FIGURES OF

SPEECH
 A figure of speech is a
word or phrase that has a
meaning something
different than its literal
meaning.
 “
COMPARISON

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 A stated comparison (usually
formed with "like" or "as")
SIMILE between two fundamentally
dissimilar things that have
certain qualities in common

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 ◦ Her romantic mind was like
the tiny boxes, one within
SIMILE the other, that come from
the puzzling East...
◦ — J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

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 ◦ I wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o’er vales
SIMILE and hills.
◦ —William Wordsworth

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 ◦ I wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o’er vales
SIMILE and hills.
◦ —William Wordsworth

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 An implied comparison between
META- two unlike things that actually

PHOR have something important in

common

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META- Love is the dessert of life.

PHOR I wish you weren’t such a chicken.

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META- Time is a rushing river.

PHOR Life is a roller coaster!

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META- Time is a rushing river.

PHOR Life is a roller coaster!

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 “
SOUNDS

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ASSO- Identity or similarity in sound
between internal vowels in
NANCE neighboring words.
 Poetry is old, ancient, goes back
far. It is among the oldest of living
ASSO- things. So old it is that no man

NANCE knows how and why the first

poems came.
—Carl Sandburg, Early Moon
ASSO- But I have promises to keep,

NANCE And miles to go before I sleep.

ASSO- But I have promises to keep,

NANCE And miles to go before I sleep.

CONSO Identity or similarity in sound
between internal consonants in
NANCE neighboring words.
CONSO Some mammals are clammy
NANCE
CONSO On my plate, put a little bit of Jelly

NANCE for me to taste.

CONSO On my plate, put a little bit of Jelly

NANCE for me to taste.

ONO- The use of words that imitate the
MATO- sounds associated with the
objects or actions they refer to.
POEIA
 water plops into pond
splish-splash downhill
warbling magpies in tree
ONO- trilling, melodic thrill
MATO- whoosh, passing breeze
flags flutter and flap
POEIA frog croaks, bird whistles
babbling bubbles from tap
—Lee Emmett
 He saw nothing and heard
nothing but he could feel his
ONO- heart pounding and then he
heard the clack on stone and the
MATO- leaping, dropping clicks of a small
POEIA rock falling.
—Ernest Hemingway, For Whom
the Bell Tolls
 He saw nothing and heard
nothing but he could feel his
ONO- heart pounding and then he
heard the clack on stone and the
MATO- leaping, dropping clicks of a small
POEIA rock falling.
—Ernest Hemingway, For Whom
the Bell Tolls
 “
CONTRADIC-
TION

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OXYMO- contradictory terms appear side

RON by side

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 Great Depression
Clearly confused
OXYMO- Act naturally

RON Deafening silence

Walking dead
Original copy

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PARA- A statement that appears to
DOX contradict itself

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 You can save money by spending
PARA- it.
DOX Be cruel to be kind

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 If you didn't get this message, call
PARA- me.
DOX Deep down, you're really shallow.

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ANTI- The juxtaposition of contrasting

THESIS ideas in balanced phrases.

 Snow White and the Wicked
ANTI- Witch

THESIS Better to reign in Hell, than serve

in Heav’n
 To err is human; to forgive divine.
ANTI- “That's one small step for man,
THESIS one giant leap for mankind.” —
Neil Armstrong
 The use of words to convey the
opposite of their literal meaning.
Also, a statement or situation
IRONY where the meaning is
contradicted by the appearance
or presentation of the idea.

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 Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
IRONY Nor any drop to drink
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The
Rime of an Ancient Mariner

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 The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

In this short story, a young, poor

couple struggle with what to buy
each other for Christmas. The
IRONY woman cuts her hair and sells it
to buy a watchband for her
husband. Meanwhile, the
husband sells his watch face to
buy combs for his wife’s hair.

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 “
REPETITION

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ALLITE- The repetition of an initial
consonant sound (beginning
RATION letter of the word)

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 Deep into that darkness peering,
long I stood there wondering,
ALLITE- fearing, Doubting, dreaming

RATION dreams no mortal ever dared to

dream before –Edgar Allan Poe,
The Raven

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ALLITE- Behemoth, biggest born of earth,
upheaved His vastness – John
RATION Milton

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ALLITE- Behemoth, biggest born of earth,
upheaved His vastness – John
RATION Milton

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ANA- The repetition of the same word
or phrase at the beginning of
PHORA successive clauses or verses.
 We shall not flag or fail. We shall
ANA- go on to the end. We shall fight in
France, we shall fight on the seas
PHORA and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence
 To raise a happy, healthy, and
hopeful child, it takes a family; it
takes teachers; it takes clergy; it
ANA- takes business people; it takes

PHORA community leaders; it takes those

who protect our health and
safety. It takes all of us.
—Hillary Clinton, 1996 DNC
 To raise a happy, healthy, and
hopeful child, it takes a family; it
takes teachers; it takes clergy; it
ANA- takes business people; it takes

PHORA community leaders; it takes those

who protect our health and
safety. It takes all of us.
—Hillary Clinton, 1996 DNC
 “
EXAGERRATION &
UNDERSTATEMENT

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 an extravagant statement; the
HYPER use of exaggerated terms for the

-BOLE purpose of emphasis or

heightened effect.

