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A rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis.
For example: Charles Dickens: In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,/ In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,” |
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A figure of speech in which the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman.
For example: “The Sun Rising” by John Donne where the poet scolds the sun for interrupting his nighttime activities: Busy old fool, unruly sun, why dost though thus, through windows, and through curtains call on us? |
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Used for poetic effect, a repetition of the initial consonant sounds of several words in a group.
For example: The line from Robert Frost’s poem “Acquanted with the Night”: “I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet.” The repetition of the s sound creates a sense of quiet, reinforcing the meaning of the line. |
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Words in a second clause that invert or reverse the meaning or order of the first clause.
For example: I come from the rural north, from the urban south comes she.
John is a good worker, and a bright student is Mary.
“A fop their passion, but their prize a sot.”–Alexander Pope.
“Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.”–Samuel Taylor Coleridge. |
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a conceit is a detailed and unusual metaphor that is usually seen as one that would be considered as unlikely and elaborate. A conceit is typically seen as a type of metaphor.
For example: In Shakespeare’s piece, Richard II, Shakespeare makes an elaborate conceit referring to kings who are competing as two buckets in a well. |
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(from Greek "to fall short.") the omission from a sentence of a word or words that would be required for complete clarity but which can usually be understood from the context. The sequence of three dots (…) employed to indicate the omission of some matter in a text is also known as an ellipsis.
For example:
“A punctuation mark (...) used most often ... to indicate....”
Shakespeare, ‘I will [go] to Ireland’ |
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Hyperbole: a figure of speech that is grossly exaggerated; used for emphasis and vivid description
For example: “This bag weighs a ton”, “I’m older than the hills” |
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a figure of speech, conscious understatement in which emphasis is
achieved by negation. Essentially litotes are ways to get your point across
(sometimes complementing a person) through the use of negative words.
Example- Common day expressions such as “ not bad” and “ no mean feat” are
good examples of litotes. Another example: Einstein is not a bad mathematician. |
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A metaphor is a figure of speech in-which a comparison
Is made between two unlike things by saying that one thing is the other thing.
Example- My love is a red, red rose. |
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A figure of speech in which a word represents something else which it suggests. This takes place to demonstrate an association of a whole to a part or how two things are associated in some way.
For example: in a herd of fifty cows, the herd might be referred to as fifty head of cattle. The word "head" is the word representing the herd. |
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A combination of contradictory terms.
For example: used by Romeo in Act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:
Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity;
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! |
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a situation or a statement that appears to contradict itself but actually does not.
For example: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” (George Orwell) |
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a repetition of sentences using the same structure.
For example: Roses are red. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet; and so are you. |
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a figure of speech where animals, ideas, or objects are given human characteristics.
For example: The trees danced in the wind, opportunity is knocking at the door, the sun smiles down upon the earth. |
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A figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole as to define it
For Example: "All hands on deck." |
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An unnecessary repetition of meaning, using different words that effectively mean the same thing,
For Example: "I can see it with my own eyes"
“free gift,” or “new innovation” |
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