Literary Terms and Devices

These flashcards cover essential literary terms and devices, providing definitions to help students understand and identify these concepts in literature.

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in neighboring words.

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, or work of art.

Analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things or their relationship.

Antithesis

The opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite.

Aphorism

A short abrupt statement expressing a general truth or moral principle, often known.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction.

Connotation

The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied meaning.

Denotation

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for an unpleasant word or concept.

Homily

A serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement.

Imagery

Sensory details or figurative language used to describe and arouse emotion.

Irony/Ironic

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant.

Metaphor

A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things.

Mood

The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech where seemingly contradictory terms are grouped to suggest a paradox.

Paradox

A statement that appears contradictory but reveals some truth upon closer inspection.

Parallelism

The grammatical or rhetorical framing of words or phrases to give structural similarity.

Anaphora

A sub-type of parallelism where exact repetition of words occurs at the beginning of successive lines.

Parody

A work that imitates the style or content of another for comic effect or ridicule.

Personification

A figure of speech that attributes human qualities to concepts, animals, or objects.

Point of View

The perspective from which a story is told.

Repetition

The duplication of any element of language, such as a sound, word, or phrase.

Rhetoric

The principles governing the art of writing effectively and persuasively.

Rhetorical Modes

The variety, conventions, and purposes of major kinds of writing.

Sarcasm

Bitter, caustic language meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something.

Satire

A work that targets human vices or social institutions for reform or ridicule.

Symbol/Symbolism

Anything that represents itself and stands for something else.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole or vice versa.

Syntax

The way an author organizes words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work.

Thesis

The statement that expresses the author's opinion, purpose, or position in expository writing.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the material, audience, or both.

Understatement

The ironic minimizing of fact, presenting something as less significant than it is.

natural symbols

are objects and occurrences from nature to symbolize ideas commonly associated with them (dawn  symbolizing hope or a new beginning, a rose symbolizing love, a tree symbolizing knowledge).  

conventional symbols

are those that have been invested with meaning by a group (religious symbols such as a cross  or Star of David; national symbols, such as a flag or an eagle; or group symbols, such as a skull and crossbones for  pirates or the scale of justice for lawyers)

literary symbols

are sometimes also conventional in the sense that they are found in a variety of works and are more  generally recognized. However, a work’s symbols may be more complicated, as is the jungle in Heart of Darkness.  On the AP exam, try to determine what abstraction an object is a symbol for and to what extent it is successful in  representing that abstraction.  

The purpose of exposition

to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea,  relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. The AP language exam essay questions are frequently expository  topics

 purpose of argumentation

to prove the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning,  discussion, and argument that thoroughly convince the reader. Persuasive writing is a type of argumentation having  an additional aim of urging some form of action.  

 purpose of description

to recreate, invent, or visually present a person, place, event or action so that the reader  can picture that being described. Sometimes an author engages all five senses in description; good descriptive  writing can be sensuous and picturesque. Descriptive writing may be straightforward and objective or highly  emotional an subjective.  

purpose of narration

to tell a story or narrate an event or series of events. This writing mode frequently uses descriptive writing tools. 

Adapted from V. Stevenson, Patrick Henry High School, and Abrams’ Glossary of Literary Terms 

first person narrator

tells the story with the first person pronoun, “I,” and is a character in the story. This narrator  can be the protagonist, a secondary character, or an observing character.

third person narrator

relates the events with the third person pronouns, “he,” “she,” and “it.”

third person omniscient,

in which the narrator, with godlike knowledge, presents the thoughts and actions of  any or all characters  

third person limited omniscient

in which the narrator presents the feelings and thoughts of only one  character, presenting only the actions of all the remaining characters.  

verbal irony

when the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s (or speaker’s) meaning 

situational irony

 when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and  readers think ought to happen is not what does happen  

dramatic irony

when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to  the reader, audience, or other characters in the work.