Literary Devices
AP Lang. is like a roller-coaster--filled with ups and downs.
What is simile?
"He's an awful politician. He smells and his suits are ugly."
What is ad hominem?
I didn't text my mom after the exam like I promised. She said, "I guess I'm a terrible mother."
What is strawman?
“But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
What is appeal to ethos?
"It's an awfully simple operation, Jig...It really is not anything; it's just to let the air in."
"Hills Like White Elephants" - Ernest Hemingway
What is meiosis?
When I was in middle school, I was so afraid to speak up or ask any questions. Now, I'm much more confident.
What is analepsis (flashback)?
Only serious athletes become politicians.
What is either/or (false dilemma)?
“If I fund your organization, I’ll have to fund others and then our city will be completely bankrupt."
What is slippery slope?
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) Collection Of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive. 2)Negotiation. 3) Self-purification and $0 Direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham.”
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
What is appeal to logos?
"You are a no-good, dirty, rotten scoundrel. You don't deserve the air you breathe."
What is invective?
Some feel rain. Some feel the beetle startle in its ghost-part when the bark slips. Some feel musk. Asleep against each other in the whiskey dark, scarcely there.
"Some Feel Rain" - Joanna Klink
What is anaphora?
"Smoking is injurious to your health because it harms your body."
What is begging the question?
“A student got in an accident on the way to school last week. All teenagers are bad drivers.”
What is hasty generalization?
“We stood all alone a year ago… All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished… But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in…”
-- Winston Churchill
What is appeal to pathos?
"I've never heard silence quite this loud."
"The Story of Us" - Taylor Swift
What is paradox?
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! I have thee not, and yet I see thee still."
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
What is apostrophe?
“Most students agree with block scheduling; you should support it too!”
What is bandwagon?
I know she stole my iPhone-- she wasn’t even at school today!”
What is red-herring?
"If you want America to live long and stay strong, you must not only stand for the flag, you need to fight for it. This country is our home and our greatest source of pride."
What is appeal to patriotism?
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
Mark Twain
What is sarcasm?
"I know the action in the street is excitin' But Jesus, between all the bleedin' and fightin' I've been readin' and writin'"
Hamilton - Lin Manuel Miranda
What is assonance?
“All men are dreamers. No woman is a man. Therefore, no woman is a dreamer.”
What is non-sequitur?
“Schools need more funding; schools will never be perfect. Similarly, last week I tried to bowl a perfect game and it was impossible. Perfection in education or anywhere is impossible!”
What is equivocation?
“If we want to slow global warming, we need to be mindful of our behaviors; we need to recycle more, drive less and seek alternative energies.”
What is appeal to altruism?
"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n"
Paradise Lost - John Milton
What is antithesis?