Figurative Language

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Figurative Language
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Alliteration

• Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of
  words
• Ex Sweet smell of success
• Ex Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.
• Ex Hear the loud alarum bells--Brazen
  bells!What a tale of terror, now, their
  turbulency tells!
• --Edgar Allan Poe

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Allusion

• Cross reference to another work of art, piece of
  literature, historic event, landmark, etc.
• Shell be not hit with Cupids arrow. She hath
  Dians wit. (Romeo and Juliet)
• Ex If you stub your toe and say, Doh!, youre
  making an allusion to The Simpsons.

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Anadiplosis

• Form of repetition that occurs when the last word
  or terms in one sentence, clause, or phrase
  is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of
  the next sentence, clause, or phrase.
• Ex "The general who became a slave. The slave
  who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied
  an Emperor. Striking story! Joaquin Phoenix as
  Commodus, GLADIATOR

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Analogy

• Point-by-point comparison of two things that are
  alike in some way usually used to explain
  something unfamiliar in familiar terms
• HotColdTallShort

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Anaphora

• Repetition of the initial word(s) over successive
  phrases or clauses
• Ex I have a dream that one day this nation
  will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
  creed We hold these truths to be self-evident
  that all men are created equal. I have a dream
  that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons
  of former slaves and the sons of former slave
  owners will be able to sit down together at the
  table of brotherhood. I have a dream that

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Anticlimax

• A drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a
  dignified or important idea or situation, to one
  that is trivial or humorous.
• Ex He died, like so many young men of his
  generation, he died before his time. In your
  wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many
  bright, flowering, young men in Vietnam. These
  young men gave their lives. And so would Donny.
  Donny, who loved bowling."--John Goodman as
  Walter Shobchak, The Big Lebowski

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Antithesis

• Two contrasting ideas are intentionally
  juxtaposed a contrasting of opposing ideas in
  adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences
• Ex That's one small step for a man one giant
  leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong
• Ex "We observe today not a victory of party but
  a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as
  well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well
  as change." --JFK

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Apostrophe

• A figure of speech in which someone absent or
  dead OR something nonhuman is addressed as if
  he/she/it were alive and present.
• Ex O books who alone are liberal and free, who
  give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all
  who serve you faithfully!
• -- Richard de Bury

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Assonance

• Repeated vowel sounds
• Ex
• "Old age should burn and rave at close of day
• Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
• --Dylan Thomas,
• "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

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Asyndeton

• a string of words not separated by normally
  occurring conjunctions
• Ex You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it,
  bake it, saute it. Dey's, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp
  creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried,
  stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon
  shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp
  soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and
  potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich.Bubba
  in Forrest Gump
• "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use
  these words as the backbone of a life spent
  defending something. You use them as a punch
  line."

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Connotation

• Attitude or feeling associated with a term
• Example
• Enthusiasticpositive
• Rowdynegative

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Consonance

• Repetition of consonant sounds within or at end
  of words
• Example lonely afternoon

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Denotation

• Dictionary definition
• Opposite of connotation
• Example I drive a cheap car.
• Denotationinexpensive
• Connotationpiece of junk

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Dialect

• Form of language spoken in a particular
  geographic area or by a particular social or
  ethnic group
• Example Who ask you be genius? she shouted.
  Only ask you be your best. For your sake. You
  think I want you be genius? (Amy Tan, Two
  Kinds)

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Dialogue

• Written conversation between two or more
  characters

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Diction

• Word Choice that expresses tone or attitude.
• Ex World, I wish you would sort of take him by
  the hand, and gently

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En Media Res

• Narrative technique in which the story starts at
  the midpoint

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Epanalepsis

• Beginning and ending a phrase or clause with the
  same word or words
• Ex Mankind must put an end to war--or war will
  put an end to mankind. JFK
• Ex Be all that you can be. U.S. Army

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Epic

• Long, narrative poem on a serious subject,
  presented in an elevated or formal style
• Traces the adventures of a great hero whose
  actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation
  or race
• Examples The Illiad and The Odyssey

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Epic Hero

• Larger-than-life figure who embodies the ideals
  of a nation or race
• Take part in dangerous adventures and accomplish
  great deeds
• May undertake long, difficult journeys and
  display super-human strength
• Example Odysseus

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Epic Simile

• Homeric (or Epic) Simile - an extended,
  elaborated, ornate simile developed in a lengthy
  descriptive passage
• He eats in bird-like quantities, accepting tiny
  portions at fleeting intervals, as the sparrow
  perched above the rose bush snatches the small
  green aphids from the dewy leaf.

