Alliteration Definition: The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words.

Samples: The peacock passes, a pompous one-bird procession. Dewdrops Dancing Down Daisies Those tidal thoroughbreds that tango through the turquoise tide. Assonance Definition: Repetition of vowel sounds within words. Samples: The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain. If I bleat when I speak it's because I just got . . . fleeced. The spider skins lie on their sides, translucent and ragged, their legs drying in knots

Onomatopoeia Definition: The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning. Sample: The bacon sizzled in the frying pan.

The crashing thunder woke me from my sleep.

Simile Definition: A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as. Sample: "Good coffee is like friendship: rich and warm and strong. "You know life, life is rather like opening a tin of sardines. We're all of us looking for the key." "He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."

Metaphor Definition: A metaphor is a figure of speech that says that one thing is another different thing. This allows us to use fewer words and forces the reader or listener to find the similarities. Sample: Her home was a prison. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players, They have their exits and their entrances America is a melting pot.

Personification Definition: A trope or figure of speech (generally considered a type ofmetaphor) in which an inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities. Sample: The road isn't built that can make it breathe hard! Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing gloves Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.

Hyperbole Definition: A figure of speech (a form of irony) in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement. Adjective:hyperbolic. Contrast with understatement. Sample: My toaster has never once worked properly in four years. I follow the instructions and push two slices of bread down in the slots, and seconds later they rifle upwards. Once they broke the nose of a woman I loved dearly I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far.