front 1 Allegory | back 1 Uses symbols, characters, or events to represent abstract ideas or themes. Have a second, symbolic meaning |
front 2 Denotation | back 2 its literal meaning. |
front 3 Connotation | back 3 A suggested meaning beyond the dictionary definition; an implied meaning. Ex; "Home" |
front 4 Imagery | back 4 the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. |
front 5 Figurative Language | back 5 Non-literal language which usually evokes strong images. |
front 6 Oxymoron | back 6 When two seemingly contradictory words are put together, they make an oxymoron. To highlight a yet undiscovered complexity. Ex; “Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.”—W.B. Yeats |
front 7 Paradox | back 7 When authors make a statement that seems contradictory but actually is not. Typically, the contradiction reveals a kind of failing in logic or human understanding. Ex; “Cowards die many times before their deaths” |
front 8 Juxtaposition | back 8 Placing two entities side by side for the purpose of comparison and contrast. |
front 9 Allusion | back 9 Reference to another known work of literature, art, history or current events. |
front 10 Symbolism | back 10 A setting, object or event winds up carrying more than a literal meaning and represents something greater to the reader’s understanding of the meaning of the literature. |
front 11 Litotes | back 11 Making a point by negating its opposite. Ex;“he was not the noblest of men” |
front 12 Periphrasis | back 12 Using too much language and surplus words “to convey a meaning that could otherwise be conveyed with fewer words and in a more direct manner. |
front 13 Anastrophe | back 13 a form of literary device wherein the order of the noun and the adjective in the sentence is exchanged. |
front 14 Personification | back 14 Giving non-human objects human qualities. |
front 15 Metonymy | back 15 When a thing refers to something else that it's closely associated with. Ex; “The pen is mightier than the sword.” In this example, the “pen” refers to the written word while “sword” refers to an act of military aggression. |
front 16 Chiasmus | back 16 A literary scheme in which the author introduces words or concepts in a particular order, then later repeats those terms (or similar ones) in reversed or backwards order.” Ex; you can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy. |
front 17 Parallel structure | back 17 A similar grammatical structure within a sentence or within a paragraph. Repeating a specific structure emphasizes the need or desire to accomplish the task. |
front 18 Alliteration | back 18 The “repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words. |
front 19 Consonance | back 19 An instance in which identical final consonant sounds in nearby words follow different vowel sounds. |
front 20 Assonance | back 20 When vowel sounds are repeated in a sequence of words. |
front 21 Anaphora | back 21 The repetition of an initial word or words to add emphasis. The key is to look at why that specific word gets repeated and the effect it has on the reading of the text. |
front 22 Epistrophe | back 22 Sometimes called epiphora, s the repetition of a word or words at the end of lines. It is more specific than merely “rhyme” as that has to do with repeated sounds. Again, look at why that specific word is repeated. |
front 23 Metaphor | back 23 figure of speech that features a comparison between two disparate things that are not literally the same. |
front 24 Simile | back 24 a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as." |
front 25 Hyperbole | back 25 Using exaggeration to add more power to what you're saying, often to an unrealistic or unlikely degree. |
front 26 Understatement | back 26 when a writer presents a situation or thing as if it is less important or serious than it is in reality. ( opposite of hyperbole) |
front 27 Irony | back 27 Happens when the opposite of what you'd expect actually occurs. |