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Epithet

• Brief phrase that points out traits associated
  with a particular character.
• Odysseusthe master strategist

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Euphemism

• substitution of an agreeable or less offensive
  expression for one that may offend or suggest
  something unpleasant to the listener
• Ex Let go (instead of Fired)
• Ex Pre-owned (instead of Used)

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Flashback

• Interrupts a story to relate an event that
  occurred in the past
• Ex When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem
  got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it
  healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to
  play football were assuaged, he was seldom
  self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was
  somewhat shorter than his right when he stood or
  walked, the back of his hand was at right angles
  to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He
  couldn't have cared less, so long as he could
  pass and punt. Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird by
  Harper Lee

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Foreshadowing

• An author drops subtle hints about plot
  developments to come later in the story
• Ex In Where the Red Fern Grows, there is a dog
  fight in the beginning, and a dog is wounded
  exactly like a dog is wounded later in the book.
• Ex In Star Wars Episode II, Obi-Wan Kenobi says
  to Anakin Skywalker, "Why do I get the feeling
  you will be the death of me?" He is later killed
  by Darth Vader (a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker).

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Hubris

• Hubris - from the Greek word for pride or
  insolence, it is exaggerated self pride or
  self-confidence (overbearing pride), often
  resulting in fatal retribution
• Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and
  war this fame has gone abroad to the skys
  rim.

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Hyperbole

• An extreme exaggeration
• Ex
• It would take a bazillion years to get through
  Medical School.
• He's 900 years old.
• There are millions of other things to do.
• He was running faster than the speed of light.
• I am so tired I could sleep for a year.
• He is as skinny as a toothpick.

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Imagery

• Descriptive words and phrases used in literature
  which appeal to one or more of the five senses
  (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and create word
  pictures in the mind of the reader
• Visual - something described through sight,
  appears most commonly in poetry. 
• Auditory - representation of a sound
• Olfactory - representation of a smell
• Gustatory - representation of a taste
• Tactile - touch hardness, softness, wetness,
  heat, cold
• Ex Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to
  Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll
  turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why
  they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as
  innocent as children, longing for the past. Of
  course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll
  say. It's only 20 per person. They'll pass over
  the money without even thinking about it for it
  is money they have and peace they lack. And
  they'll walk out to the bleachers sit in
  shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find
  they have reserved seats somewhere along one of
  the baselines, where they sat when they were
  children and cheered their heroes. And they'll
  watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped
  themselves in magic waters. The memories will be
  so thick they'll have to brush them away from
  their faces. People will come Ray. The one
  constant through all the years, Ray, has been
  baseball. America has rolled by like an army of
  steamrollers. It has been erased like a
  blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But
  baseball has marked the time. This field, this
  game it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of
  us of all that once was good and it could be
  again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will
  most definitely come. -James Earl Jones as
  Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

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Inference

• The process of deriving logical conclusions from
  premises known or assumed to be true

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Invocation

• an appeal to a god or goddess for inspiration
• e.g. TELL ME, O MUSE, of that ingenious hero who
  traveled far and wide after he had sacked the
  famous town of Troy.

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Irony

• Dramatic the audience knows something that the
  characters do not
• Verbal character says one thing and means
  another (sarcasm)
• Situational an incongruity between the intended
  meaning of an action and the actual or perceived
  meaning of an action
• Ex A man steps backward to avoid getting sprayed
  by a sprinkler only to fall in a swimming pool.

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Juxtaposition

• Placing two unlike objects or ideas near one
  another for contrast
• and swiftly ran through all his evening chores.
  Then he caught two more men and feasted on
  them. (juxtaposition of the mundane chores with
  the heinous)

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Metaphor

• Comparing 2 things (without using like or as)
• Ex
• Life is a journey.
• This is our roadmap to peace.
• All the world's a stage,
• And all the men and women merely players
• They have their exits and their entrances
• (Shakespeare, As You Like It)

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Motif

• recurring element that has symbolic significance
  in the story
• devices that can help to develop and inform the
  texts major themes.
• can be an idea, an object, a place, or a
  statement
• Ex The Of Mice and Men author, John Steinbeck,
  uses animals as repeated symbols throughout his
  books.

