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AP LIT TERMS

Terms in this set (22)

Simile
An explicit comparison (using like or as) ex. her lips are like roses
Metaphor
A word or phrase denoting one kind of object or idea used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. Generally an implicit comparison (doesn't use like or as) ex. her lips are roses
Synecdoche
Substituting a part for a whole or a whole for a part. ex. fifty sail for fifty ships
Metonymy
Substituting the name of something for its attribute or whatever it is associated with ex. crown for king
Periphrasis
Substituting a descriptive phrase, made up of a concrete adjective and abstract noun, for a precise word ex. fringed curtains of thine eye=eyelashes
Personification
attributing animation to something inanimate; treating a thing or abstract quality as though it were a person ex. a grieving nation
Oxymoron
deliberate combination of seemingly contradictory words ex. bittersweet
Onomatopoeia
the concordance of sounds and meaning ex. snap, crackle, pop
Assonance
recurrent vowel sounds ex. sweet, sleeps, creature
Alliteration
recurrent consonant sounds, frequently but not exclusively at beginning of words ex. sessions, sweet, silent, summon, things, past
Pun
deliberate confusion of words based upon similarity of sound ex. waist/waste
Malapropism
unconscious pun ex. confusing odious for onerous
Wordplay
a serious pun ex. dying man says 'tomorrow you shall find me a grave man'
Paronomasia
wordplay based upon similar rather than identical sounds ex. roots/rots
repetition, parallelism, contrast, antithesis
devices which have the rational appeal of logic and the aesthetic appeal of symmetry
anaphora
repetition of word or words beginning a series of parallel syntactical units ex. this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this england
double epithet
two words of identical or almost identical meaning joined by a conjunction. The chief effect is richness or plenitude of style. ex. extravagant and erring
transposition
rearrangement of normal word order for effect ex. I the apple ate
apostrophe
direct address of an abstraction or of someone absent ex. death, be no proud!
hyperbole
deliberate overstatement, exaggeration for effect ex. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse
allusion
reference to or echo of familiar expressions, persons or objects from a cultural tradition ex. prodigal son
connotation
double and triple level suggestive power of words ex. gold can connote wealth
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