Figurative Language Flashcards
Figurative Language:
Though figurative devices might be as pleasing to the ear as rhetorical devices, the way that they engage the mind is of much more importance. This is the opposite of “literal language.”
Allusion:
A reference to a person, a place, or an event that a writer expects the reader to know about.
Quite often a historical reference is used.
Analogy:
A comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them.
Apostrophe:
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object is addressed directly. Usually preceded by the word “Oh.”
Colloquialism:
Using informal speech
Connotation:
The set of associations that a word calls to mind. For example, most people would rather buy a “modest fixer-upper” than an “old, broken-down shack.”
Denotation:
The exact, literal meaning of a word without any of the feeling or imagery associated through connotation. “A house.”
Hyperbole:
A figure of speech using exaggeration, or overstatement, for special effect.
Idiom:
An expression whose meaning cannot be derived from the words used in the expression.
Imagery:
Words, or phrases that create pictures, or images, in the reader’s mind. Words used to appeal to the senses.
Juxtaposition:
The arrangement of two or more ideas side-by-side for the purpose of comparison, contrast, or rhetorical effect.
Metaphor:
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically dissimilar. (Not using “like” or “as”)
Extended Metaphor:
The metaphor is extended throughout the entire poem.
Oxymoron:
A figure of speech that combines opposites or contradictory ideas or terms.
Paradox:
A statement that reveals a kind of truth although it appears at first to be untrue.
