AP Lit Terms

a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause.

• enjambment

• end-stop

• end rhyme

• line break

is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two non-similar things. As a literary device, metaphor creates implicit comparisons without the express use of “like” or “as.”

• simile

• juxtaposition

• metaphor

• personification

is an object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work.

• theme

• climax

• parallelism

• motif

It is a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases, and in the sentence, yet maintain grammatical accuracy.

• repetition

• asyndeton

• polysyndeton

• parallelism

a reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, event, or other literary work with which the reader is presumably familiar.

• allegory

• antidote

• allusion

• malapropism

is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to signify the whole, or vice-versa.

• metonymy

• juxtaposition

• synecdoche

• zeugma

is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to signify the whole, or vice-versa by placing two entities side by side to create dramatic or ironic contrast.

• metaphor

• simile

• juxtaposition

• analogy

is a statement that appears at first to be contradictory, but upon reflection then makes sense.

• oxymoron

• metaphor

• simile

• paradox

refers to a technique adopted by writers to present ideas, characters, or places in such a manner that they appeal to more than one sense, like hearing, sight, smell, and touch at a given time.

• Caesura

• synecdoche

• synesthesia

• portmanteau

a literary device that refers to the linguistic choices made by a writer to convey an idea or point of view, or tell a story, in an effective way.

• connotation

• syntax

• denotation

• diction