AP 12 Literary Terms II

litotes

making an affirmative by negating its opposite

meiosis

use of deliberate understatement, usually for comic, ironic, or satiric effect

metonymy

a figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is commonly, and often physically, associated with it

syllepsis

a construction in which one word is used in two different senses ("After he threw the ball, he threw a fit.") aka- zeugma

chiasmus

rhetorical figure in which certain words, sounds, concepts, or syntactic structures are reversed or repeated in reverse order

synecdoche

using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example, referring to a car simply as "wheels")

euphemism

use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one

pun

a play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words

aphorism

a precise pointed statement that purports to reveal a truth or principle that is attributed to a specific person

anaphora

a rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences

paralipsis

a rhetorical figure involving a speaker's assertion not to discuss something that the speaker then proceeds to discuss

satire

a literary genre or mode that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices or stupidity, particularly in the context of politics and other important issues

montage

a composite of several different and typically unrelated elements that are juxtaposed and arranged to create or elicit a particular mood, meaning, or perception

sublime

the quality of greatness in a literary work that elevates the reader to a higher place

objectivity

associated with external reality, impersonal and impartial, and thus with empirical truth and absolute truth

subjectivity

associated with the internal mind, with perceptions and thoughts arising and based in a given individual's mind, and thus with bias and relative truth