| Term | Definition |
|---|
| alliteration | repetition at close intervals of initial consonant sounds |
| assonance | repetition at close intervals of vowel sounds |
| onomatopoeia | use of words which mimic their meaning in sound |
| apostrophe | someone absent, dead, or imaginary, or an abstraction, is being addressed as if it could reply |
| enjambment | describes a line of poety in which the sense and grammatical construction continues on to the next line |
| anaphora | repetition of the same word(s) at the start of 2 or more lines |
| hyperbole | exaggeration, overstatement |
| metaphor | implied or direct comparison |
| metonymy | symbolism; 1 thing is used as a substitute for another with which it is closely identified (the White House) |
| personification | giving a non-human the characteristics of a human |
| simile | comparison using like or as |
| synecdoche | symbolism; the part signifies the whole, of the whole the part (all hands on board) |
| asyndeton | omission of conjunctions is a closely related series |
| chiasmus | arrangement of pairs of words in opposite order ABBA |
| ellipsis | Suppression of word(s) of minor importance the logical expression of the thought, but necessary to the construction |
| euphemism | substitution of a less direct expression in place of one whose plainer meaning might be unpleasant or offensive |
| hendiadys | use of 2 nouns connected by a conjunction with the meaning of one modified noun |
| interlocked word order (synchysis) | arrangement of pairs of words so that one word of each pair is between the words of the other ABAB |
| litotes | understatement |
| polysyndeton | use of unnecessary conjunctions |
| transferred epithet | poet attributes some characteristic of a thing to another thing closely associated with it |
| zeugma | use of verb/adjective with 2 words, to only one of which it literally applies |
Combine with other sets
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