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Figures of Speech and Literary Devices

1. Simile – A directly stated comparison of two unlike objects that are like
each other in one respect. Usually “as” or “like” is used, but occasionally words such
as “similar to”, “than”, “as if” or other comparison terms may be used instead . (Ex:
His voice was like a chain saw. Her hair shone like gold.)

2. Metaphor – An indirect or implied comparison of two unlike objects that are

like each other in one way. The comparison is so integrated that “as” and “like” are
not used, but one thing is actually said to be the other object. (Ex: A veil of fog
hung over the city. His voice was a chain saw.)

3. Personification – A type of metaphor in which human qualities or attributes

are given to non-human things such as animals, inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
It is a type of metaphor in which the comparison is always associated with human
beings (Ex: We looked down into the frowning barrel of a gun. “She is a real beauty”
while referring to a 1964 Corvette.)

4. Apostrophe – A type of personification in which we address the absent as if

it were present or the non-human as if it were human. CLUE: it frequently begins
with a verb as a command, with “O”, or with the person’s name.
Ex: “O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being.” (Shelley)
“Shine! Shine! Shine!”
“Pour down the warmth great sun.” (Whitman)

5. Metonymy – (Greek for “name change.”) A figure of speech in which the name of one
thing is substituted for that of another which is closely associated. (Ex: The crown is
used to mean the monarchy. The stage is used for the theatrical profession. The
bottle is used to mean an alcoholic drink, the press for journalism, and a skirt for a
woman, Mozart for Mozart’s music, or the Oval Office for the US presidency. A well-
known metonymic saying is “The pen is mightier than the sword, meaning writing is more
powerful than warfare.) An important kind of metonymy is a synecdoche.

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6. Synecdoche – a form of metonymy in which the name of a part is substituted for

that of the whole. A good synecdoche is based on an important part of the whole, the
part most directly associated with the subject under discussion.

Ex: The factory employed 300 hands. ("Hands" is a synecdoche for people or
workers.) Using “the law” to talk about a police officer who is only part of the legal
system.

7. Hyperbole – An exaggeration not intended to deceive. CLUE: frequently the

exaggeration involves an amount or number. (Ex: I told her a thousand times to stop
talking. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.)

8. Irony –
Verbal Irony – saying the opposite to what is meant in a manner or tone that makes
clear what the speaker thinks. (Ex: After Jim had wasted his evening, his father
might say, “No doubt you must be very tired, Jim, because of these strenuous
studies all evening.”)

Dramatic Irony – when words or actions of a character do not have as significant a

meaning to the speaker as they do to the audience or other actors because they
know something he does not. (Ex: King Duncan in Macbeth, as he nears Macbeth’s
castle after a long day’s travel refers to it as a “pleasant seat”, but the audience
knows that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have been planning Duncan’s murder in this
castle that night.)

9. Repetition – a word, phrase or sentence given more than once, but not necessarily
consecutively. (Ex: How tall you have grown, how very tall!)

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10. Symbolism - the use of a concrete object to represent or stand for something
abstract like a concept. (Ex: The maple leaf representing what it means to be
Canadian.)

Anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it – usually an idea
conventionally associated with it. Objects like flags and crosses are examples. These
are a kind of image. Symbolism can also be a word or phrase referring to a concrete
object, scene, or action which also has some further significance associated with it.
(Ex: Priests’ reverence and bow to the cross.)

An object which stands in for something else or represents something else beyond it. A
symbol has meaning independent of the rest of the narrative in which it appears. (Ex:
Scales symbolize justice; a dove represents peace; the lion, strength and courage; the
bulldog, tenacity; the rose, beauty; the lily, purity; the Stars and Stripes, America; the
Cross, Christianity; the Swastika, Nazi Germany)

Actions and gestures are also symbolic. (Ex: The clenched fist symbolizes aggression
and arms raised signify surrender.)

11. Alliteration – the repetition of consonants at the beginning of words. CLUE:

tongue twisters are examples of excessive alliteration.
Betty Bother bought some butter.
But, she said, the butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better

A figure of speech in which consonants are repeated, especially at the beginning of

words, or as stressed syllables.
Ex: “Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.” (Coleridge’s famous
description of the sacred river Alph in Kubla Khun.)

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12. Onomatopoeia – words that imitate the sound they mean. (Ex: The water in the
river babbled and gurgled. Examples also include dong, crackle, moo, pop, whiz, buzz,
hiss, bang, boom)
The balloon popped. The snake hissed. The window banged. She boomed like an artillery.
The bell donged. / ding.
The firecrackers crackled.
The cow mooed.
The motor whizzed.
The bee buzzed.

An attempt to produce or suggest a sound by the use of words. Please note: Other
types of figurative language might be used as well. Note this example: She sells
seashells by the seashore. This is clearly an example of alliteration, using “s”. BUT,
notice how the alliteration “echoes” that sound of a surf moving in and out of the shore.

13. Pun – a play on words made in such a way that a word can be used two different
ways, or two words can sound the same but have two different meanings. (Ex: In
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is mortally wounded by Tybolt. As he’s dying,
he says, “Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” Another example is
“Old football players don’t die, they kick off.”)

