Poetic Devices Flashcards
Allegory
Story or visual imagery with a second meaning partially hidden.
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds
Analogy
Illustration of an idea using an example that is similar or parallel to it in some significant features
Apostrophe
Figure of speech in which and absent person or abstract concept is addressed
Assonance
Repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds usually in stressed syllables
Cacophony
Harshness or discordancy of sound; usually result of awkward alliteration
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds within words
Dissonance
Harshness of sound and/or rhythm , either inadvertent or deliberate
Euphony
A pleasing smoothness of sound
Hyperbole
A deliberate exaggeration for effect
Imagery
Language that evokes sensory impressions
Litotes
Figure of speech with an understatement in which and affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite
Metaphor
Comparison of two unlike objects; saying one is the other
Metonymy
Figure of speech that replaces the literal thing with a more vivid, but closely related thing or idea
Onomatopeia
Words that seem to imitate the sounds to which they refer
Oxymoron
Putting two contradictory words together
Paradox
A statement which seems contradictory, yet contains a basis of truth which reconciles the seeming opposites
Parallelism
The arrangement of similarly constructed clauses, verses or sentences, suggesting some correspondence between them
Personification
Giving of human attributes to inanimate objects
Pun
A humourous expression that depends on a double meaning
Rhetorical Question
To which a reply is not required or wanted. Asked for effect.
Satire
Exposes the failings or individuals, institutions or societies; holds them up to ridicule or scorn in order to correct or expose some evil or wrong doing
Simile
Comparison of to unlike object using “like” or “as”, sometimes “than”
Synechdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part
