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Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or ideas.
Examples: "Death puts his icy hands on kings" and "The moon smiled down on the young lovers". |
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A figure of speech in which one term is substituted for another with which it is closely related.
Examples: "the crown" for a monarch and "the law" for the police |
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A figure of speech with involves an implied comparison between relatively unlike things.
Example: "My father is a bear when he wakes up in the morning" and "The icicle was a spear" |
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Mood is often confused with tone, but they are not the same. Mood is the overall emotional atmosphere created. The atmosphere will leave readers feeling a particular emotion.
Example: A horror story with weird noises, darkness and strange characters creates a feeling of dread.
There are three ways that an author may attempt to create a mood:
1. Through a description of the setting
e.g. "The house stood cold and empty in the mist, waiting to welcome a family."
2. Through characters:
e.g. "As the bell rang, releasing her from school, Sara skipped along. She felt so free she thought that she could fly."
3. Through an event in the plot:
e.g. "The boys' bodies twisted and turned as they rolled along the dirt path, struggling with the weapon, gasping and choking in the dirt." |
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A figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, indicated by the word "like" or "as"
Example: "He was as worn out as a woodpecker in a petrified forest" and "His voice was like thunder." |
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A popular form of metonymy where a part of an object is used instead of the entire thing.
Example: "wheels" for car; "the brunette" for a brown-haired woman |
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The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
"he has always believed in the importance of symbolism in garden art" |
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| A sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color. |
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Pleasing and harmonious sounds strung together for effect.
Example: And the words hung hushed in their long white dream / By the ghostly, glimmering, ice-blue stream. |
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The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
Example: "Lucid" means "clear and easy to understand" |
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Meanings which are suggestive. They may contain a positive or negative implication.
denotative - thin
connotative - slender (good) or skinny (bad) |
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The repetition of identical consonant sounds that are preceded by different vowel sound.
Example: dog and gig, bold and mad |
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A simple narrative poem that was usually meant to be sung and often has a refrain or chorus.
Example: "Lord Randal" by an unknown poet and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by G. Lightfoot. |
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The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in words which are placed close together.
Example: "Mad as a hatter" and "free and easy" |
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A figure of speech in which the absent are addressed as if present, the inanimate as though animate or the dead as though living.
Example: "Ah, Sun-flower, counting the steps of the sun." B. Scholes |
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Something which does not fit into a certain historical time period. In the cartoon below, television and commercials would not have been invented yet during the medieval period.
anachronism
Example: Cannon references in Macbeth. |
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An indirect reference to a person, place or event from literature, history, the Bible or mythology.
The mouse cartoon makes sense only if the reader is familiar with the lines from Clement Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas": " 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."
Example: Calling someone a "Scrooge" refers to Charles Dickens' miserly character in A Christmas Carol. |
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| The repetition of the same sound (not letter) at the beginning of two or more words. Example: Trees tumble through the torrent. |
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Hypothetical and conceptual words.
Example: love, faith, loyalty |
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A narrative or description which has a second meaning beneath the surface one.
Example: The parable of sower and the seed. The surface story is about a farmer sowing seeds. The secondary story is a symbolic or metaphorical one about Christ as the sower, and His words as the seeds. |
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Antithesis establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. Human beings are inveterate systematizers and categorizers, so the mind has a natural love for antithesis, which creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas:
•To err is human; to forgive, divine. --Pope
•That short and easy trip made a lasting and profound change in Harold's outlook.
•That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong
Antithesis can convey some sense of complexity in a person or idea by admitting opposite or nearly opposite truths:
•Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.
•If we try, we might succeed; if we do not try, we cannot succeed.
•Success makes men proud; failure makes them wise.
Antithesis, because of its close juxtaposition and intentional
contrast of two terms or ideas, is also very useful for making relatively fine distinctions or for clarifying differences which might be otherwise overlooked by a careless thinker or casual reader:
•In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. --Samuel Johnson
•The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. --Matt. 23:2-3 (RSV)
•I agree that it is legal; but my question was, Is it moral?
•The advertisement indeed says that these shoes are the best, but it means that they are equal; for in advertising "best" is a parity claim and only "better" indicates superiority.
