AP: Literary Devices Flashcards
Diction
Diction 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. The author’s selection of words or vocabulary and the artistic arrangements of these words is what constitutes the style and establishes the voice of a literary work.
Enjambement
A literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause. With enjambment, the end of a poetic phrase extends past the end of the poetic line. This means that the thought or idea “steps over” the end of a line in a poem and into the beginning of the next line.
Image
A representation of the external form of a person or thing in art; a simile or metaphor
Line break
A poetic device that is used at the end of a line, and the beginning of the next line in a poem. It can be employed without traditional punctuation. Also, it can be described as a point wherein a line is divided into two halves.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable; a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract
Rhyme
The correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry
Rhythm
A strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound; the systematic arrangement of musical sounds, principally according to duration and periodic stress
Simile
A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid
Stanza
A division of four or more lines having a fixed length, meter, or rhyming scheme; similar to paragraphs
Repitition
Repetition is a literary device in which a word or phrase is used multiple times. Repetition can be found throughout literature. Most commonly, it is found in poetry and speeches to create rhythm or emphasize a word or phrase
Alliteration
Repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words. Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words is called initial alliteration. Repeated consonant sounds in the middle or at the ends of words is called internal alliteration
-for sense of beauty / aesthetics (musicality and rhythm)
Anaphora
Refers to an expression that consists of repeating a sequence of words in the beginning of neighbouring clauses
Couplet
two lines combined
Quatrain
four lines that make one stanza
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a literary device writers use to address someone or something that is not physically present. The subject may be dead, absent, inanimate, or abstract (like in O Captain! My Captain!