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Onomatopoeia

• Words that sound like what they are (or words
  that imitate sounds)
• Ex Snap, crackle, pop!

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Overstatement

• Synonym for hyperbole
• Extreme exaggeration
• I have told you a thousand times to stop
  exaggerating!

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Oxymoron

• contradictory word pair
• Ex
• A little big
• Pretty ugly
• "act naturally
• "found missing
• "alone together"
• "peace force
• "terribly pleased
• "ill health"
• "small crowd"
• "clearly misunderstood"
• jumbo shrimp

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Paradox

• Something that seems to contradict itself, but
  actually expresses a truth.
• Ex
• A little knowledge is a dangerous
  thing. --Alexander Pope
• "The swiftest traveler is he that goes
  afoot." --Henry David Thoreau, Walden
• "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is
  strength."--George Orwell, 1984

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Parallel Structure

• Successive words, phrases, clauses with the same
  or very similar grammatical structure.
• Ex "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
  well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear
  any burden, meet any hardship, support any
  friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and
  the success of liberty." --JFK

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Personification

• Giving humanlike characteristics to an inanimate
  object
• Ex The Wind by James Stephens
• The wind stood up and gave a shout.He whistled
  on his fingers andKicked the withered leaves
  aboutAnd thumped the branches with his handAnd
  said he'd kill and kill and kill,And so he will
  and so he will.

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Polysyndeton

• The deliberate and excessive use of conjunctions
  in successive words or clauses
• Ex Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but
  not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him
  because he can take it. Because he's not our
  hero. Lt. Gordon, The Dark Knight

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Pun

• Play on words
• Ex I couldn't quite remember how to throw a
  boomerang, but eventually it came back to me.
• Ex What do you call cheese that doesnt belong
  to you? Nacho cheese!
• Ex Im reading a book about anti-gravity. Its
  impossible to put down.
• Ex I wondered why the baseball was getting
  bigger. Then it hit me.

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Repetition

• Repeating words rhetorical strategy for
  producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or
  emotional effect
• Many types anaphora, polysyndeton, etc.
• Ex And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to
  go before I sleep.(Robert Frost, "Stopping by
  Woods on a Snowy Evening")

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Rhetorical Question

• figure of speech in the form of a question posed
  for rhetorical effect rather than to receive an
  answer
• Ex "Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call
  what they do 'practice'? George Carlin
• Ex In The Simpsons, Lisa is singing Bob Dylan's
  "Blowin' in the Wind," "How many roads must a man
  walk down/Before you call him a man?
• Overhearing her, Homer shouts out, "Eight!"
• Lisa That was a rhetorical question!Homer Oh.
  Then, seven!Lisa Do you even know what
  rhetorical means?Homer Do I know what
  rhetorical means?"

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Satire

• Literary technique in which ideas, behaviors,
  institutions, etc. are ridiculed for the purpose
  of improving society.
• The Onion

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Simile

• Comparing 2 things using like, as, resembles,
  than
• Ex "Life is like an onion You peel it off one
  layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. Carl
  Sandburg
• Ex My momma always said, Life was like a box
  of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna
  get. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump
• They were people, but lived like animals.
  (Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird)

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Symbolism

• Something that represents something beyond itself
• Ex
• The American flag symbolizes freedom.
• An owl symbolizes wisdom.
• The phoenix symbolizes rebirth.
• The dove symbolizes peace.

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Syntax

• Arrangement of words in a sentence choice of
  word order sentence structure or style

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Tragic Hero

• A dignified character in a tragedy who
  experiences a downfall due to a fatal character
  flaw
• Example Romeo Odysseus

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Tone

• Authors attitude toward a subject

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Understatement

• Form of irony in which a writer intentionally
  makes a situation seem less important or serious
  than it is
• Example Its just a flesh wound. (The Black
  Knight, after having both arms cut off, in Monty
  Python and the Holy Grail.)

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Voice

• A writers unique use of language that allows a
  reader to hear a human personality in the work
• Includes syntax, diction, and tone