14. Imagery – writing that is so descriptive that pictures or images are vividly created.
(Ex: I cannot remember a more cheerful sight than the first steamboat with its high
plume of white smoke and its yellow stack. I especially remember the bright yellow
paddle wheel, all newly painted and dipping into the water as she came around the bend.)

15. Allusion – An indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place, or artistic
work. It relies on the reader’s familiarity with what is mentioned and calls upon the
history or the literary tradition that the author and reader is assumed to share.
Ex: Biblical - “My new school in Vancouver seemed like the Promised Land at
first sight.” (meaning it looked like a perfect place)

Mythical – “Alcohol proved to be his Achilles’ heel.” (meaning it was the one
thing that was able to bring him harm. “Achilles’ heel” is named after a
hero in Greek legend who was invulnerable except in his heel.)

Historical - “She eventually met her Waterloo.” (meaning she was finally
defeated.)

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16. Euphemism – a figure of speech, frequently mild or roundabout, which seeks to

disguise something harsh or unpleasant by giving it an inoffensive name.
Ex: Actual Term Euphemism
- death - passed away
- sweat - perspiration
- hair dresser - beauty consultant
- plumber - waste management technician

17. Analogy – a comparison that is longer than a simile or a metaphor in which two unlike
objects may be compared in several respects. (Ex: A person’s life might be compared
to a journey.)

An illustration of an idea by means of a more familiar idea that is similar or parallel to it

in some significant features. It is in the form of an extended simile.

18. Oxymoron – a figure of speech in which two adjectives or and adjective and a noun
are seemingly contradictory. (Ex: “I indeed felt sorry for the poor little rich girl. By
giving the child everything she wanted, the mother was indeed doing her a cruel
kindness.” Other examples include “jumbo shrimp” and “military intelligence.”)

19. Understatement – the opposite of exaggeration. (Ex: This pie is almost good
enough to eat. Not half bad!)

20. Antithesis – a literary technique in which opposite or strongly contrasting

statements are balanced against each other for emphasis. (Ex: Man proposes, God
disposes. His body is active, but his mind is sluggish.)

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21. Paradox – a statement that seems contradictory conflicts with common sense but
which contains an element of truth. It is used to attract attention and provide
emphasis. (Ex: In Macbeth, the witches’ prophesy to Banquo is filled with paradox:
“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater…Not so happy, yet much happier…Thou shalt
get kings, though thou be none…” Act 1, Scene 3.)

22. Assonance – The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the stressed
syllables.
Ex:
And round about the keel with faces pale,
Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,
The mild-eyed melancholy Lotus-eaters came.

The repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together, to achieve a particular
effect of euphony or a pleasing, sweet sound
Ex:
The Lotus blooms below the barren peak.
The Lotus blooms by every winding creek.
All day the wind breathes down with mellower tone,
Thro’ every hollow cone and alley lone,
Round and round the spicy towns the yellow Lotus –
Dust is blown. From Tennyson’s Lotus-Eaters

23. Allegory – A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind
its literal or visible meaning. The principle technique of allegory is personification, whereby
abstract qualities are given human shapes – as in public statues of Liberty of Justice.
Simply put, it’s a story with a double meaning: primary or surface; and secondary or under-
the-surface. (A good example is the story Animal Farm that parallels the Russian
Revolution.)

24. Limerick - A five-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which intends to be
witty or humorous, and is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. It may have its
roots in the 18th-century poets of Ireland, although the form can be found in England in
the early years of the century. See below for an example:

There was a young lady of station

“I love man” was her sole exclamation
But when men cried, “You flatter”
She replied, “Oh! no matter
Isle of Man is the true explanation”

Figures of Speech Definitions

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Figurative Language: Language characterized by figures of speech, not

literal.
Example: metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole,

Alliteration: The repetition of the initial sound at the beginning of two or

more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals.
Example: Sue sells seashells by the seashore.

Personification: Giving human attributes to an animal, object, or idea.

Example: Pigs and wolf talking in the Three Little Pigs.

Simile: A direct comparison between two essentially unlike things,

introduced by the words like or as.
Example: The house fell in like a deck cards.

Metaphor: Compares two physically dissimilar things without using like or

as.
Example: Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. (Langston
Hughes)

Onomatopoeia: A word that imitates a sound.

Example: PHHHHHBRTT or Pow! Or WHOOOOOOOO!

Hyperbole: A huge exaggeration.

Example: I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

Simile (I am like a snake.)

Metaphor ( I am a snake.)
Personification ( The snake speaks.)
Hyperbole (I eat million snakes.)
Irony (sarcasm) (Snake people are good.)
Idiom (You are the snake of my eye.)
Understatement/litotes (I am not a bad snake.)
Antonomasia (I don’t believe with I shall return.)
Allusion (If I were Galema, I have to swallow your face.)
Onomatopoeia (The snake hisses.)
Alliteration (Betty bought a butter.)
Paradox (If you want peace, prepare for war.)
Oxymoron (I have bitter and sweet memories way back in college.)
Metonymy (The Washington fights the Muslim terrorist.)
Synecdoche – [si-nek-dow-kee]
( I hired five hands to build this building.)
Pun (Please sit down. Kindly stand up.)
Anaphora (use of Pronoun) (I came. I saw. I conquered.)

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