Figures of Thought (Tropes) - AP Lit

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares two unrelated things by stating that one thing is actually another without using like or as.

Metonymy

A figure of speech where a word or phrase is replaced with a different word that is closely connected or associated with it. An example is “the crown” for the king or queen.

Pathetic Fallacy

A literary device where a writer gives human emotions and feelings to nature, weather, or inanimate objects.

Personification

A literary device where writers give human traits, emotions, or actions to non-human things like objects, animals, or abstract ideas.

Simile

A figure of speech that compares two different things using the words "like," or “as.”

Synecdoche

A figure of speech where a part of something stands in for the whole, or the whole stands in for a part. An example would be “wheels” as car.