ap lit literary terms

alliteration

repetition of initial consonant sounds

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds

consonance

repetition of consonant sounds within words/end of words

epanalepsis

starting and stopping with the same word

anadiplosis

last thought in a clause is first thought in next clause

anaphora

repetition of same word at the beginning of a series

epistrophe

in a series, ending each item with the same ending

anastrophe

out of the ordinary inversions

synecdoche

mentioning a part of something to represent the whole

fable

short story with animals as characters to convey a moral

myth

traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a person/explaining some natural or social phenomenon, often involving supernatural beings or events

aphaeresis

cutting from the front a word, often due to regional dialect

syncope/elison

slurring over a word, resulting in cutting letters from middle of a word for rhetorical effect

apocope

cut letters from end of a word

scansion

analysis of a verse to show its meter

mise en abyme

typically in reference to art, of place an image within an image; regarding literature: story within a story or play within play

antithesis

putting 2 opposite ideas in same sentence for contrast of ideas

juxtaposition

putting 2+ concepts/ideas for comparison

metonymy

figure of speech where part of thing is used to stand for/suggest it

hyperbole

exaggeration for sake of emphasis

litotes

understatement achieved by saying opposite of what is meant; stating the fact in the negative

caesura

break/pause in a line of poetry that contributes to rhythm of the poem (looks like a em dash)

allusion

figure of speech that relies on prior knowledge/memory of reader to have emotional effect from associations already existing in reader’s mind

apostrophe

form of direct address, addressing someone/something that’s not present like they are present

personification

giving human characteristics to inanimate objects/animals

enjambment

grammatical construction where a sentence is completed in the next line

polysyndeton

items in a series seperated by conjunctions

asyndeton

items seperated by commas

ellipsis

omission of words/word denoted by …

zeugma

when one word refers to 2 or more words in the sentence; clauses are concluded under one verb

tmesis

repetition with an interuption

fabliau

short and comical, cynical tale

allegory

story where characters act as symbols of abstract philisophical/moral ideas

heroic couplet

2 lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme and close a thought

bildungsroman

coming of age story

stream of conciousness

writing technique where all thoughts of narrator are incorporated into story

portmanteau

2 words into 1

pathetic fallacy

crediting natural objects with emotions/traits of humans

neologism

newly made word that is commonly used but not one everyone uses

anachronism

person/thing chronologically out of place