Poetic Devices and Figurative Language
Terms
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- Rhetorical Devices
- those devices which depend for their effect more upon the ear than on the mind
- Alliteration
- the repetition of one or more initial sounds, usually consonants and vowels at the beginning of each word in a series
- Assonance
- repetition of two or more vowel sounds within a line
- Consonance
- repetition of two or more consonant sounds within a line
- Onomatopoeia
- the use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning: imitative harmony. Certain words, such as hiss, bang, meow, imitiate the sound they represent
- Simile
- a direct comparison of two unlike objects, using "like", "as", "than"
- Metaphor
- a direct comparison of two unlike objects by identification or subsitution; a comparison that is suggested or implied
- Personification
- to give human or personal qualities to inanimate things or ideas
- Apostrophe
- an address to a person or personified object not present
- Metonymy
- the subsitution of a word which relates to the object or person to be named, in place of the name itself
- Synecdoche
- a part is used to represent the whole object or idea
- Hyperbole
- gross exaggeration for effect; overstatement
- Litotes
- a deliberate understatement; makes an assertion about something by denying its opposite
- Euphemism
- to express a disagreeable or unpleasant fact in agreeable language
- Antithesis
- sharply opposing ideas are expressed within a balanced grammatical structure
- Epigram
- a brief pointed saying that has the nature of a proverb; based on contrast
- Paradox
- a statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basis of truth
- Oxymoron
- two contradictory terms brought together to express a paradox for strong effect
- Figurative Devices
- those devices which appeal more to the mind than the ear
- Rhetorical Question
- asking a question in such a way that the answer, being obvious, is not needed
- Allusion
- a direct reference to a proper noun; the reference is usually mythological but could be legendary, religious, historical, or literary; the invocation of a name recalls concurrently ideas, emotions, traditions, insights, moral and ethical stances
- Irony
- the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning
- verbal irony
- meaning one thing and saying another
- Dramatic Irony
- contrast between the speaker says and what the author means or what the reader knows to be true
- situational irony
- when the reality of a situation differs from the anticipated or intended effect; when something unexpected occurs
- symbolism
- the use of one object to suggest another hidden object or idea
- repetition
- words, sounds, devices, are repeated primarily for the sake of emphasis; repetition is the most effective device for precise emotional responses such as anger, fear, sorrow, defiance,a nd so forth