrast
• may create tension/used to make ironic/amusing comment

analogy

• a comparison of two objects or situations that have several common characteristics
• extended analogy - shows parallels b/n 2 unlike things, can simplify complicated idea & eave powerful impression on reader

metonymy

• A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it
• helps establish tone
• implied meaning
• ex: "Use your head" -> head is substituting brain

synecdoche

• type of metonymy
• a part is substituted for the whole
• helps establish tone
• implied meaning
  — creates evocative imagery
• ex: "Look at that eighteen-wheeler" (eighteen-wheeler is replacing truck)

Theme

• an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.

Thesis

• The main idea of an essay or report, often written as a single declarative sentence

juxtaposition

• two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

Oxymoron

• A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side-by-side.

Paradox

• A statement that appears to contradict itself

Repetition

• An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage
• dwelling
  on a point.

Aphorism

• (1) A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion. (2) A brief statement of a principle. (if it
  ain't broke, don't fix it)

assonance

• The identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.

Asyndeton

• The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (e.g., Live, laugh, love;
  Reduce, reuse, recycle")
• used for emphasis

Comparison

• A rhetorical strategy in which a writer examines similarities and/or differences between
  two people, places, ideas, or objects.

Concession or counterclaim

• An argumentative strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the
  validity of an opponent's point.
• pathos

Epistolary

• A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters

Hyperbole

• A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant
  statement.

Jargon

• The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group, often meaningless to
  outsiders.