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 I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till
HYPER China and Africa meet,

-BOLE And the river jumps over the

mountain

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HYPER Late at night, it got so frigid that
all spoken words froze solid afore
-BOLE they could be heard.

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EUPHE- The substitution of an inoffensive
term for one considered
MISM offensively explicit.

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 Passed away instead of died

EUPHE- Pregnancy termination instead of

abortion
MISM
Adult entertainment instead of
pornography

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 Comfort woman instead of
prostitute

EUPHE- Big-boned instead of heavy or

MISM overweight

On the streets instead of

homeless

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UNDER
makes a situation seem less
STATE important or serious than it is
MENT

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 Deserts are sometimes hot, dry
UNDER and sandy.

STATE “It was O.K.” says someone who

got the highest score in a test
MENT said this when asked about his
result.

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 I have to have this operation. It
isn’t very serious. I have this tiny
UNDER little tumor on the brain.
—J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
STATE
MENT “It rained a bit more than usual”
while describing an area being
flooded after heavy rainfall.

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 consisting of an understatement
LITO- in which an affirmative is

TES expressed by negating its

opposite.
 The ice cream was not too bad.

LITO- New York is not an ordinary city.

TES Your comments on politics are

not useless.
 I cannot disagree with your point
of view.
LITO- Your apartment is not unclean.
TES
A million dollars is not a little
amount.
 I cannot disagree with your point
of view.
LITO- Your apartment is not unclean.
TES
A million dollars is not a little
amount.
 “
REPRESENTATION/
SUBSTITUTION

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SYNEC- a part is used to represent the

DOCHE whole

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SYNEC- ABCs for alphabet

DOCHE I don’t need no shoulder.

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 I have new wheels.
SYNEC- I have five mouths to feed.
DOCHE
There are six feet following me.

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METO- one word or phrase is
substituted for another with
NYMY which it's closely associated

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 The pen is mightier than the
METO- sword.

NYMY The crown visited the poor in the

slums.

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METO- Let me give you a hand.
NYMY

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 “
CALLING /
REFERENCING

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 addresses some absent person
APOS- or thing, some abstract quality,
TROPHE an inanimate object, or a
nonexistent character

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 Oh! Stars and clouds and winds,
APOS- ye are all about to mock me; if ye
TROPHE really pity me, crush sensation
and memory

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 Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
APOS- How I wonder what you are.
TROPHE Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky

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 Death be not proud, though
some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art
APOS- not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st,
TROPHE thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst
thou kill me.
—John Donne

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ALLU- makes reference to people,
places, events, or literary works
SION directly or by implying them
 She was a Good Samaritan.

ALLU- He studies all the time and is a

SION regular Einstein!

Falling in love is my Achilles’ heel.

ALLU- She betrayed me. She’s the

SION modern Delilah.

 “
PLAYFUL WORDS

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 A play on words, sometimes on
different senses of the same
PUN word and sometimes on the
similar sense or sound of
different words.
 I wasn't originally going to get a
brain transplant, but then I
changed my mind.
PUN
When I get naked in the
bathroom, the shower usually
gets turned on.
 How did I escape Iraq? Iran.

I'd tell you a chemistry joke but I

PUN know I wouldn't get a reaction.

I wanna make a joke about

sodium, but Na..
 I'm glad I know sign language, it's
pretty handy.

Having sex in an elevator is

PUN wrong on so many levels.

Titanic: Everyone tries the ice-

bucket challenge.
 A verbal pattern in which the
CHIAS- second half of an expression is

MUS balanced against the first but

with the parts reversed.

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 Love as if you would one day
CHIAS- hate, and hate as if you would

MUS one day love.

—Bias (6th Century B.C.)

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 Do I love you because you're
CHIAS- beautiful? Or are you beautiful

MUS because I love you?

—Oscar Hammerstein

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 When religion was strong and
science weak, men
mistook magic for medicine;
CHIAS-
MUS Now, when science is strong and
religion weak, men
mistake medicine for magic.
—Thomas Szaz

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 “
OBJECTS / IDEAS
AS HUMANS

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PERSO- an inanimate object or
NIFICA- abstraction is endowed with
human qualities or abilities.
TION

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 She did not realize that
PERSO- opportunity was knocking at her
door.
NIFICA-
TION He did not realize that his last
chance was walking out the door.

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 The stars danced playfully in the
moonlit sky.
PERSO-
The tsunami raced towards the
NIFICA- coastline.
TION
I could hear DOTA calling my
name.

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 NOW, PUT LIFE TO
YOUR WORDS! DON’T JUST SAY
“SHE’S BEAUTIFUL!” SAY:
“HER BEAUTY SCREAMS!”

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