| Term | Definition |
|---|
| understatement | deliberately represents something as very much less in magnitude or importance than it really is or considered to be |
| sarcasm | verbal irony |
| satire | aims to expose the vices, follies. or flaws of a person or group by making them seem ridiculous |
| allegory | a string of symbols throughout a text that convey two levels of signification (Allegory of the Cave, Death of Socrates) |
| hyperbole | exaggeration |
| verbal irony | discrepancy between what is said and what is meant |
| structural irony | discrepancy between what the narrator or character is trying to say, and what the author is trying to say |
| situational irony | discrepancy between what is expected, and what actually happens |
| dramatic irony | discrepancy between what the characters know and what the audience knows |
| parody | immitates the serious manner and characteristics of a particular literary work or to distinct a style of a serious literary genre (wierd Al yankovic, Simpsons) |
| personification | giving human like characteristics to an inatimiate thing |
| paradox | a statement which seems ridiculous, but actually makes sense ("this statement is false") |
| simile | comparing two things using words such as like or as |
| metaphor | comparing two things without using like or as |
| symbol | something which works on a literal and figurative level |
| metonymy | using one word to replace its related meaning ("crown for the king", "detroit for auto industry", "hollywood for film industry") |
| Synecdoche | when a part of something represents the whole (wheels for car, hands for man, sails for ships) |
| Onomatopoeia | expressive sounds (hiss, buzz, rattle, bang) |
| Alliteration | repeated constinant sounds (big bad bald black bears) |
| Assonance | repetition of identical or similar words (unravished bride of quietness, child of silence and slow time) |
| Anti-hero | antagonist |
| tenor | subject of a sentence |
| vehicle | words that help describe the tenor |
| implicit metaphor | that dirty dog stole my wallet (dirty dog is vehicle, tenor is implied) |
| regular metaphor | eye, gazelle, delicate wanderer, drinker of horizon's fluid line (tenor is the eye, the vehicles that follow develop the eye) |
| symbol | you cant teach an old dog new tricks |
| The Eagle | two perspective poem, from the eagle and an outsider |
| Dulce et Decorum Est | "it is sweet and right", contrasting the truth of war |
| Break of Day | two lovers leaving at dawn, using metaphorical terms and elements such as day and night |
| I Felt a Funeral in my Brain | mental breakdown, extended metaphor |
| The Hound | hound is a figurative term for life, second form the literal term is named and figurative term is implied |
| The Sick Rose | symbolic for something desirable or good, where the worm stands for some corrupting agent |
| Ozymandias | shows that power means nothing, themes imagery and diction |
| Abraham to Kill Him | god told abraham to kill his son, abraham instantly obeyed, god symbolized as tyranny, thats ok. you get by with manners. |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!