AP English Literature (Literary Devices)

Allegory

as soon as someone tells you the understory, the story changes (Animal Farm).

Consonance Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds, “Carlos climbed Mt. Clairol. Repetition of /k/.

Assonance Alliteration

Repetition of vowel sounds, “Adam ate an awesome apple”. Repetition of /a/.

Types of Allusion

Historical, biblical, literary, and mythology.

Colloquial

way of speaking that endures time and is particular to a location, “A pop”.

Slang

comes and goes, “That’s lit”.

Conceit

A metaphor that does not make sense until it is explained, “You’re an expo marker”. John Donne is famous for conceit.

Connotation

All the associations related to a word, “The connotation of mansion is wealth vs the connotation of plantation is slavery, although they’re both large houses”.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

Antecedent

The noun that was replaced by the pronoun, “Pass it to her”.

Aphorism

a short statement uttered as a TRUTH, “All men are dogs”.

Apostrophe

speaking to someone that’s not there or an inanimate subject, “Mom where are my socks?”, “Stupid desk, get out of my way”.

Overstatement

Hyperbole

Litote

A grammatically negative understatement, “not, no, and never”, “It’s nothing but a scratch”.

Anaphora

The repetition of clauses usually at the beginning of sentences (a form of repetition).

Antithesis

Anti-thesis (can be used in various forms).

Chiasmus

The mirror reflection of a phrase, “Ask not what your country can do your you, but what you can do for your country”, “Fair is foul, Foul is fair”.

Juxtaposition

When you put two things together for a particular effect, “You’ve been married twice, your first husband is 4’5, your second husband is 7’2.

Syllogism

a fundamental concept in logic that involves using deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more premises. a=b, b=c, a=c. Example: See John Donne.

Archetypes

Associations we are born with which is the legacy and inheritance of humanity across time. Universally understood (fire, circle, triangle, mothers, fathers, the fool, the witch).

Symbolism

Needs to be taught, not universal (The United States flag, a sweater, guns,).

Monologue

Speech to character.

Soliloquy

Speech to the audience that the other characters cannot hear.     

In media res

When you don’t start at the beginning, thrown into action, “OMG he’s coming after me let’s run!”.

Synecdoche

something directly attached to the thing that is doing the action. Informs us of what you want from that person.

Metonymy

something associated with the thing that is doing the action.

Apotheosis

the elevation of someone or something to the status of a god.

Anachronistic

something doesn’t belong to that time period (guns in Romeo and Juliet).

Prose

Novels, short stories, anything that’s written in short paragraph form.

Point of View

The angle at which you’re viewing the story. Who’s wearing the GoPro (will always be about the narrator). First (I) or Third person point of view.

Limited omniscient

if you can go into the heart and brain of the character in third person point of view.

Objective Third Person

Play by play without going into the head and heart of the character.

Perspective

Whose shoes are we walking in as the story is told?