AP Literature Literary Terms Study Guide

Allusion

a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that is a direct address to someone or something that isn’t present or cannot respond

Hyperbole

a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

Imagery

descriptive figurative language used in literature to appeal to one or more of the five senses

Metaphor

comparison between two unlike things not using “like, as, than, or resembles”

Extended metaphor

a form of comparison that extends over multiple lines, stanzas, paragraphs, etc. in prose or poetry

Personification

giving human characteristics to a nonhuman subject

Simile

a comparison between two unlike things and uses "like, as, then, and resembles”

Declarative sentence

makes statements or declarations and ends with a period

Exclamatory sentence

expresses strong emotion, and ends with an exclamation mark

Imperative sentence

gives commands or makes requests, ends with a period or an exclamation mark

Interrogative sentence

asks questions, ends with a question mark

Anaphora

repetition when it is specifically used at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

Epistrophe

Repetition at the end of successive lines, clauses, or sentences

Asyndeton

The omission or absence of an otherwise necessary conjunction between parts of a sentence or items in a series

Polysyndeton

the use of many conjunctions in close proximity, where otherwise unecessary

Ellipses

the deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by the context; it creates a daring economy of words

Anastrophe/inversion

A change in the normal syntax of a sentence, like Yoda

Loose sentences

begins with the main clause and follows with the dependent clauses or supporting details

Periodic sentence

begins with the dependent clause, follows with independent

Parallel structure/parallelism

the repetition of grammatical structure

Oxymoron

a figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas (right next to each other: jumbo shrimp)

Juxtaposition

a poetic and rhetorical device in which normal unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another

Paradox

a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but that expresses the truth

Antithesis

involves a direct contrast of structurally and grammatically parallel word groupings, generally for the purpose of contrast

Irony

the general name given to literary terms that involve differences between: appearances and reality, expectation and result, and meaning and intention

Litotes

an understatement usually through the form of negotiation (opposite of hyperbole)