Figures of Speech

Basics

Oxymoron
The combination of two words that
contradict each other.Eg: Bitter
sweet,Faithful enemy

Paradox
A seemingly contradictory
statement that may nonetheless be
true

Simile
A figure of speech involving a
comparison between unlike things
using like, as, or as though.

Iamb
A metrical foot or a a unit of
rhythm in poetry that consists of
one syllable that is unstressed
followed by one syllable that is
stressed.

Pentameter
A line of verse in poetry that has
five stressed syllables in each
line.Iambic pentameter is a
commonly used type of metrical line
in traditional verse and verse

Metaphor
The comparison between
essentially unlike things without
using words ,applications of name
or descriptions to something to
which it is not literally

Pun
Play on word or humorous use of
sigle word or sound with two or
more implied meanings

Imagery
A word or sequence of words
representing a sensory experience

Onomatopoeia
The use words to imitate the sounds
they describe.

Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sound
particularly at the beginning of
word

Allusion
A reference to the person or work
outside the poem or literary piece

Allegory
The representation of abstract
ideas or principles by concrete or
material forms through figurative
treatment of one subject under the
guise of another.

Couplet
A pair of lines ,usually rhymed

Sonnet
A 14 line poem in iambic pentameter with a
prescribed rhyme scheme .The rhyming
scheme of Shakespearean or English sonnet is
abab cdcd efef gg and the Petrarchan or
Italian sonnet is abba abba cde cde or abba
abba cd cd cd.

Rhyme scheme
the ordered pattern of rhymes at
the ends of the lines of a poem or
verse.

Italian (or Petrarchan)

sonnet
A form of sonnet popularised by
Petrarch with the following rhyming
scheme :abbaabba cdecde cdcdcd

Ballard
A narrative poem written in four
line stanza,characterised by swift
action and narrated in a direct
style.

Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the
whole or the whole for a part, the special for the
general or the general for the special.
An example: "Lend me a hand." , a ten sail,
instead of saying ten ships

Elegy

Elegy :A lyric poem that laments

the dead. A more explicitly
identified elegy is W.H. Auden's "In
Memory of William Butler Yeats"
and his "Funeral Blues.

Epic
A long narrative poem that records the
adventures of a hero. Epics typically
chronicle the origins of a civilization and
embody its central values. Examples from
western literature include Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Milton's

Hyperbole
This is the use of exaggeration to
evoke strong feelings or
impression. John Donne uses
hyperbole in his poem: "Song: Go
and Catch a Falling Star.

Irony
The use of words to convey a
meaning that is often opposite to
their literal meaning; typically for
humorous or emphatic effect.

Quatrain
Four line stanza or grouping of four
lines of verse