Figurative Language Flashcards
Simile
A figure of speech that directly compares two different things using “like” or “as”.
Metaphor
A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one thing is another.
Example: “Time is a thief.”
Types of Irony
Verbal Irony: When someone says something but means the opposite.
Example: Saying “What a beautiful day” during a thunderstorm.
Situational Irony: When the outcome is different from what was expected.
Example: A fire station burns down.
Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something the characters do not.
Example: In a horror movie, the audience sees the killer hiding while the victim remains unaware.
Paradox
A statement that seems self-contradictory but may reveal a deeper truth.
Example: “Less is more.”
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms.
Example: “Jumbo shrimp.”
Hyperbole
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. (E.g. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse)
Understatement
Deliberately minimizing something for emphasis or ironic effect.
Example: “I’m just a little bit tired” (after running a marathon).
Apostrophe
Apostrophe: Addressing an absent or imaginary person or thing as if present.
Example: “Oh, Death, where is thy sting?”
Euphemism
Substituting a mild or indirect word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one.
Example: “He passed away” instead of “He died.
Personification
Giving human characteristics to non-human entities.
Example: “The stars danced in the sky.”
Allusion
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
Example: “She had a smile like Mona Lisa.”
Imagery
Language that appeals to the senses, creating mental pictures.
Example: “The autumn leaves danced in the wind.”
Metonymy
Substituting the name of one thing with another thing closely associated with it.
Example: Referring to the president’s actions as “the White House said.”
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or vice versa.
Example: “All hands on deck” (referring to sailors).
Juxtaposition
Placing two things close together to highlight their differences.
Example: Contrasting poverty with wealth in a single neighborhood.
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Example: “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words.
Example: “Pitter-patter, pitter-patter”
Alliteration
Repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words.
Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Conceit
An extended metaphor that compares two very dissimilar things in a surprising or clever way.
Example: John Donne’s comparison of two lovers to the legs of a compass in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.”
Euphony
The quality of being pleasing to the ear, often achieved through the use of harmonious sounds.
Example: “Cellar door” (often cited as a euphonious phrase).
Cacophony
Cacophony: A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.
Example: “Crash, bang, wallop!”
Caesura
Caesura: A pause or break within a line of poetry, usually marked by punctuation.
Example: “To be or not to be, that is the question.”
Antithesis
A rhetorical device in which two contrasting ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.
Example: “Speech is silver, but silence is gold.”
Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
Example: “I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills.”
Satire
A literary work that uses humor, irony, or ridicule to criticize or mock people, society, or institutions.
Example: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” satirizes the British government’s handling of poverty in Ireland by suggesting the absurd solution of eating babies.
