Literary Devices
What literary device compares two things using “like” or “as”?
What is a simile?
When the author is expressing thoughts, feelings, and personal experiences, often with a degree of introspection and analysis.
What is a reflective tone?
If a poem ends with a dramatic shift in tone, what should you look for in your analysis?
What is a volta or thematic shift?
What is a volta?
A shift in tone or argument in a sonnet.
What should your thesis do in an AP Lit essay?
Make a defensible, interpretive claim.
Giving human qualities to inanimate objects.
What is personification?
When the author evokes a mixture of sadness and a subtle sense of joy or beauty, often tied to the awareness of time's passage and the fleeting nature of life.
What is bittersweet or melancholic?
When a character consistently contradicts their stated beliefs, what literary term might describe this?
What is irony (or unreliable narrator)?
Sonnets often have 14 lines and are written in this meter.
What is iambic pentameter?
Name one strong literary element to analyze in poetry.
Imagery, diction, figurative language, etc.
This is a contradiction that reveals a truth.
What is a paradox?
Define tone and how it differs from mood.
Tone = author’s attitude; Mood = emotional atmosphere.
If a novel’s setting changes from a rural town to a bustling city, what might that symbolize?
What is a transition in identity or a loss of innocence?
Identify this poetic structure: one idea flows into the next line without pause.
What is enjambment?
When writing about prose, what’s one way to analyze character relationships?
Use dialogue, narration, and description for inference.
“The pen is mightier than the sword” is an example of...?
What is metonymy?
How can syntax influence tone?
Short, clipped syntax can create urgency or tension.
You notice that two characters with opposite traits often appear in scenes together. What device is being used?
What is a foil?
A pause in a line of poetry, often indicated by punctuation.
What is caesura?
What does it mean to “line of reasoning” in AP essays?
How your evidence logically supports your thesis.
Identify the device: “She stood in the storm, a stone unmoved.”
What is metaphor?
From reflective to intimate and idealistic.
What is a tone shift?
A narrator spends pages describing weather or landscape before a major event. What could this suggest?
What is foreshadowing or mood building through setting?
What type of sonnet is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 76?
What is an English/Shakespearean sonnet?
In Question 3, how should a student link money to theme?
Explain how a character’s view of money develops or critiques broader ideas in the text.