Figurative Language
Analogy: A comparison which demonstrates the similarity or similarities between two things or concepts.
Metaphor: A comparison that does not use like or as: the slow blue rivers in her hands
Simile: a comparison using like or as: she kisses like a horse
Symbol: Object, name, color, or setting that represents a widely shared idea, associationred, red rose; black box; cruciform pattern; the ocean
Synesthesia: A blending of the senses: "the blind man who said he supposed the colour of scarlet was like the sound of a trumpet” (Thackeray, Sketches 669).
Apostrophe: Addressing a non-human or conceptual entity, often in sololiquy: “Ah! Ye gods!” “Death be not proud!”
Cliché: A word or phrase that has become overly familiar or commonplace because of overuse: No pain, no gain. A bouncing baby boy. My love is deep as an ocean. I can fly higher than an eagle.
Dead metaphor: A metaphor that has become cliché: It takes two to tango. Love makes the world go round. Red as a rose.
Hyperbole: Intentional exaggeration, often humorous or sentimental: mile-high ice-cream cones. Teeth big as tombstones.
Idiom: The language peculiar to a group of people: Example 1: The dancers were getting down to it on the dance floor. Example 2: Dude, that Italian Renaissance sculpture you got there is totally weak.
Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies a part: All hands on deck. Go talk to the Head.
Pathetic Fallacy/Personification: Giving something human qualities. The stuffed bear smiled as the boy held him close
ory: story in which the characters and their actions represent general truths about
human conduct. The characters in an allegory often represent abstract concepts, such as
faith, innocence, or evil. E.g., George Orwell's Animal Farm in writing orThe Hunger Games.
Ambiguity: Deliberately using a word or expression to signify two or more distinct references, attitudes or feelings. If a student insists that they are “glad they failed the class,” this would be an ambiguous statement.
Aphorism: A short, often witty statement that contains a serious maxim, opinion, or general truth. “In life there are winners and losers. But the losers don’t know this.”
Black Humor: A technique in which characters cope with events and situations which are at both comical and brutal at the same time. Adult animation shows such as Family Guy and American Dad often employ black humor by using stereotypes (such as the obese, alcoholic father). As SATIRE, such black humor is used to ridicule and criticize faults in our society such as alcoholism, abuse, poverty, infidelity, and so on.
Caricature: A grotesque representation of a person or thing that exaggerates striking or representative features for a satirical purpose. Political cartoons that exaggerate the physical features of a president are one common use of caricature.
Conceit: A figure of speech establishing a striking parallel between two very dissimilar things or situations. Neo (“new”) being a symbolic character representing the temptation and victory of Christ over sin is a huge conceit in “The Matrix”.
Epiphany: A "showing forth" or sudden revelation of the true nature of a character or situation through a specific event - a word, gesture, or other action - that causes the reader to see the significance of that character or situation in a new light. The term was first popularized in modern literature by James Joyce. In classical drama, the epiphany occurs in the last act--often when it’s too late (thus it becomes IRONIC).
Understatement:A figure of speech which represents something as being less important than it really is. Often used for ironic effect. Robert Frost’s poem about human hatred, “Fire and Ice,” provides the most famous example when he says,
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
SOUND FIGURES AND DEVICES
Rhythm: The metrical flow of sound determined by the placement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line: She stroked molten tones
Kinds of rhythm:
Rhyme: When the final vowel and consonant sounds of words are the same (i.e., mouse/house, low/toe).
Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs in words that are not at the end
of a verse: I heard a bird go home
But third to the sun I sat
External Rhyme: Rhyme occurs at the end of a line:
I am the black crow king
King of nothing
Exact Rhyme: When syllables match exact phonetically: Moon, June, Spoon
Near (or “Slant”) Rhyme: When syllables are approximate in sound:
thistle, knuckle; storm, warn
Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhymed words: house/badge/louse/stage = abab
Repetition: repeating exact words or phrases. Put out the light, then put out the light.
Parallel Structure: I have no way to see
She has no way to leave
We have no way to say a thing
Assonance: Partial rhyme, when the internal vowel sounds of words are the same. (i.e., cow/bound/mouse).
Alliteration: The repetition of first-letter consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables: the wild and woolly walrus waits and wonders when we'll walk by.
Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within words: Humming and drumming, I came to and saw the hammer thump
Onomatopoeia: Naming a thing or an action by imitating the sound associated with it.buzz, hiss, roar, woof
Common Meters
The most common metre is
iambic ( 0 / , unstressed followed by stressed, as in the above lines).
Others include
trochaic ( / 0 , stressed followed by unstressed).
anapaestic (0 0 / , two unstressed followed by one stressed).
dactylic ( / 0 0, stressed followed by two unstressed).
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