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AP Literary Device Alliteration
Repetition of the same consonantal sound, usually at the beginning or within two or more successive words How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood? Veni, Vidi, Vici Effect: emhasizes, enlightens
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AP Literary Device Anaphora
Repetition of a word, usually at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines Blessed are the poor in spirit…/Blessed are the meek…/Blessed are they who mourn… Tu mihi quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque/ concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divum Effect: emphasizes
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AP Literary Device Anastrophe
The deliberate reversal of natural word order When he himself might his quietus make. Karthago, Italiam contra Errabant acti fatis maria omnia circum Te propter Effect: emphasizes word appearing first
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AP Literary Device Aposiopesis
An abrupt break in the sentence where the speaker is seemingly overwhelmed by some excessive emotion …an unfinished thought Quos ego ---! sed motos praestat componere fluctus (Neptune, Aen ) Effect: creates dramatic energy
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AP Literary Device Apostrophe
A “turning away” from one to address another; often used to address an absent personified object or person Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar) O patria, O divum domus Ilium (Aen ) Invide, dicebant, paries, quid amantibus obstas? (Ovid, Met. 4.73) Effect: expresses pathos, draws reader in
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AP Literary Device Asyndeton
The omission of connectors (et, vel, nec, etc.) in a closely related series in order to present a rapid statement of ideas But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. (Abraham Lincoln) Saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis scuta virum. (Aen ) Effect: accelerates narrative
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AP Literary Device Chiasmus
A criss-cross patterning of words, often nouns and adjectives into the arrangement ABBA Fair is foul, foul is fair (Shakespeare, MacBeth) Aoniam Marte movente lyram (Ovid, Amores) Omnia possideat, non possidet aera Minos Ovid, Met. VIII. 187 Effect: contrast
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AP Literary Device Ecphrasis
A digression vividly describing a place, object, or event. In epic poetry, this device creates a transition to a new scene Description of harbor (Aen ) Murals in the temple of Juno (Aen ff.) The doors of Apollo’s temple (Aen ) Aeneas’ shield (Aen ) Effect: adds vividness, interest
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AP Literary Device Ellipsis
The omission of an easily understood or assumed word in order to avoid repetition, to accelerate the narrative, or to accommodate the requirements of the meter. The understood word is often a form of esse, but can also be a form of ago, dico, facio, inquit, or loquor. Ellipsis points are used in questions throughout the AP exam Effect: accelerates the narrative, adds variety
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AP Literary Device Epithet
The consistent use of an adjective to characterize some person or thing “swift-footed” Achilles “rosy-fingered” dawn “wine-dark” sea Sum “pius” Aeneas Effect: reinforces or emphasizes
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AP Literary Device Transferred Epithet (enallage)
Application of an adjective to one noun when it is grammatically connected to another “The ploughman plods home his weary way” “et de purpureis conlectae vitibus uvae” (and grapes gathered from purple vines) Ovid, Met. VIII. 676 Effect: reinforces or emphasizes
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AP Literary Device Hendiadys
The use of two nouns connected by a conjunction (et, ac, atque, -que) and having the meaning of a modified noun He arrived despite the rain and weather. Hoc metuens, molemque et montes insuper altos (a massive mountain) (Aeneid I: 61) Mollierant animos lectus et umbra meos (Ovid, Amores I: 9) Effect: amplifies, adds force
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AP Literary Device Hyperbaton
A significant distortion of normal word order such as the separation of a noun form the adjective that it belongs with Size matters not! Judge me by me size, do you? (Yoda) Tantae animis caelestibus irae? (Aen. 1.11) Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem (Aen ) Effect: Emphasizes first of separated words
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AP Literary Device Hyperbole
Exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect I must have walked a million miles today. Fluctus ad sidera tollit (Aen ) Cumulo praeruptus aquae mons (Aen ) Effect: stresses importance of situation
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AP Literary Device Hysteron Proteron
