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X is (not) like Y
X is (not) as Y
X is (not) similar to Y
Examples of simile:
"My dad was a mechanic by trade when he was in the Army, When he got the tools out,
he was like a surgeon."
What is a metaphor?
Unlike simile, metaphor (from the Greek language: meaning "transfer") is language that
directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or
more things not using like or as. In the simplest case, this takes the form:
X - is - Y
Examples of metaphor:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
(William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7)
Example:
Henry was a lion on the battlefield. This sentence suggests that Henry fought so valiantly and
bravely that he embodied all the personality traits we attribute to the ferocious animal. This sentence
implies immediately that Henry was courageous and fearless, much like the King of the Jungle.
What is Personification?
Personification is a figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed to an
abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object.
Examples
Notice the use of personification in William Blake's poem below:
Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room.
"Ah, William, we're weary of weather,"
said the sunflowers, shining with dew.
"Our traveling habits have tired us.
Can you give us a room with a view?"
They arranged themselves at the window
and counted the steps of the sun,
and they both took root in the carpet
where the topaz tortoises run.
William Blake
(1757-1827)
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole
or the whole of something is used to represent part of it. It is considered to be a special kind
of metonymy.
Types and examples of synecdoche
Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing A hundred head of cattle (using the part head to refer to the whole animal)
The whole of a thing is used to represent part of it The world treated him badly (using the world to refer to part of the world)
A specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class A bug (used to refer to any kind of insect or arachnid, even if it is not a true bug)
A general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class The good book (referring to the Bible or the Qur'an)
A material is used to refer to an object composed of that material Glasses or steel ( referring to spectacles or sword)
Weary feet in the walk of life, does not refer to the feet actually being tired or painful; it is
symbolic of a long, hard struggle through the journey of life and feeling low, tired, unoptimistic
and the walk of life does not represent an actual path or distance covered, instead refers to
the entire sequence of life events that has made the person tired.
Allusion relies on the reader being able to understand the allusion and being familiar with the
meaning hidden behind the words.
Example:
Describing someone as a "Romeo" makes an allusion to the famous young lover in Romeo and
Juliet by William Shakespeare
In an allusion the reference may be to a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art,
either directly or by implication.
Examples of allusion:
1. David was being such a scrooge!. (Scrooge" is the allusion, and it refers to Charles
Dicken's novel, A Christmas Carol. Scrooge was very greedy and unkind, which David
was being compared to.)
2. The software included a Trojan Horse. (allusion on the Trojan horse from Greek
mythology)
3. to wash ones hands of it. (allusion on Pontius Pilatus, who sentenced Jesus to death,
but washed his hands afterwards to demonstrate that he was not to blame for it.)
4. to be as old as Methusalem (allusion on Josephs grandfather, who was 969 years old
according to the Old Testament)
There are many advantages when you use an allusion:
1. You don't need to explain or clarify a problem in a lengthy way.
2. You make the reader become active by reflecting on the analogy.
3. You make your message memorable.
A paradox in literature refers to the use of concepts or ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet,
when placed together hold significant value on several levels. The uniqueness of paradoxes lies in the
fact that a deeper level of meaning and significance is not revealed at first glace, but when it does
crystallize, it provides astonishing insight.
Example:
High walls make not a palace; full coffers make not a king.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but
by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.
Examples:
Here are some examples of metonymy:
The Pentagon. (For the Department of Defense and the offices of the U.S. Armed
Forces.)
Consider this quote which is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward BulwerLytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy:
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used
to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken
literally. Hyperboles are exaggerations to create emphasis or effect.
Examples
Examples of hyperbole include:
What is apostrophe?
Apostrophe is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech, when a speaker or writer breaks off
and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea.
Examples
Some examples of apostrophe are listed below:
1.
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times."
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1
2.
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so."
John Donne, Holy Sonnet X
3.
"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again."
Paul Simon, The Sounds of Silence
oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines incongruous or contradictory terms. The plural
is oxymorons or oxymora.
Examples:
An oximoron can be made of an adjective and a noun:
Dark light
Deafening silence
Living dead
Open secret
Virtual reality
The term onomatopoeia refers to words whose very sound is very close to the sound they are meant
to depict. In other words, it refers to sound words whose pronunciation to the actual sound they
represent.
Example:
Words such as grunt, huff, buzz and snap are words whose
pronunciation sounds very similar to the actual sounds these words represent. In literature such words
are useful in creating a stronger mental image. For instance, sentences such as the whispering of the
forest trees or the hum of a thousand bees or the click of the door in the nighttime create vivid
mental images.
What is anaphora?
Anaphora is a stylistic device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings
of neighboring clauses to give them emphasis. This rhetorical device is contrasted with
epiphora, also called epistrophe, which consists of repeating words at the end of clauses.
Examples of anaphora
Some examples of the literary works that use anaphora are listed below:
In
In
In
In
time
time
time
time
a dime a dozen,
Remember
1. Only the repetition of the same sound is valid in an alliteration not the consonants
themselves.
Examples:
keen camarad.
philosophy fan.
Although they start with different consonants, they constitute perfect instances of
alliteration;
2. By contrast, if neighboring words start with the same consonant but have a different initial
sound, the words are not alliterated.
Examples:
a cute child
Although they start with the same consonants, they are not instances of alliteration since the
sounds differ.
Assonance
Assonance is a figure of speech that is found more often in verse than in prose. It refers to
the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.
Examples of Assonance
These are some examples:
"the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" - The Raven By Edgar
Allan Poe
"That solitude which suits abstruser musings" - The Princess VII.203 by Alfred
Lord Tennyson
Consonance
Definition:
Consonance refers to repetition of sounds in quick succession produced by consonants within a
sentence or phrase. The repetitive sound is often found at the end of a word. Consonance is the
opposite of assonance, which implies repetitive usage of vowel sounds.
Example:
He struck a streak of bad luck.