Figures of Speech
A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.
Example: Cold as ice.
Simile
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely positioned words or syllables.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"
Alliteration
A group of lines forming a unit in a poem.
Example: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, / Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."
Stanza
Visually descriptive or figurative language used to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
Example: The sky was painted in strokes of orange and pink
Imagery
The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
Example: April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Enjambment
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Example: My hands were icicles.
Metaphor
The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named
Example: "The car whizzed past at 90 miles an hour"
Onomatopoeia
Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme.
Example: "I felt a Cleaving in my Mind – / As if my Brain had split – / I tried to match it – Seam by Seam – / But could not make them fit."
The choice of words and style of expression that an author makes and uses in a work of literature.
Example: "let's grab a bite"
Diction
The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
Example: "If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it," in Beyonce's "Single Ladies"
Epistrophe
A statement that contradicts itself but might have an underlying truth.
Example: Less is more.
Paradox
A figure of speech where strong 's' sounds are created deliberately to produce a hissing sound
Example: "She sells seashells by the seashore."
Sibilance
The rhythmic structure of a verse, defined by the pattern and number of feet in a line.
Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Meter
A distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.
Example: The Mockingbird in To Kill a Mockingbird
Motif
A repeated line or number of lines in a poem or song, typically at the end of each verse.
Example: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Refrain
attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature
EX: the miserable rain weeping down the window
Pathetic Fallacy
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words.
Example: Mad as a hatter
Assonance
Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme and often have the same meter
Example: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this and this gives life to thee"
Couplet
The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.
Example: "He gave her Cat food"
Ambiguity
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Example: "I Have a Dream" in MLK's Speech
Anaphora
A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.
Example: "All hands on deck"
Synecdoche
The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity, not limited to the initial letter of words.
Example: "a stroke of luck"
Consonance
A stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes.
Example: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. "
Quatrain
A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt.
Example: "In a better place": instead of deceased
Euphemism
A pause near the middle of a line of poetry, usually placed between syllables, but can be placed between words.
Example: "To be, or not to be ..... that is the question."
Caesura