Literary Devices flashcards

Irony

It is when the intended meaning is completely opposite to their literal meaning. Situational : exact opposite of what you expect; Dramatic: Audience knows more than characters; Verbal : saying one thing but meaning another.

Symbolism

Something that stands for or represents something else.

Rhyming

It is when the end or final sound of two or more words are identical.

Internal Rhyming

a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next

Repetition

It is when the the writer or speaker knowingly repeats a word or group of words for effect.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sounds.

Allusion:

It is a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize.

Idiom

It is an accepted phrase or expression that has a meaning different from the literal.

Vary sentence length

Using short and long phrases to create a dramatic effect.

Oxymoron

an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined

Colloquial Language

This is informal language; language that is "conversational". Think about it as what you would say to your friends in a conversation, not what you would say in a formal speech.

Antithesis

a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other

Parallel Structure/Parallelism

the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence. By making each compared item or idea in your sentence follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction.

Pun

This is a play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings.

Enjambment

The practice of running lines of poetry from one line to the next without any kind of punctuation to indicate a stop

Imagery

1. Imagery: It is the use of figurative language to create visual representations of actions, objects and ideas in our mind in such a way that they appeal to our physical senses.

Simile and Metaphor

Both compare two dissimilar nouns and draws similarity between them. The difference is that Simile is an indirect comparison that uses "as" or "like" and Metaphor is a direct comparison that does not use "as" or "like

Hyperbole

It is deliberate, gross exaggeration of actions and ideas for the sake of emphasis.

Personification

It gives a thing, an idea or an animal human qualities. This can be any human trait-- qualities, feelings, actions, or characteristics.

Alliteration

It refers to the repetition of the same initial letter, sound, or group of sounds in a series of words. Alliteration includes tongue twisters

Consonance

It is the repetition of a consonant sound. There should be at least two repetitions in a row, and they can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of words in the same phrase. Note: It should NOT be only the initial sound because that is alliteration.

Assonance

It is the repetition of a vowel sound in NON-RHYMING words. There should be at least two repetitions in a row, and they can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of words in the same phrase. Remember, you should not have a series of words that rhyme!