AP Lit Rhetorical Devices
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Created by:
GooeyGungan on November 20, 2010
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61 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Allegory | The use of character and/or story elements to represent a larger idea (hope, freedom) |
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial consonant sound |
| Allusion | Reference to another work |
| Ambiguity | Multiple meanings |
| Anadiplosis | Repeating the last word of a phrase or clause |
| Analogy | Similarity between two things, sometimes used to explain stuff |
| Anaphora | Repeating the first word of a phrase or clause |
| Antithesis | Establishes the contrasting nature of two ideas by juxtaposing them |
| Aphorism | A statement of known authorship that says something considered to be "common knowledge" |
| Apostrophe | An interruption of a speech to address an inanimate object (fate, liberty, love) |
| Archetype | A basic form of a type of story or character |
| Aside | Words spoken only to the audience or to a few characters while others are onstage |
| Assonance | Repetition of similar vowel sounds in successive words (not sentences) |
| Asyndeton | Omitting conjunctions between words |
| Bildungsroman | A coming of age story |
| Caricature | Exaggeration of physical features as a form of parody |
| Carpe Diem | Sieze the day - a realization that life is short and we have to make the most of it |
| Catharsis | Purification of emotions |
| Catachresis | An exaggerated metaphor using words in an unusual way |
| Cataloguing | Listing entities to show progression |
| Chiasmus | Parallel structure in which the second part is in reverse order (learned unwillingly, gladly forgotten) |
| Cliché | An old, tired, worn out, idea or expression |
| Colloquial | The use of slang or informalities in writing |
| Comedy | A work that amuses the audience and ends happily |
| Connotation | Non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the suggested meaning |
| Consonance | Correspondence of sounds in words or syllables, can be found anywhere in the word |
| Denotation | The strict, literal definition of a word |
| Diatribe | A forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or some institution |
| Didactic Literature | Literature designed to teach a moral |
| Diction | The writer's word choice and style |
| Ellipsis | The omission of one or more words that the reader can fill in |
| Epanalepsis | The same word or phrase starts and ends a phrase or sentence |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of the last part of a sentence or part of a sentence. "Of the people, by the people, for the people" |
| Epithet | An adjective that qualifies a noun. "sneering contempt" |
| Eponym | Using an name of a famous person to describe an attribute. "The man is a regular Einstein" |
| Euphemism | A word used to avoid saying another word |
| Figurative language | Language not intended to carry literal meaning |
| Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration to make a point |
| Invective | Harsh denunciation of a person |
| Irony | The contrast between what is stated and what is meant, 3 types: Verbal, Situational, Dramatic |
| Isocolon | The same gramatical form is repeated multiple times, "I came, I saw, I conquered." |
| Litotes | Understatement used to make a point |
| Loose Sentence | Independent clause first, followed by dependent clauses. Thus, can end early. |
| Metaphor | Figure of speech comparing two seemingly unlike things |
| Motif | A theme repeated throughout a work |
| Onomatopoeia | Imitating natural sounds in the form of words |
| Oxymoron | A paradox (usually) reduced to two words; used to show complexities |
| Paean | A song of praise or triumph. Does not literally have to be a song. |
| Parable | A brief and simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson |
| Paradox | A statement or expression that is self contradictory; used to provoke the reader into seeing things from another point of view |
| Pathetic Fallacy | The writer treats inanimate or nonhuman objects as if they had human feelings (cruel winds, dancing flowers) |
| Pedantic | An overly scholarly tone |
| Periodic Sentence | A sentence in which the meaning is not completed until the end, usually because the independent clause is at the end. |
| Polysyndeton | Adding additional conjunctions to make an effect of a very long list. |
| Rhyme | The repetition of a similar sound in a work. |
| Satire | Targeting human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule |
| Sibilance | Consonant sounds that make a "hissing" sound |
| Simile | A comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Soliloquy | A speech given alone on the stage that expresses the private, inner thoughts of the character |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which the part is used to represent the whole, or occasionally, vice versa. "The White House said..." |
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