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Definitions 1
Definitions 2
Examples 1
Examples 2
Review
100

A type of poem that idealizes rural life or the natural world.

Pastoral

100
Comparing two objects without using like or as
Metaphor
100
The stale bread was as hard as a rock.
Simile
100

“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun…”        -Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

Contrast

100

"My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Analogy

200

A type of poetry written in regular meter that does not contain rhyme. Most commonly found in iambic pentameter.

Blank Verse

200

A statement in which a seeming contradiction may reveal an unexpected truth.

Paradox

200

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star / How I wonder what you are

Apostrophe

200

Every cloud has a silver lining. Don't judge a book by its cover. 

Cliché

200

The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations.

Denotation

300

A type of poem that expresses sadness or melancholy about death, but ends in consolation.

Elegy

300

An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.

Symbol

300
It was so cold outside, I thought I would die. (Could it really have been THAT cold?)
Hyperbole
300

The boy's stomach was a bottomless pit.

Metaphor

300

A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in its context.

Ambiguity

400
The repetition of a beginning consonant sound in words that are close together
Alliteration
400

Using a play on words in which words with totally different meanings have similar or identical sounds.

Pun

400

“I’ve got a Van Gogh hanging up in my living room”.

Metonymy

400

Deafening silence; big baby

Oxymoron

400

A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning. Often, it is a symbolic narrative that has not only a literal meaning, but a larger one understood only after reading the entire story or poem.

Allegory

500

Words that imitate the sounds they make.

Onomatopoeia

500

Indicating a person, object, etc. by letting only a certain part represent the whole.

Synecdoche

500

What type of irony are these? 

#1 = A student fails a math test and says, "I'm a literal genius."

#2 = The audience sees the killer in the closet, but the victim thinks they are alone.

#3 = A fire station burns down.

#1 = verbal irony

#2 = dramatic irony

#3 = situational irony

500

She's not sick; she's “under the weather.”

Euphemism

500

The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning.

Connotation