AP Lit Literary Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds. EX: "Doubting dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before"

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds especially in poetry (a, e ,i , o, u). EX: "from the molten golden notes"

Epanalepsis

Starting and stopping with the same word. EX: Hate breeds Hate

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words or at the end of words. EX: Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red"

Anadiplosis

The last thought used in a clause which is the first thought in the next clause. EX: "A man of character should live a life of success and happiness; but success and happiness are not always the result of virtue. "

The - Colens (pentacolen, quadrucolen, tricolen, bicolen, isocolen)

The number of items within a series. EX: I like fishing, boating, swimming" (tricolen).

Anaphora

The repetition of same word at the beginning of the series, EX: To think on death, it is a misery; to think on life, it is a vanity.

Epistrophe

Ending an item w/ the same clause in a series. EX: "... of people, by the people, for the people."

Anastrophe

Any out-of-the-ordinary inversions. EX: " What the mouse was chasing er never found out".

Fable

a short story, typically w/ animals as characters, conveying a moral. EX: " The Tortoise and the Har" story

Tmesis

repetition with an interruption. EX: My heart is heavy, oh lord, my heart is heavy

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds. EX: Buzz, crunch, tinkle, gurgle, sizzle, hiss
Usage: to feel like your in the setting

Synecdoche

the technique of mentioning a part of something to represent the whole. Ex: All hands on deck! (hands=sailors)

Simile

comparison of the thing to another, like or as. EX: My love is like a red, red rose.

Myth

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. EX: Grail Quest- originated from Gaelic traditions and comes to Christian civilization

Personification

The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects. EX: The wind whistled. Her heart cried out.

Asyndeton

items separated by commas only; no conjunctions elements are equal. EX: I enjoy reading, watching, TV, swimming

Fabilaux

short, comical, frankly coarse, and often cynical tale in verse. Borders the risque. (ex: Boccaccio's tale about Rustico and Alibech in The Decameron)

Polysyndeton

items in a series separated by conjunctions; items are unequal. EX: I put in yams and sugar and cowries and rice for the trip.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration for the sake of emphasis; not literal. EX: Sweat to death, Rivers of Blood

Allegory

Description of a subject under the guise of some other subject
of aptly suggested resemblance.
-story within a story
Ex: Animal Farm, Pilgrims Progress

Zeugma

A figure by which a single word refers to two or more words in
the sentence; clauses concluded under one verb.
- use a word in a sentence once, while conveying two different meanings at the same time.
Ex: His looseness overcame all shame, his boldness fear, his madness reason.

Mise en abyme

- Usually in reference to art, of placing an image within an image of itself;
- Regarding literature, a story within a story; a play within a play
- The Mousetrap in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet

Aphaeresis

Cutting from the front of a word
Ex: twas, ‘phoned, ‘cause

Syncope or Elision

Slurring over, resulting in a cutting from the middle of a word for a rhetorical effect.
Ex: television telvision, suppose s’pose

Apocope

Cut from the end of a word
Ex: going goin’

Juxtaposition

A pairing of two words that are contradictory; a condensed paradox. EX: jumbo-shrimp, icy hot, same difference, now then, and social distance

Antithesis

A pair of statements or images in which the one
reverses the other. EX: That's one small step for a
man - one giant leap for mankind. (Neil Armstrong,
1969).

Metonymy

Def: A figure of speech in which a part of a thing, or something closely associated with it, is used to stand for or suggest the thing itself
-Object that can be easily removed
Ex: hardhat=worker, pigskin= football

Caesura

A break or pause in a line of poetry, which contributes to the rhythm of the poem; looks like a dash. (Type two hypens when using this in academic essays.)
Ex: “Yet not to thy eternal resting place
Shalt thou retire alone—nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent” (Bryant, “Thanatopsis”).

Litotes

An understatement aachieved by saying the opposite of what one means or by making an affirmation by stating the fact in negative. It can be considered the opposite of hyperbole

* (-)(-)=+

Ex: She was not unimpressed

Allusion

Figure of speech that seeks by tapping into the knowledge and memory of the reader, to secure a resonant emotional effect from the associations already existing in the reader’s mind.

Ex: Taylor Swift, “Love Story”

Eponym

Item/concept/condition named for someone

Ex: Graham cracker, Adam’s apple

Apostrophe

A form of different address; addressing of someone or something, usually not present, as though present

Ex: O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done

Elegy

Lyric which mourns the death of a friend; of length; includes rhyme, meter, etc..

Ex: “In Memorium” by Tennyson

Enjambment

The continuation of the sense and grammatical construction of a line to the next verse or a couplet

Ex:

Acronym

Capital letters making new words

Ex: MADD, NASA

Palindrome

Reversal of word/spelling

Ex: I was able ere Elba saw I

Ellipsis

Omission of a word or words denoted by “…”.

Ex: I…decided to leave

Pathetic Fallacy

Crediting natural objects with the emotions and traits of human beings

Ex: Cruel seas; the willow tree weeped with Ophelia

Parody

A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature writing.

Ex: iCarly spook of Twilight

Anachronism

A person or thing that’s chronologically out of place, esp. one from a former age who is incongruous with the present

Ex: Marty in 1955, Back to the Future

Neologism

A way of obtaining new words for effectiveness and for higher intensity.

Ex: A melody is “pretty *skreeky*,” …Huck “*smouches*” a spoon, he has “*clayey*” clothes…he speaks of an undertaker’s “*sootherin*” ways (Twain, *Huck Finn*)

Portmanteau

Def: More than one word compressed into one

Ex: Smog = smoke + fog

Stream-of-Consciousness

Def: Total range of awareness and emotive-mental response of an individual, from the lowest pre-speech level to the highest fully articulated level of rational thought.

Ex: William Faulkner’s *The Sound and the Fury*

Bildungsroman

Def: A novel that deals with the development of a young person, usually from adolescence to maturity; it is frequently autobiographical

Ex: Twain’s *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*

Heroic Couplet

Def: Two lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme and enclose a complete thought

Ex: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see.

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Saga

Def: Commonly, a narrative having the characteristics of Icelandic medieval heroic adventures

Ex: Thorstein Staff-struck

Hypozeuxis

Def: Every clause has its own subject, verb; repetition of structure

Ex: He came, he saw, he conquered

Hyberbation

Def: Radical alteration of syntax(an excessive anastrophe)

Ex: What we never found out the mouse chasing was.