AP latin literary devices

Alliteration

Repetition of the same letter/sound, usually at the start of words

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within words

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like their meaning

Anastrophe

Inversion of normal word order; preposition placed after its object

Chiasmus

Words arranged in an ABBA pattern

Synchysis

Interlocking/interweaved word order (ABAB)

Hyperbaton

Distanced placement of words that logically belong together

Tmesis

Separation of parts of a compound word

Prolepsis

Use of a word before it is grammatically appropriate; usually an adjective placed ahead of its noun

Anaphora

Repetition of a word/words at the beginning of successive clauses

Asyndeton

Conjunctions omitted to speed up the narrative

Polysyndeton

More conjunctions than necessary, slowing the pace

Simile

Comparison using "like" or "as"

Epic Simile

Extended, elaborate simile spanning multiple lines

Metaphor

Implied comparison without "like" or "as"

Metonymy

One word substituted for another it suggests

Synecdoche

Part used for the whole (or vice versa)

Personification

Inanimate/abstract thing treated as alive

Apostrophe

Direct address to an absent person or object

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for rhetorical effect

Litotes

Understatement through negation of the opposite

Rhetorical Question

A question expecting no real answer

Aposiopesis

An abrupt, dramatic breaking off mid-sentence

Transferred Epithet

An adjective applied to the "wrong" noun for emotional effect

In Medias Res

Beginning a narrative in the middle of the action

Enjambment

Syntax continues past a line break, creating momentum

Ekphrasis

Elaborate description of a work of art or setting

Foreshadowing

Hints at events to come

Flashback

Narrative returns to earlier events

Invocation of the Muse

Poet calls on the Muse for inspiration

Prosopopoeia

Assuming or giving voice to another character's persona

Dactylic Hexameter

Epic meter: 6 feet per line; foot = dactyl (— ∪ ∪) or spondee (— —); last foot always spondee

Dactyl

One long + two short syllables: — ∪ ∪

Spondee

Two long syllables: — —

Elision

Final vowel/m of a word dropped when next word begins with a vowel

Caesura

A pause mid-line, usually after the 5th or 7th half-foot