AP English Lit. Terms 1Metaphorical Devices & ImageryHilltop High SchoolMrs. Demangos

Metaphor A figure of speech in which an implicit

comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. It may take one of four forms:

1. That in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named

2. That in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied

3. That in which the literal term is implied and the figurative named

4. That in which both the literal and the figurative terms are implied.

Metaphor

That in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named:

“Life’s but a walking shadow”

“Sorrow is my own yard…”

Literal=Figurative

Life=ShadowSorrow=Yard

Metaphor

That in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied:

“Out in the porch’s sagging floor,

Leaves got up in a coil and hissed…” Literal=Figurative

Leaves=Snake “hissed”

MetaphorThat in which the literal term is

implied and the figurative named

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves— It powders all the Wood. It fills with Alabaster Wool The Wrinkles of the Road—”

Literal=FigurativeIt(snow)=wool

MetaphorThat in which both the literal and

the figurative terms are implied.

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves—

It powders all the Wood. It fills with Alabaster Wool The Wrinkles of the Road

—” Literal=FigurativeIt(snow)=(flour)sifts

SimileSimile and metaphor are both

used as a means of comparing things that are essentially unlike.

In a simile the comparison is expressed by the use of some word or phrase, such as like, as, than, similar to, resembles, seems.

“Harlem” by Langston HughesWhat happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run? 

Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load. Or does it explode?

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run?

Simile: Deferred dream shrivels like a raisin

Simile: Deferred dream becomes diseased, infected like a sore

PersonificationPersonification consists in

giving the attributes of a human being to an animal, an object, or a concept.

It is a subtype of metaphor.

Personification When autumn is described as a

harvester “sitting careless on a granary floor” or “on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep”, Keats is personifying a season.

“To Autumn” by John Keats

PersonificationWhen Sylvia Plath makes a

mirror speak and think, she is personifying an object.

Though the mirror speaks and thinks, we continue to visualize it as a mirror.

ArchetypeFrom the Greek arkhetupos,

meaning “first molded as a pattern.” It is often used to refer to characters,

plots, themes, and images that recur throughout the history of literature, both oral and written.

Archetypes are recognized as designs or patterns.

ArchetypeA pattern or model of an action (such

as lamenting the dead), a character type (rebellious youth), or an image (paradise as a garden) that recurs consistently enough in life and literature to be considered universal.

ArchetypeAlthough the term archetype has long

been used in its most general sense, the psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, gave it new meaning.

Jung theorized that certain ideas, actions, and images—rivalry between brothers, for example—arose out of early experiences of the human race, passed along through the “collective subconscious of mankind”, and are present in the subconscious of every individual.

ArchetypeAccording to Jung, these

archetypes emerge in the imagery of dreams and also in myths and other literature.

Some archetypes are used so often in certain literary genres that they become conventions, or distinguishing features of the genre.

AllusionA figure of speech that makes

a brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object. Biblical allusions are frequent in English literature.

Ex. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, “A Daniel come to judgment.”

AllusionStrictly speaking, allusion is always

indirect. It seeks, by tapping the knowledge and memory of the reader, to secure a resonant emotional effect from the associations already existing in the reader’s mind.

Ex. Herman Melville names a ship the Pequod in Moby-Dick. The reader, knowing the Pequod tribe to be extinct, will suspect the vessel to be fated for extinction.

AllusionThe effectiveness of allusion

depends on a body of knowledge shared by writer and reader.

Complex literary allusion is characteristic of much modern writing, and discovering the meaning and value of the allusions is frequently essential to understanding the work.

Metonymy Greek for “a change of name”. Substitution

of associated word for word itself. metonymy is a figure of speech. It

substitutes the name of a related object, person, or idea for the subject at hand.

Example: Crown- substituted for monarchy The White House- for the President of the

U.S. Shakespeare- for the works of Shakespeare the Turf- for horse racing.

SynecdocheGreek for “taking together”. A figure of

speech in which a part of something stands for the whole thing.

Synecdoche is a form of metonymy.Example:

wheels in “I’ve got wheels.” Stands for car.

hands in “All hands on deck!” Stands for sailors.

threads as in “Nice threads!” Stand for clothes.

Motif Recurrent image, idea, word, phrase, action, object,

situation, or theme in specific piece of literature. It can appear in various works or throughout the same work.

When applied to several different works, motif refers to a recurrent theme, such as the CARPE DIEM motif—the idea that life is short, time is fleeting, and one must make the most of the present moment.

Example: Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”

MotifWhen applied to a single work, motif refers

to a repetition that tends to unify the work by bringing to mind its earlier occurrences and the impressions that surround them.

Example: the periodic striking of clocks in Virginia Wolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway

Example: the repetition of patterns—of a garden, a dress, a fan, and of life itself in Amy Lowell’s poem “Patterns.”

SymbolAn object, character, figure, or color

that is used to represent an abstract idea or concept.

For example: the two roads in Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” symbolize the choice between two paths in life.

Unlike an emblem, a symbol may have different meanings in different contexts.

SymbolSome symbols come into a story from a

shared language or symbols.

Traditional symbolic associations:Dawn of hopeDark forest of evilClay with deathWater with fertilityLight for knowledge or

enlightenment.

SymbolSome symbols have a special personal

meaning for the writer.

Example: Seamus Heaney—imaginative power staked in the image of the pump: the pump, like his poetry, taps hidden springs to conduct what is sustaining and life-giving; it is a symbol of nourishment.

SymbolLiterary symbols are rich in associations.

An ancient symbol in Western culture is the garden: the Garden of Eden was a scene of innocence and happiness, before the fall of Adam.

It is a symbol of nature seen as fruitful and life-sustaining. It may suggest the oasis in the desert.

SymbolSymbols may be ambiguous.

Example: in Melville’s Moby Dick the mythic white whale stands for everything that is destructive in nature—the whale destroys the ship. At other times, it stands for everything that is serenely beautiful in nature.

SymbolSymbols acquire their full meaning in

the context of the story.

Example: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the letter A for adultery becomes a symbol of the consciousness of guilt, of our doubts about who is truly guilty.

ImageSensory detail

A word, phrase, or figure of speech that addresses the senses, suggesting mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions.

ImageImages offer sensory impressions

to the reader and also convey emotions and moods through their verbal pictures.

Abstract/ConcreteClassifications of imagery.For instance, calling a fruit "pleasant"

or "good" is abstract, while calling a fruit "cool" or "sweet" is concrete.

The preference for abstract or concrete imagery varies from century to century.

Abstract/ConcretePhilip Sidney praised concrete imagery

in poetry in his 1595 treatise, Apologie for Poetrie.

A century later, Neoclassical thought tended to value the generality of abstract thought.

In the early 1800s, the Romantic poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley once again preferred concreteness.