Note also that short phrases can be made antithetical:
Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind, at once, the difficulty of excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of labor, and that labor, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward. --Samuel Johnson |
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| open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning |
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A pair of successive rhyming lines in the same meter.
Example: "The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace."
Andrew Marvell |
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(another name for dissonance)
Harsh and unharmonious sounds strung together to form a jarring experience for the reader.
Example: "With a clattering, clanging, banging racket." |
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An elaborate or exaggerated metaphor usually associated with high emotion.
For example, Romeo, being in love with Juliet, compares her to the sun.
"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art more fair than she." |
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Words that are specific, accurate and definite in meaning.
Example: heart, church, pet |
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The choice and use of words.
Example: In the lines, "Slowly, silently, now the moon / walks the night in her silvery shoon", de la Mare uses smooth-sounding words to give the impression of graceful movement. |
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The substitution of a more pleasing or softer term for a harsher one.
Example: using "passing away" or "gone on to a better place" for dying |
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Hyperbaton includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. One device, a form of inversion, might be called delayed epithet, since the adjective follows the noun. If you want to amplify the adjective, the inversion is very useful:
•From his seat on the bench he saw the girl content-content with the promise that she could ride on the train again next week.
But the delayed epithet can also be used by itself, though in only a relatively few cases:
•She had a personality indescribable.
•His was a countenance sad.
Some rhetoricians condemn delayed epithet altogether in formal writing because of its potential for abuse. Each case must be tested carefully, to make sure it does not sound too poetic:
•His was a countenance friendly.
•These are rumors strange.
And especially make sure the phrase is not affected, offensive, or even disgusting:
•Welcome to our home comfortable.
•That is a story amazing.
I cannot give you a rule (why does "countenance sad" seem okay when "countenance friendly" does not?) other than to consult your own taste or sense of what sounds all right and what does not.
A similar form of inversion we might call divided epithets. Here two adjectives are separated by the noun they modify, as in Milton's "with wandering steps and slow." Once again, be careful, but go ahead and try it. Some examples:
•It was a long operation but successful.
•Let's go on a cooler day and less busy.
•So many pages will require a longer staple, heavy-duty style.
Another form of hyperbaton involves the separation of words normally belonging together, done for effect or convenience:
•In this room there sit twenty (though I will not name them) distinguished people.
You can emphasize a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:
•We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, be evicted.
•Sandy, after a long struggle, all the way across the lake, finally swam to shore.
You might want to have a friend check your excursions into hyperbatonic syntax, and if he looks at you askance and says, "My, talk funny you do," you might want to do a little rewriting. But, again, do not mark this off your list just because you might not be always successful at it. |
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An overstatement or extravagant exaggeration of fact or possibility used for emphasis or effect.
Example: "If I don't get a date for Friday night, I'll die" and "Our teacher must have fifty university degrees." |
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Using descriptive language to appeal to the reader's senses, primarily that of sight or sound.
Example: Cedar and jagged fir
uplift sharp barbs
against the gray
and cloud-piled sky," A.J.M. Smith |
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The device of placing side by side elements which would not normally be associated or which are opposite in nature:
Example: In Good Morning, Vietnam!, the movie starts with a beautiful song juxtaposed next to the horrors of war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFlrAfKGQuU&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active |
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A figure of speech which involves contrast. It is skillful and indirect.
•Dramatic Irony - this occurs when a character knows less about his or her circumstances than the audience does.
Example: In many situation comedies, dramatic irony is used for humorous effect, such as when a surprise birthday party is planned for the central character.
•Situational Irony - This occurs when what takes place contrasts with what is expected or appropriate.
Example: A thief discovers that his own home has been robbed.
•Verbal Irony - this occurs when someone says the opposite of what is meant.
Example: In the context of the sentence, "John showed he was a loving son when he stole from his mother", the words "a loving son" are meant ironically. |
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Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.
Any sentence elements can be paralleled, any number of times (though, of course, excess quickly becomes ridiculous). You might choose parallel subjects with parallel modifiers attached to them:
•Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.
Or parallel verbs and adverbs:
•I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.
•Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.
Or parallel verbs and direct objects:
•He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.
Or just the objects:
•This wealthy car collector owns three pastel Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten assorted Mercedes.
Or parallel prepositional phrases:
•He found it difficult to vote for an ideal truth but against his own self interest.
