Literary Terms
Terms
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- alliteration
- repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence
- anaphora
- repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines
- antithesis
- opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced of parallel construction
- aporia
- expression of doubt by which the speaker appears uncertain as to what he should think, say, or do.
- apostrophe
- a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent of present
- archaism
- use of an older or obsolete form
- assonance
- repetition of the same sound in words close to each other
- asyndeton
- lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses or words
- climax
- arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power
- euphemism
- substitution of an agreeable expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant
- hyperbole
- exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect
- irony
- expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another
- litotes
- understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed
- metaphor
- implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but one analogous to it
- metonymy
- substitution of one word for another which it suggests
- onomatopoeia
- use of words to imitate natural sounds
- oxymoron
- apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another
- paradox
- an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense but that many have truth in it
- personification
- attribution of personality to an impersonal thing
- simile
- an explicit comparison between two things using like or as
- syllepsis
- use of a word with two others with each of which it is understood differently
- synecdoche
- understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole or the whole for the part