AP English Literature List of literary Devices

Literary Elements (the building blocks of literature)

Plot – sequence of events in a story
Setting – time and place of the action
Characterization – how characters are developed (direct vs. indirect)
Conflict – internal (man vs. self) or external (man vs. man, nature, society)
Theme – central idea or message
Tone – author’s attitude toward subject/audience
Mood – emotional atmosphere for the reader
Point of View – first person, third person limited/omniscient
Structure – organization of text (chapters, stanzas, acts, etc.)
Symbolism – objects/events representing larger ideas
Motif – recurring element that reinforces theme
Foreshadowing – hints of future events
Flashback – interruption to show past events

✍ Literary Techniques (tools authors use)

Imagery – descriptive language appealing to senses
Diction – word choice (formal, informal, colloquial, archaic)
Syntax – sentence structure (short, long, fragmented, complex)
Irony – verbal (sarcasm), situational (unexpected outcome), dramatic (audience knows more)
Juxtaposition – placing contrasting ideas side by side
Allusion – reference to history, literature, or culture
Metaphor – comparison without “like” or “as”
Simile – comparison using “like” or “as”
Personification – giving human qualities to nonhuman things
Hyperbole – deliberate exaggeration
Understatement – downplaying importance
Paradox – seemingly contradictory statement that reveals truth
Oxymoron – two opposite words together (“deafening silence”)
Connotation vs. Denotation – implied meaning vs. literal meaning
Ambiguity – open to multiple interpretations

🎙 Rhetorical Devices (persuasive/expressive techniques)

Anaphora – repetition at the beginning of clauses (“We shall fight… We shall fight…”)
Epistrophe – repetition at the end of clauses
Parallelism – balanced grammatical structure (“easy come, easy go”)
Antithesis – contrasting ideas in parallel structure (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”)
Chiasmus – reversal of structure (“Ask not what your country can do for you…”)
Rhetorical Question – asked for effect, not answer
Polysyndeton – use of many conjunctions (“and…and…and…”)
Asyndeton – omission of conjunctions (“I came, I saw, I conquered”)
Alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds
Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds
Consonance – repetition of consonant sounds within words
Onomatopoeia – words imitating sounds (“buzz,” “clang”)

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