Scribd
Upload
55 views20 pages

Figures of Speech

This document defines and provides examples of various literary devices used in poetry: 1) Imagery, similes, metaphors, personification, apostrophes, hyperboles, and antitheses are discussed as figures of speech that use descriptive language and comparisons. 2) Other literary devices explained include metonymy, synecdoche, allusions, paradoxes, oxymorons, litotes, puns, and various forms of repetition like alliteration, assonance, and consonance. 3) Onomatopoeia is defined as words that imitate natural sounds. Examples of literary devices are provided to illustrate each concept.

Uploaded by

Niana Scarlet
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
55 views20 pages

Figures of Speech

This document defines and provides examples of various literary devices used in poetry: 1) Imagery, similes, metaphors, personification, apostrophes, hyperboles, and antitheses are discussed as figures of speech that use descriptive language and comparisons. 2) Other literary devices explained include metonymy, synecdoche, allusions, paradoxes, oxymorons, litotes, puns, and various forms of repetition like alliteration, assonance, and consonance. 3) Onomatopoeia is defined as words that imitate natural sounds. Examples of literary devices are provided to illustrate each concept.

Uploaded by

Niana Scarlet
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Figure of Speech

Literary Devices and Sounds of Poetry


Literature
Imagery
A vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers'
senses and imagination.

The autumn leaves are a blanket on the ground. Her lips tasted as
sweet as sugar.
Simile
A stated comparison between two things that are actually unlike, but
that have something in common. Uses the words, as or like.

“Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;


Like twilight’s too her dusky hair.
Metaphor
An implied comparison between two unlike objects, animals, plants,
and abstract ideas the characteristics of persons.

“If sapphires lo, her eyes be sapphires plain;


If rubies lo, her lips be rubies red.”
-Spenser's “Amoretti
Personification
Gives to inanimate objects, animals, plants, and abstract ideas the
characteristics of persons.

“The sapless foliage of the ocean, know


Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves”
-Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind
Apostrophe
An address to the dead as if living, to the absent as if present, and to
non-humans as if they were persons.

“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll!”


Byron’s “The Ocean”
Hyperbole
Extravagance of utterance or obvious exaggeration wherein more is
said than could possibly be true.

“At every word a reputation dies”


-Pope’s The Rape of the Lock
Antithesis
Opposition or contrast of words and ideas to make the
meaning more emphatic.

“To err is human; to forgive is divine”


“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness”
Metonymy
Substitution of one word for another which is associated
with it or suggested.

“To live by the sword


From rags to riches”
-Read from some humbler poet (author for his work)
Synecdoche
Substitution of a part of a whole, whole for a part. It is a
form of metonymy but is frequently used so that it is
given a special name.

“... without a roof over his head”


“The world is growing green.”
Allusion
Is reference to a historical figures and events.

“The face that launched a thousand ships.”


Paradox
It is the use of two contradictory terms which in turn have
meanings.

“You’re so near yet so far.”


Oxymoron
It is a combination of contradictory terms.

“Deafening silence”
“Life has sweet sorrows and sad joys.”
Litotes
It is an understatement expressed negatively but the meaning is
positive.

“The test is no sweat.”


Pun
A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the
fact that there are words which sound alike but have different
meanings.

“He checked his cash; cashed his cheque and left the teller’s counter.”
Repetition
Repetition of words, phrases, clauses, sentences etc., all of these
slightly changed.

It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord!


Alliteration
Repetition of letters introducing accented syllables.

Bag and baggage


Bed and board.

The furrow followed free. (Coleridge)


Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds.

Goosey, goosey, gander.


Consonance
Repetition of terminal consonant sounds.

I knew not but the next.


Onomatopoeia
Imitation in words of natural sounds.

Onomatopoeia words are hiss (for the sound of the


snake), buzz (for the sound of the bee), mew (for the
sound of the cat).

You might also like