FIGURES OF SPEECH Flashcards
METAPHOR
Figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance
DEFINITION
Tools authors use to convey meaning or to lend depth and richness to their writing
SIMILE
Figure of speech that expresses the resemblance of one thing to another of a different category, usually introduced by as or like
HYPERBOLE
An excessive overstatement or conscious exaggeration of fact. “I’ve told you that a million times already” is a hyperbolic statement
ALLITERATION
The repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants, at the beginning of words. For example, Robert Frost’s poem “Out, out—” contains the alliterative phrase “sweet-scented stuff
OXYMORON
The association of two terms that seem to contradict each other, such as “same difference” or “wise fool
PARADOX
A statement that seems contradictory on the surface but often expresses a deeper truth. One example is the line “All men destroy the things they love” from Oscar Wilde’s “The Ballad of Reading Gaol
IRONY
Broadly speaking, irony is a device that emphasizes the contrast between the way things are expected to be and the way they actually are. A historical example of irony might be the fact that people in medieval Europe believed bathing would harm them when in fact not bathing led to the unsanitary conditions that caused the bubonic plague
PERSONIFICATION
The use of human characteristics to describe animals, things, or ideas. Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” describes the city as “Stormy, husky, brawling / City of the Big Shoulders.”
ALLUSION
A reference within a literary work to a historical, literary, or biblical character, place, or event. For example, the title of William Faulkner’s novelThe Sound and the Furyalludes to a line from Shakespeare’sMacbeth.
ONOMATOPOEIA
The use of words likepop, hiss,orboing,in which the spoken sound resembles the actual sound.