Reversal of normal or expected sequence of events in order to emphasize the most important idea or thought Put on your shoes and socks! Moriamus et in media arma ruamus (Aen ) Effect: Stresses the end of an action, emphasis
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AP Literary Device Litotes
An understatement or double-negative. Litotes consists of a negative word (i.e. non, nec[que]), and a following adjective It is not unusual Neque enim ignari sumus (Aeneid 1.198) Nec sumus igrati: tibi nos debere fatemur Ovid. Met. IV. 76 Effect: emphasizes
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AP Literary Device Metaphor
An implied comparison, made through the figurative use of words that suggest a likeness between what is actually being described and something else All the world’s a stage,/and all the men and women merely players,/they have their exits and their entrances (Shakespeare, As You Like It) Ignes interiorem edunt medullam (Cat. 35) Effect: provokes thought, evokes feeling
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AP Literary Device Metonymy
Use of one noun for another “Jock” for athlete” “White House” for President “arma (= bellum) virumque cano” “implentur veteris Bacchi” Effect: conveys the abstract in concrete terms, variety of expression
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AP Literary Device Onomatopoeia
“sound-sense,” the poetic use of a single word whose sound suggests its meaning Babble, bang, buzz, cuckoo, hum, moo Magnum cum murmure montis (Aen. 1.55) Qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram (Aen ) Effect: illustrates lexical meaning
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AP Literary Device Personification
The attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or concepts Mother Nature, Blind Justice Suadentque cadentia sidera somnos (Aen. 2.9) Luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum (Horace) Effect: makes abstract concrete, makes vivid
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AP Literary Device Pleonasm
The use of redundant, superfluous, or unnecessary words. The opposite of ellipsis I’ll meet you at 12:00 noon Sic ore effata, and thus having spoken with her mouth (Aen ) Effect: clarifies, reinforces
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AP Literary Device Polyptoton
Repetition of a word but in a different form Winners never quit, quitters never win Tam te basia multa basiare (Catullus 45) Ars adeo latet arte sua (Ovid, Met ) Effect: adds interest, clarifies
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AP Literary Device Polysyndeton
The use of more conjuctions (et, -que, atque, nec) than is needed in series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses He ran and laughed and jumped for joy Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque … /Africus. (Aen ) Involvens umbra magna terramque polumque. (Aen ) Effect: produces a cumulative effect
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AP Literary Device Prolepsis
Speaking of something future as already completed or existing; a looking forward Dead man walking Precolonial United States Summersas obrue puppes (Aen. 1.69) Vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi (Aen ) Effect: Flashforward, emphasizes
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AP Literary Device Synchysis (Interlocked Word Order)
Words are arranged so that one word of a pair is placed between the words of another pair, in an ABAB pattern Saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram (Aen. 1.4) Aeternum hoc sanctae foedus amicitiae (Catullus 109) Effect: emphasizes close association of word pairs and gives closely knit expression
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AP Literary Device Synecdoche
The use of the part for the whole (pars pro toto) for variety of expression All hands on deck He purchased a new set of wheels Quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum [iron for sword] (Ovid. Met ) Effect: variety of expression
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AP Literary Device Tmesis
The separation of parts of a compound word by one or more intervening words Circum dea fundit => circumfundit (Aen ) Bis collo sqamea circum terga data => circumdati (Aen ) Effect: stresses enclosed words, meter needs
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AP Literary Device Tricolon Crescens
The use of three closely connected or parallel descriptions, increasing in size or emphasis, to modify a person or thing A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning (Lillian Gish) Veni, Vidi, Vici (Julius Caesar) Effect: gives the impression of a series
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AP Literary Device Zeugma
The use of one part of speech (usually a verb, but sometimes a noun) when strictly speaking the word can only be applied to one of them. The farmers grew corn, beans, and bored. Aeneas tulit dolorem et patrem Troia Effect: condenses
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