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| giving human qualities to animals or objects |
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the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words Example:
In cliches: sweet smell of success, a dime a dozen, bigger and better, jump for joy |
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putting two contradictory words together Examples:
hot ice, cold fire, wise fool, sad joy, military intelligence, eloquent silence |
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exaggeration or overstatement Example:
I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
He's as big as a house. |
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reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory. Example:
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. |
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a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or ficticious, or to a work of art. Casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event.
An allusion may be drawn from history, geography, literature, or religion. Example:
Stephen Vincent Benet's story "By the Waters of Babylon" contains a direct reference to Psalm 137 in the Bible. |
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| the standard word order and sentence structure of a language |
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| a word used in a literary work that takes the place of another word because it is offensive, or would be used in bad taste. |
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| A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning. |
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the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Example:
He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons. |
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substituting a word for another word closely associated with it. Example:
bowing to the sceptered isle. (Great Britain) |
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when one uses a part to represent the whole. Example:
lend me your ears (give me your attention). |
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n implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. Three kinds of irony:
1. verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else.
2. dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know.
3. irony of situation is a discrepency between the expected result and actual results. Example:
"A fine thing indeed!" he muttered to himself. |
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| a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. |
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| comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" |
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an implied meaning of a word. Example:
Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (burial) |
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| In a work of literature, the most decisive and critical scene or event is the climax. The climax is the major turning point of the work; it is the culmination of the rising action, conflicts, and complications of the story. |
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he literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning. Example:
Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (sleep). |
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| the perspective the author uses to tell a story. |
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is Latin for "It does not follow," coming from the deponent verb sequor. The term may refer to:
- Non sequitur (logic), logical fallacy
- Non sequitur (humor), a comment which has no relation to the comment it follows
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| consists of a series of events that follow a dramatic or narrative's climax, thus serving as the conclusion of the story. |
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| the study and classification of different poetic meters, rhyme schemes, and stanzas. |
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an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. Example:
the bird of night (owl is a symbol of death) |
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| a fairly elaborate figure of speech, especially an extended comparison involving unlikely metaphors, similes, imagery, hyperbole, and oxymora. |
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| A recognizable though varying pattern of stressed syllables alternating with syllables of less stress. |
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| a unified group of lines in poetry. |
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harsh, discordant sounds. Opposite of euphony. Example:
finger of birth-strangled babe. |
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| understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. |
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1. Repetition of a grammatical structure for effect. 2. Expression of similar ideas in similar structures. 3. The requirement of grammar that cojoined expressions take the same grammatic form, e.g. "We liked to ride and to swim," not "We liked to ride and swimming." |
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a word that imitates the sound it represents. Example:
splash, wow, gush, kerplunk |
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| the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature. |
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soothing pleasant sounds. Opposite of cacophony. Example:
O star (the fairest one in sight) |
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| refers to literature or other types of art that are instructional or informative. |
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| A word or phrase used everyday in plain and relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing. |
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| the attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character: serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, solemn, objective. Similar to Mood |
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the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find. Example:
hot is to cold as fire is to ice OR hot:cold::fire:ice |
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| a word or phrase that departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. Metaphor and simile are the two most commonly used figures of speech, but things like irony, synecdoche, and personification are also figures of speech. |
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| one asked solely to produce an effect or to make a statement, but not expected to receive an answer. The purpose to such a question, whose answer is obvious, is usually to make a deeper impression upon the hearer or reader than a direct statement would. |
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when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed. Example:
With how sad steps, O moon, thou climbest the skies. Busy old fool, unruly sun. |
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The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs.
One of the devices of repetition, in which the same phrase is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines. |
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| In literature, a comic or satirical imitation of a piece of writing, exaggerating its style and content, and playing especially on any weakness in structure or meaning of the original |
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| deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context. |
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A type of rhetoric in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first. Greek X Example:
"There's a bridge to cross the great divide. . . . There's a cross to bridge the great divide. . . ." |
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| when an author says one thing and means something else |
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| when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know |
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| Sarcasm is a strong form of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone through, for example, false praise. |
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- A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work.
- A dominant theme or central idea.
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