AP Literature Poetic Devices

studied byStudied by 21 people
5.0(1)
Get a hint
Hint

Anadiplosis

1 / 95

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

strategies and terms (verses, sentence levels & narratives, etc.)

96 Terms

1

Anadiplosis

When the end of one line is repeated to begin the next. (Ex: Wherein I die, not live; for life is straight, Straight as a line, and ever tends to Thee).

New cards
2

Alliteration

Words that start with the same letter or sound.

New cards
3

Anaphora

Repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of clauses or sentences.

New cards
4

Anastrophe

Sentence is reversed/inverted of its normal order (not repeated though).

New cards
5

Asynartete

Poem or stanza with two different meters.

New cards
6

Asyndeton

A sentence that leaves out a conjunction, so it fits the poem’s meter.

New cards
7

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds.

New cards
8

Bildungsroman

Coming of age story.

New cards
9

Chiasmus

Words or concepts repeated, purposefully inverted (Ex: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.)

New cards
10

Congeries

Creating a list to emphasize a point or irony (Ex: Apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order, what have the Romans done for us?)

New cards
11

Conceit

Extended metaphor used by metaphysical poets.

New cards
12

Consonance

Repeated consonant sounds.

New cards
13

Denouement

Story’s resolution.

New cards
14

Didactic

Adjective describing types of literature, intended to impart a moral lesson.

New cards
15

Enallage

Substituting one grammatical form for another (Ex: She is to be wived.)

New cards
16

Epistrophe

Word or phrase repeated at the sentence’s end.

New cards
17

Epic Similie

Similie developed & explained across series of lines.

New cards
18

Epithet

A nickname used as an invective.

New cards
19

Epigram

Pithy saying or remark (Ex: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.)

New cards
20

Epigraph

Poem, quote, or sentence at the beginning of a piece that reveals theme/sets a tone.

New cards
21

Epiphany

Sudden realization or moment of clarity.

New cards
22

Epizeuxis

Repeating words of phrases in immediate succession in a sentence.

New cards
23

Erotesis

Question that expects an affirmative or negative response.

New cards
24

English/Shakespearian Sonnet

14 lines divided into 3 quatrains + a couplet

New cards
25

Enjambent

Continuation without a pause beyond the end (Ex: A sentence has a line brain, but continues)

New cards
26

Hyperbaton

Inversion of words differing from how they’re normally arranged (Ex: Object there was none.)

New cards
27

Irony

Signifying the opposite (Verbal = Opposite of what’s intended, Situational = Contrast from expected vs happened, Dramatic = reader knows more than characters)

New cards
28

Isocolon

2+ phrases have the same structure, rhythm, length (Ex: Veni, vidi, vici.)

New cards
29

Jeremiad

Long mournful, complaint or lamentation.

New cards
30

Joycean prose

Stream of consciousness, laden with wordplay

New cards
31

Kafkaesque

Surreal, nightmarish milieu producing disorder and resignation (concept from Franz Kafka)

New cards
32

Lacuna

Large gap or omission, sometimes used to indicate absense

New cards
33

Litotes

Understatement used to create ironic sentiment

New cards
34

Malapropism

Mistake of using one word to replace a similar sounding, yet more appropriate one (Ex: I am not to be truffled with.)

New cards
35

Metonymy

Term used for something similar to what’s intended

New cards
36

Mise en abyme

Story inside a story (framed)

New cards
37

Motif

Repeated element supporting a work’s theme

New cards
38

Onomatopoeia

Words sounding like what they’re referring (Ex: Click, clack, moo.)

New cards
39

Oxymoron

Two contradictory words describing one thing (Ex: Parting is such sweet sorrow.)

New cards
40

Parallelism

Similar ideas and words are arranged harmoniously to create a parallel (Ex: One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.)

New cards
41

Peripeteia

Sudden reversal of fortunes

New cards
42

Petrarchan Sonnet

14 lines divided into an octave and sestet

New cards
43

Polysyndeton

Repeating conjunctions in rapid succession (Ex: We have ships and men and money.)

New cards
44

Portmanteau

Two words combine to form a new one, referring to a single concept

New cards
45

Repetition

Repeating a word/phrase

New cards
46

Rhyme

Effect of having words with similar vowel sounds (Slant = Similar but not identical, Feminine = Stressed syllables followed by unstressed, Internal = Words in middle of lines, Eye = Similar spelling but not sound, Masculine = Final stressed syllable, Rich = Produced with vowels and consonants).

