Devices Set 1 Flashcards
metaphor
A comparison of two objects, situations, or entities without using the words “like” or “as” in order to communicate an idea.
i.e; “The eyes are windows to the soul” / ““Time is a thief”
simile
A metaphor which uses the words “like” or “as”
i.e: “My memory flashed like a foglight in the distance”
analogy
a metaphor with the express purpose of clarifying or explaining a situation, object, or idea through comparison to a difference with common relation to the idea being stressed.
i.e: “shes a BLIND as a BAT” / “She’s as busy as a bee”
mixed metaphor
a mesh of two or more metaphors in order to communicate a brand new idea that’s the sum of each together.
i.e: “We’ll burn (handle) that bridge (connection/situation) when we get there.” /
Personification
Gives human attributes/characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or animalistic organisms.
i.e: “The sun had left his footprints in the sky.”
hyperbole
A overexaggeration of a event, happening, or thing, usually in a unrealistic/humorous fashion, in order to stress an importance, idea, or theme stemming from said event/thing.
ex: “I’m so hungry (happening) that I could eat a horse (overexaggeration of hunger).”
Metonymy
Substituting a phrase with another closely related phrase to refer to the original.
i.e: “The Crown” = The King, The Queen, and/or the monarchy as a whole. / “The White House” = The President and/or their administration.
Synedoche
Substituting a larger entity with a smaller part of it, or vise versa, in order to refer to it.
i.e: “Boots on the ground” = “Military (or infantry) on the ground”
Symbolism
Using a object to represent an abstract idea/concept beyond the objects literal meaning.
i.e: “Beating Heart” representing love or guilt.
Imagery
A vivid description that appeals to one or more of the five senses.
i.e “I wandered like a lonely cloud, when all at once I saw a crowd. A host of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
Connotation
The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase based off context or tone.
Ex: “Why would you do that?!” Can have a hostile, argumentative, or surprised connotation as suggested by the exclamation point. While “Why would you do that?” Could have a casual, confused, concerned or sad connotation.
Denotation
Dictionary definition of a word.
Verbal Irony
When the speaker says something, but means the opposite. Typically comes across as sarcasm, or rhetoric questioning.
I.e: “Oh please, do step on my toes. That would be so very pleasant.”
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows something that the character(s) do not.
- In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo thinks Juliet is dead. At that point, the audience knows otherwise.
Situational Irony
When the outcome of something is actually the opposite of what was expected.
i.e: “After a robbery, the police showed up and arrested the bank tellers for giving the money away.”
Juxtaposition
Places two items side by side to contrast them.
i.e: “night and day” / “justice and vengeance” - “christianity and atheism”
Paradox
A statement that at least appears self-contradictory on the surface, but in reality it reveals a layered truth. Or, a statement that creates a loophole of thought as it presents contradictory elements in itself while still remaining true.
Understatement.
A phrase or expression that downplays that extent/depth of a situation or event.
i.e: “Seventy Million Dollars is just a big too big of an investment”
Foreshadowing
A hint in a text that gives the reader a sense of what is yet to come.
- An author simultaneously puts focus on the number five and death throughout a story in order to allude to five deaths that accumulate by the end.
Allusion
A expression (whether a reference to culture, history, society, an idea, or a emotion) used to refer to a theme, idea, place, event, person, or object indirectly.
- “Standing in a town was a band of five, playing lutes and fiddles in simpler times” - Lutes, fiddles, and “simpler times” alludes to a past setting most likely in Europe.
Repetition
A repetition of a word or phrase again and again in close proximity to emphasize a specific idea/theme stemming from said word.
i.e: Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” emphasizes the words “Phenomenal Woman” several times in order to get across the greatness of said woman.
Idiom
An expression or sequence of words that has a specific, yet nonliteral interpretation when put together.
i.e “Bury your head in the sand” = “Ignore/Fein ignorance to a situation”
Antithesis
Placing opposing ideas next to each other in a sentence in a parallel fashion to a contrast them, highlighting key characteristics of each.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. The season of light, the season of darkness.” - excerpts from Charles Dickens “a Tale of Two Cities”
Tone
Words used to describe the narrator, speakers, or authors attitude toward their subject.
i.e: “Optimistic, whimsical, encouraging, ecstatic, accusatory, arrogant”
Mood
Words to describe the emotion felt from a piece of writing/media
i.e “Reflective, melancholy, nostalgic, hopeful, peaceful, surprised”
Alliteration
A sequence of words that each start with the same sound or letter
i.e “We read really riveting romance novels”
Assonance
Repeating a vowel sound in a phrase. In order for assonance to be applied, a string of vowels must be present while also making the exact same sound.
i.e: “This initiative is a big risk” the i’s are the assonance here.
Consonance
Repeating a cosonant sound without stressing vowels matching, just aslong as the sound carried is consonant to the ear.
i.e: “Her mellifluous lullaby lulled me to sleep.”
Onomatopoeia
A word that replicates the sound it refers to
i.e: “Bang, crash, murmur, babble, splash. Each describes the results of an action while replicating the effect/sound created by it.
Diction
The authors purposeful, intentional word choice and the feelings created by it. / The quality of the authors words.
i.e: “Pretentious, euphemistic, literal, academic, trite, verbose, colloquial, flowery, patriotic”
