LITERARY DEVICES/ FIGURES OF SPEECH

1 Simile : A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another in such

a way as to clarify and enhance an image.It is an explicit comparison between
two unlike objects, recognizable by the use of the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.
2 A metaphor on the other hand, is an implicit (implied ) comparison between
two unlike objects.
Red as a rose is she. —Simile
A rose is she. – Metaphor
This condensation often makes a metaphor more suggestive and effective than a
simile.
Examples of simile:
Napoleon swept over France like a meteor.
The child shows the man as morning shows the day.
Examples of metaphor:
Variety is the spice of life.
Hope is the brightest when it dawns from fear.
To take up arms against a sea of troubles.
3 Personification: It consists in investing abstract ideas or inanimate objects
with the attributes of a living being.
Examples: The thirsty earth soaks up the rain.
The Pyramids themselves, doting with age, have forgotten the names of their
founders.
4 Apostrophe : By this figure,a speaker or a writer changes the course of his
theme and makes a short impassioned address to a person who is absent or dead
or to an inanimate object or even to an abstract idea.
Examples:
Roll on, thou deep and dark -blue ocean , roll. (Byron)
Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert. (Shelley)
O solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
5 Hyperbole: This is a figure by which things are represented as much greater or
lesser , better or worse, than they really are. A hyperbole is thus just another
name for an exaggerated statement.
Example:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance…… ( The Daffodils by William Wordsworth)
She was by far, the fairest among women.
6 Euphemism: This figure consists in softening down a harsh or disagreeable
expression. It is a way of stating something offensive in an agreeable or
pleasing manner. It is prompted sometimes by courtesy and sometimes by a
sense of decorum.
Examples:
He perished on the scaffold. (was hanged)
Goldsmith was little, pitted with the smallpox and awkward.; and schoolboys
are amazingly frank (ie they unadvisedly blurt out the truth without regard to
the feelings of others.)
7 Pun or paronomasia :
This figure rests on a duplicity of sense under unity of sound. The play of words
found in puns is often interesting:
Examples:
The woman beat her child to make him smart. ( brisk and active/ to feel a sharp
quick pain.)
In cards a good deal depends on good playing and good playing depends on a
good deal. ( The expression ‘a good deal’ first means ‘much’ and then ‘ a good
distribution of cards’.)
8 Alliteration: A figure of speech in which consonants, especially at the
beginning of words , or stressed syllables are repeated. It is common in poetry
as well as in tongue -twisters, nonsense verse and in jingles.
Example:
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion…..
9 Anaphora: This figure consists in the repetition of an expression at the
beginning of successive clauses or sentences:
Example:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
10 . Asyndeton: This figure consists in the omission of connecting
conjunctions and is conducive to energy and vividness.
Example:
I slip, I slide, I glance. (Tennyson)

What? not a line, a tear, a sigh

When valour bleeds for liberty? (Scott)

10 Polysyndeton: This figure consists in the excessive use of conjunctive

participles.It serves to impart emphasis to the particulars which are enumerated .
Example:
To- morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty pace. ( Macbeth)
11 Antithesis : By this figure contrasted words or ideas are set against each
other in a balanced form for the sake of emphasis.
Examples:
United we stand- divided we fall.
He was not the master but the slave of his speech.
12 Epigram :
The epigram is an apparent contradiction in language which, by causing a
temporary shock, rouses our attention to some important meaning underneath.
Examples:
Our antagonist is our helper.
Beware the fury of a patient man.
Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts.
13 Metonymy
This figure consists, as its name implies, in substituting the name of one thing
for that of anotherto which it has a certain relation,
Different examples of metonymy:
The symbol or sign for the things symbolized
He ascended the throne. (symbol of sovereignty)
He was raised to the bench. (the office of a judge)
The instrument or organ for the agent
The pen is mightier than the sword.
The press (journalists) wields enormous power.
14 Synecdoche:
By this figure a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive one
or vice versa , but in fact, that less comprehensive term or vice versa is meant.
(a) A part for the whole:
A fleet of twenty sails (ships)
Nearly two thousand hands ( persons) are employed in this office.
(b) A species for the genus/ the genus for a species
Examples: Silver and gold (riches) have I none.
(c ) An individual for the class
Every man is not Solomon.(as wise as king Solomon)
A Daniel ( a wise and impartial judge) comes to judgment.
15 Hypallage or Transferred Epithet:
By this figure an epithet (adjective) is transferred or shifted from the object to
which it properly belongs, to another with which it is associated in the mind of
the writer or speaker.
Examples:
A sleepless pillow was pressed by him, an anxious morning slowly dawned.
They have marched a weary way.
16 Innuendo :
This is a figure by which a thing is insinuated or hinted at instead of being plainly
stated.
Examples:
He was born of rich but honest parents. (It seems to suggest that rich people are
generally dishonest.)
An artist was asked to give his opinion on a portrait and he remarked, “What a
splendid frame!” The insinuation evidently was that the painting itself was bad.
17 Irony:
Irony consists in the use of words, the natural meaning of which is the very
opposite of what is intended to be expressed. By this figure, therefore, we say one
thing when we mean another. We pretend to approve something which we really
want to ridicule.
Examples:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
An Brutus is an honourable man!
18 Onomatopoeia:
This is an artifice of language by which the sound of words is made to reflect
their sense eg:
And Niagara stuns with thundering sound.
Pitter patter falls the rain!