AP LIT TERMS

1. Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison of two unlike objects by identification or substitution. Example: “All the world’s a stage”

2. Simile

A direct comparison of two unlike objects, using like or as. Example: “The holy time is quiet as a Nun”

3. Personification

A figure of speech in which objects and animals have human qualities. Example: “When it comes, the landscape listens–/ Shadows– hold their breath

4. Apostrophe

An address to a person or personified object not present. Example: “Little Lamb, who owns thee?”

5. Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it. Examples: The pen is mightier than the sword.

6. Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole object or idea. Example: “Not a hair perished” (person)

7. Hyperbole

A gross exaggeration for effect: overstatement. Example: “Our hands were firmly cemented.”

8. Irony

The contrast between the actual meaning and the expected meaning

9. Symbolism

The use of one object to suggest another, hidden object or idea. Example: In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” the fork in the road represents a significant decision in life, each road is a separate way of life

10. Imagery

The use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory description

11. Paradox

A statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basis of truth. Example: “Elected Silence, sing to me.

12. Oxymoron

Two words that contradict one another. Example: “Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!

13. Allusion

A reference to an outside fact, event, or other source. Example: “World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings What a star sang and careless Muses heard”

14. Diction

The author’s choice of words. Example: Emaciated instead of thin; sear instead of burn; angelic instead of good

15. Tone

The author’s attitude towards their subject

16. Allegory

A prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance. Example, Animal Farm because all of the characters and events represent some aspect of the Russian Revolution.

17. Alliteration

A repletion of beginning sounds- usually consonants or words or of stressed syllables. Example: “Landscape-lover, lord of language”

18. Assonance

A repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity. Example: Hat, ran, amber,

19. Consonance

The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words. Example: book-plaque-thicker

20. Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next. Example: “Its loveliness increases; it will never/ Pass into nothingness: but still will keep/ A bower quiet for us, and a sleep”

21. Onomatopoeia

A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes. Example: “buzz”