AP LIT FINAL

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

A reference to another work or famous figure is an allusion. If we say, “Elyse Lambing is as gifted as Manchester United.”…We now have an allusion. We have compared the great Elyse to the great British football squad.

Question 2

Anaphora

Answer 2

The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills” (Winston S. Churchill).

Question 3

Antecedent

Answer 3

The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to. As the children in: The Principal asked the children where they were going.

Question 4

Apostrophe

Answer 4

A figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman, or absent. For example, one might talk to a friend who has passed away.

Question 5

Chiasmus

Answer 5

A figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the same words. Two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect.

Question 6

Ode

Answer 6

An ode is a poem or song. The poem is lyrical in nature, but not very lengthy. You have often read odes in which poets praise people, natural scenes, and abstract ideas. Ode is derived from a Greek word aeidein, which means to chant or sing. Think of an ode as a tribute or a song of praise about a person, an object, a moment in time. It’s praise!

Question 7

Onomatopoeia

Answer 7

Words that sound like what they mean. Examples: Boom. Splat. Babble. Gargle. Sizzle. Buzz. Roar.

Question 8

Paradox

Answer 8

A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not. Ironic, isn’t it???

Question 9

Synesthesia

Answer 9

When two (or more) sensory details are combined. Example: Sophia Christensen had a “prickly laugh” (touch, sound). Ben Shwartzman wore a “loud shirt” (sight, sound). “Bitter chuckles” or “humid green” or “sour smell.”

Question 10

Understatement

Answer 10

This literary device refers to the practice of drawing attention to a fact that is already obvious and noticeable. Understating a fact is usually done by way of sarcasm, irony, wryness or any other form of dry humor. Understating something is akin to exaggerating its obviousness as a means of humor.

Question 11

Symbolism

Answer 11

A device in literature where an object represents an idea.