AP Lit Devices

  1. Alliteration
    Repetition of a consonant sound
  2. Blank Verse
    Applied to any verse that does't rhyme. Iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's plays
  3. Allusion
    Reference to another person, historical vent, or work
  4. Apostrophe
    Direct address to someone who is not present
  5. Caesura
    A pause in a line of poetry in order to make the meaning clear or to follow the natural rhythm of speech
  6. Connotation
    Associations or moods attached to a word
  7. Consonance
    Repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowel
  8. Couplet
    A pair of rhymed lines
  9. Denotation
    Dictionary definition
  10. Dialect
    Regional speech pattern
  11. Diction
    Word choice
  12. Foot
    Combination of stressed and unstressed syllables that m ake up the metric unit of a line
  13. Free Verse
    Poetry that doesn't follow a prescribed form but is characterized by irregularity in length of lines and lack of regular metrical pattern and rhyme
  14. Hyperbole
    Extreme exaggeration
  15. Imagery
    Language that appeals to the senses
  16. Juxtaposition
    Placement of one idea next to its opposite to make it more dramatic
  17. Metaphor
    Implicit comparison between two things essentially dissimilar without like or as
  18. Meter
    The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables or the units of stress patterns
  19. Onomatopoeia
    Word when spoken imitates the sounds associated with the words
  20. Paradox
    Seeks to create mental ambiguity, which then forces the reader to pause and seek clarity
  21. Personification
    Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things
  22. Repetition
    The repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis
  23. Pun
    Play on words to create humor or comic relief
  24. Rhyme
    Echo or imitation of a sound
  25. Rhythm
    Sense of movement attributable to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
  26. Shift
    Change in setting, tone, or speakers
  27. Simile
    Explicit comparison using like, as, or than between two very different things
  28. Sonnet
    Fixed form of fourteen lines, iambic pentameter
  29. Stanza
    Group of lines that forms one division of a poem
  30. Symbol
    Object that signifies something greater than itself
  31. Verse
    Lines of poetry or metrical language in general, in contrast to prose
  32. Irony
    The use of words to express something other than the literal meaning
  33. Anadiplosis
    Last word of the clause begins the next clause
  34. Anaphora
    Deliberate repetition of a word at the beginning of several successive poetic lines
  35. Anastrophe
    Reversal of the natural order of words in a sentence or line of poetry
  36. Metonymy
    Figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted for another which it is closely associated to
  37. Parallel Syntax
    Patter of language that creates rhythm of repetition often combines with some other language of repetition
  38. Rhetorical Question
    Question whose answer is assumed
  39. Rhetorical Shift
    Occurs when author significantly alters diction, syntax, or both
  40. Tricolon
    Sentence with three equally distinct and equally long parts
  41. Understatement
    Creates exaggeration by showing restraint
  42. Zuegma
    Minor device in which two or more elements in a sentence are tied by the same verb or noun
Author
xjusjaysonx
ID
40377
Card Set
AP Lit Devices
Description
AP Lit Devices
Updated