•The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit, singing "Up, Up, and Away."
Notice how paralleling rather long subordinate clauses helps you to hold the whole sentence clearly in your head:
•These critics--who point out the beauties of style and ideas, who discover the faults of false constructions, and who discuss the application of the rules--usually help a lot in engendering an understanding of the writer's essay.
•When, at the conclusion of a prolonged episode of agonizing thought, you decide to buy this car; when, after a hundred frantic sessions of begging stonefaced bankers for the money, you can obtain sufficient funds; and when, after two more years of impatience and frustration, you finally get a driver's license, then come see me and we will talk about a deal.
•After you corner the market in Brazilian coffee futures, but before you manipulate the price through the ceiling, sit down and have a cup of coffee with me (while I can still afford it).
It is also possible to parallel participial, infinitive, and gerund phrases:
•He left the engine on, idling erratically and heating rapidly.
•To think accurately and to write precisely are interrelated goals.
•She liked sneaking up to Ted and putting the ice cream down his back, because he was so cool about it.
In practice some combination of parts of speech or sentence elements is used to form a statement, depending as always on what you have to say. In addition, the parallelism, while it normally should be pretty close, does not have to be exact in its syntactical similarity. For example, you might write,
•He ran up to the bookshelves, grabbed a chair standing nearby, stepped painfully on his tiptoes, and pulled the fifty-pound volume on top of him, crushing his ribs and impressing him with the power of knowledge.
Here are some other examples of parallelism:
•I shall never envy the honors which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardor to virtue, and confidence to truth. --Samuel Johnson
•They had great skill in optics, and had instructed him to see faults in others, and beauties in himself, that could be discovered by nobody else. . . . --Alexander Pope
For the end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science is performance. --Aristotle |
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A statement which seems to be self-contradictory or absurd yet turns out to make good sense when examined closely.
Example: "She is a poor little rich girl." "Fair is foul." "He was damned with faint praise." |
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Definition
A statement which seems to be self-contradictory or absurd yet turns out to make good sense when examined closely.
Example: "She is a poor little rich girl." "Fair is foul." "He was damned with faint praise." |
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A play on words that are either identical in or very similar in sound but are different in meaning.
Example: In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio, bleeding to death, says grimly, "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." |
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Identifying the pattern of end rhymes within a poem.
The pattern of end rhymes indicated by letters of the alphabet. In analyzing the rhyme scheme, the first rhyming sound at the end of a line is given the letter "a", the next different sound "b", and so on. If a repetition of a sound occurs, reuse the letter with the same sound. When a new stanza begins, start the labelling with the next letter of the alphabet even if it is the same as a previous sound.
With Age Wisdom
by Archibald Macleish
At twenty, stooping around about, a
I thought the world a miserable place, b
Truth a trick, faith in doubt, a
Little beauty, less grace. b
Now at sixty what I see, c
Although the world is worse by far, d
Stops my heart in ecstasy. c
God, the wonders that there are! d |
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A word that mimics a sound.
Example: chatter, babble, hiss, boom, whistle |
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The ridicule of something, supposedly in order to reform it using techniques of exaggeration, sarcasm, irony, humour or absurdity.
Example: Mad magazine satirizes bad situation comedies. |
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An author's attitude toward his or her subject and audience. We can determine tone by the words chosen, the way things are described and the overall presentation of the idea or character.
Example: In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller is critical of Happy Loman and his philosophy of life. |
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A lyric poem consisting of 14 lines arranged in a number of rhyming patterns.
Example: Shakespeare's "shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is an Elizabethan sonnet while G.D. Roberts' "the Mowing" is an Italian sonnet. Both have 14 lines but different rhyme schemes. |
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A form of irony in which something is deliberately represented as being less than it is. It might describe WWII as a "little battle over a piece of land."
Example: "Elvis Presley was not a bad singer" and "Mr. Smith made a small donation of a million dollars to the school library." |
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A narrative divided into short pieces.
For example, in "Mirror Image", the story is told in a series of events which are out of order. |
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The deliberate placing of two successive words that seem to contradict each other, yet convey a truth.
Example: "old news" and "living death" |
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| 1.a nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets and with both repeated at the close of the concluding quatrain. |
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