My Top 10 Favorite Literary Devices

1. Direct Characterization: Before an Honors English 10 student steps into the slightly intimidating world of AP English 11, they are not smart.  After two years of incredibly hard work, SOAPSTones, Data Sheets, annotating, and crying over in-class essays, they are smart.
2. Foreshadowing:  Non-AP English Path- An individual will have nights full of sleep and will never know the horror of those first in-class discussions.  AP English Path- Individuals that choose this path will spend many days at school wandering around in a sleep-deprived zombie state, but will also enjoy the wonderful world of plums, arguments over what those muffins symbolize, and seeing Moushumi’s mustache.
3. Flashback:  Ms. Serensky’s Day of Sharing.  Not only did we get to enjoy the wonderful lollipops she provided, we also got to spend the period learning all about the teacher that forced us to sing in front of the entire class.
4. Parallel Structure:  Gogol, McMurphy, McCandless, Algernon, Iago, Junior, Harriet Jacobs, and the other characters who we harassed endlessly for their utterly stupid choices, ridiculous names, or just because we’re mean.
5. Juxtaposition:  Pre-AP English smartness compared to post-AP English smartness.  Whoa- we’ve really learned a lot.
6. Suspense:  Seen every day while walking into the room right before an in-class essay: I will always remember looking around the room and seeing my fellow classmates scream quotes at each other in desperately panicked voices.
7. Dramatic Irony:  The reader- Ms. Serensky.  The characters: Her wonderful students.  Feeling really dumb sometimes builds character.
8. Synecdoche:  I can’t really think of anything to apply this one to, but after two years of work, you’ll know what cool words like this mean.  Then you can sound smart when you apply them to daily life.
9. Syntax:  Why should you take AP English?  Why not!  You get to hang out for a period every day who get in passionate, heated debates about fictional characters!  And leave angry when you finally come up with the perfect comment and can’t seem to get a word in over those loud people around you!
10. Situational Irony:  It seems like all the stressful work, those three-in-the-morning Facebook chats about how your Data Sheet is only 23 pages long, and the 44 pens that have run out of ink from countless papers and notes written in the margins of our books, us seniors would be begging our younger peers not to submit themselves to such torture.  However, whenever a sophomore asks me if I would recommend AP or Honors English, I pretty much bully them into signing up for AP.  Might seem like foolish advice to an outsider, but, hey, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”  I don’t think those quotes will ever get out of my head…