New cards
47

Synecdoche

Term used to represent an entirity

New cards
48

Tmesis

Separating a compound word with intervening words (Ex: Shove it back any-old-where in the pile:)

New cards
49

Tautology

Sentence/paragraph repeats a word or phrase, with the same idea twice (Ex: But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door.)

New cards
50

Telegraphic Sentence

Five or less words

New cards
51

Volta

“Turn” in a poem, tone suddenly shifts

New cards
52

Zeugma

Word applies to two others in different senses (Ex: John and his license expired last week.)

New cards
53

Light Verse

Poetry about trivial, amusing, unimportant things.

New cards
54

Free Verse

NO rules, but still contains some structure.

New cards
55

Blank Verse

Contains meter, lacks rhyme.

New cards
56

Alliterative Verse

Organizing principle for lines in alliteration.

New cards
57

Rhyming Verse

Meter & rhyme.

New cards
58

Prose

Not in verse, structure doesn’t matter. Book writing.

New cards
59

Foot

Unit of syllables in a poem.

New cards
60

Iamb

Unstressed, stressed.

New cards
61

Trochee

Stressed, unstressed.

New cards
62

Spondee

Stressed, stressed.

New cards
63

Common Meter

Line of iambic followed by a line of iambic trimeter.

New cards
64

Meter Lengths

Three feet = Trimeter. Four feet = Tetrameter. Five feet = Pentameter. Six feet = Hexameter. Seven feet = Heptameter. Eight feet= Octameter.

New cards
65

Couplet

Pairing of two lines.

New cards
66

Quatrain

Pairing of four lines.

New cards
67

Allegory

Narrative with characters & plots depicting abstract ideas/themes.

New cards
68

Allusion

Passing or indirect descriptive reference

New cards
69

Anachronism

Something happens or attributed to a different era than what actually existed. (Ex: Cassius said the clock struck three, but mechanical clocks weren’t invented yet).

New cards
70

Anthropomorphism

Literally applying human traits or qualities to non-human things.

New cards
71

Aphorism

Universally accepted truth in a pithy way (Ex: To err is human, to forgive divine)

New cards
72

Archetype

“Universal symbol” bringing familiarity and context to a story. Represents feeling and situations across cultures/time periods.

New cards
73

Colloquialism

Casual and informal language in writing, including slang

New cards
74

Deus Ex Machina

Impossible situation solved by appearance of an unexpected character/action/event

New cards
75

Euphemism

Indirect “polite” way of describing something too inappropriate or awkward to address directly

New cards
76

Exposition

Narrative provides background information in order to help reader understand what’s happening.

New cards
77

Flashback

Cut to previous events split up present-day scenes in a story.

New cards
78

Foreshadowing

Author hints at events yet to come.

New cards
79

Frame story

Story’s part that “frames” another

New cards
80

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statement emphasizes significance of statement’s actual meaning.

New cards
81

Imagery

Readers’ senses through highly descriptive language

New cards
82

In Media Res

“In the midst of things,” beginning a story without context.

New cards
83

Juxtaposition

Places dissimilar concepts side by side, profound contrast highlights their differences

New cards
84

Paradox

Statement that contradicts itself yet true (Ex: War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.)

New cards
85

Personification

Human traits applied to non-human things (metaphorically)

New cards
86

Point of View

Mode of narration in a story

New cards
87

Satire

Making fun of some aspect of human nature or society

New cards
88

Soliloquy

Character speaking their thoughts aloud to themselves

New cards
89

Tone

Writer’s attitude towards the subject

New cards
90

Zoomorphism

Animal traits and assigning them to something not an animal

New cards
91

Cliche

Idea used so often, it becomes unoriginal

New cards
92

Idiom

Uses figurative language whose meaning differs from what’s actually said (Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs)

New cards
93

Metonymy

Serves as a synonym and symbolizes things (Ex: “The crown” representing the monarchy).

New cards
94

Non Sequitur

Statements that don’t logically follow what precedes them, absurd and lend humor

New cards
95

Rhetorical Question

Asked to create an effect ratherthan to solicit an answer

New cards
96
New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 6 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 27 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 119 people
... ago
4.7(3)
note Note
studied byStudied by 8 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 3 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 22 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 8 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 214 people
... ago
5.0(1)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (30)
studied byStudied by 2 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (22)
studied byStudied by 16 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (56)
studied byStudied by 3 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (63)
studied byStudied by 103 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (23)
studied byStudied by 8 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (20)
studied byStudied by 9 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (48)
studied byStudied by 10 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (77)
studied byStudied by 25 people
... ago
5.0(1)
robot