Literary Devices Quiz - Tyndall

Alliteration

Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.

Ex: Hot-hearted Beowulf was bent upon battle

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or stanzas.

Ex: Through me the way to the city of woe,

Through me the way to everlasting pain,

Through me the way among the lost.

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.

Ex: His tender heir might bear his memory

penitence; reticence

Consonance

The close repetition of identical consonant sounds before or after different vowels.

Ex: Out of this house—said rider to reader,

Yours never will—said farer to fearer

essentially kinda rhyming but with the same consonant in front

Cacophony

A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant-sounding words helping to convey disorder. This effect is often furthered by the combination of meaning and difficulty of pronunciation.

Ex: Against the wreckful siege of batt'ring days

Euphony

A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony and beauty to the language.

Ex: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like their meanings.

Ex: This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

Pun

Ambiguity (in the form of a joke) generated from the different possible meanings of a word or similar sounding words.

Ex: The pigs were a squeal

Repetition

The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for effect (or perhaps emphasis). Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different keyword each time, this device is called parallelism.

Ex: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day...

Rhyme

This device is the one most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme.

Ex: Self-explanatory

Allusion

An implicit reference to something in history, culture, or literature (especially historical). An allusion adds to the depth of our understanding. If we know the reference then the poet or writer's comparison helps us to see the poem or prose piece more fully.

Ex: Nor Mars his sword nor...

Ambiguity

A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in its context. Poets often search out such words to add richness to their work. Often, one meaning seems quite readily apparent, but other, deeper and darker meanings, await those who contemplate the poem.

Ex: Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness

Apostrophe

Speaking directly to a real or imagined listener or inanimate object; addressing that person or thing by name.

Ex: Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful...

Hyperbole

An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.

Ex: I had to wait in the station ten days--an eternity.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses. Description that makes the reader feel they are in the setting. There are six basic kinds of imagery: visual (sight), auditory (sound), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), tactile (touch), and kinesthetic (movement).

Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things, stating one is the other or does the action of the other.

Ex: Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all

essentially a simile without like or as

Metonymy*

A figure of speech in which an attribute or quality of a thing is substituted for the thing itself.

Ex: The White House issued a statement

Difference from Synecdoche: Synecdoche employs a more literal part of the whole in question, whereas metonymy substitutes an attribute related to the larger subject.

For example, This land belongs to the throne. - The throne is not literally the king/monarchy, but it is an attribute of the kingship in question. If it were to be metonymy, it would be something like This land belongs to his crown because it's something that he literally wears.

Oxymoron

A phrase that contains conflicting or even contradicting meanings.

Ex: Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,

O anything of nothing first create!

O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.

Ex: Earth felt the wound

Simile

A direct comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as." Flavors also include epic.

Ex: Warm as the joy that children feel

when they see their father's life dawn again

Symbolism

Transforming an ordinary object, event, animal, or person into a symbol by investing it with a particular significance or meaning.

Ex: A light exists in Spring

Not present on the year

At any other period--

When March is scarcely here

N.B. This one is kind of hard to pick out so I would recommend using process of elimination. The quiz will probably not be that bad

Synecdoche*

A figure of speech in which a part of a thing stands for the whole.

Ex: Cleveland won by 6 runs (referring to the Cleveland Guardians

Difference from Metonymy: Synecdoche employs a more literal part of the whole in question, whereas metonymy substitutes an attribute related to the larger subject.

For example, This land belongs to the throne. - The throne is not literally the king/monarchy, but it is an attribute of the kingship in question. If it were to be metonymy, it would be something like This land belongs to his crown because it's something that he literally wears.