Literary Devices Alliteration The repetition of the same

Literary Devices

Alliteration • The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" (Hart Crane).

Clouds catching color…

Allusion • A passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare.

Apostrophe • A digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea.

“Hello Floor. You’re too hard. ”

Conceit • An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image.

Her beauty is like the vanishing night.

Dramatic Irony • Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

Foreshadow • To show or indicate beforehand.

Hyperbole • A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

Irony • A technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.

Metaphor • A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God. ”

Power Hungry

Metonymy • A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").

Hard Work

Oxymoron • A rhetorical device in which two seemingly contradictory words are used together for effect as in “jumbo shrimp. ”

“Love”

Paradox • A statement that seems contradictory but that actually may be true. It’s surprising, and so it catches the reader’s attention.

The Closed Door

Personification • The attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, esp. as a rhetorical figure.

Pun • The use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.

Plastic Surgery

Simile • A figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose. ”