English techniques i think are useful to know for general analysis

Two opposite words used together.

Oxymoron

"bittersweet"

Oxymoron

Harsh consonant sounds made by forcing air through a narrow opening (f, v).

Fricatives

"fresh fruit" (fricatives)

Fricatives

Consonant sounds made by stopping and then releasing airflow (p, b, t, d, k, g).

Plosives

"big bang" (plosives)

Plosives

A command sentence.

Imperative

"Close the door!" (imperative)

Imperative

A statement sentence.

Declarative

"The door is closed." (declarative)

Declarative

A question sentence.

Interrogative

"Is the door closed?" (interrogative)

Interrogative

Indirect reference to something well-known (event, text, myth).

Allusion

"He met his Waterloo"

Allusion

Words that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).

Sensory Language

"The warm, buttery smell drifted from the oven."

Sensory Language

Repetition of s/sh sounds.

Sibilance

"Silent seas softly sigh"

Sibilance

Repetition of vowel sounds.

Assonance

"The light of the fire is a sight to admire"

Assonance

A deliberate pause in a line of poetry.

Caesura

"To err is human || to forgive, divine."

Caesura

Placing two contrasting ideas close together.

Juxtaposition

A sunny meadow beside a dark, haunted forest

Juxtaposition

Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive sentences or clauses.

Anaphora

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…"

Anaphora

A recurring element, image, or idea in a text.

Motif

Repeated shadows symbolising fear

Motif

Direct contrast between two ideas in a sentence or phrase.

Antithesis

"Speech is silver, but silence is golden."

Antithesis

A group of words related by theme or meaning.

Semantic field

river, wave, tide, current

Semantic field

Giving human traits to non-human things.

Personification

"The wind whispered"

Personification

Removing human qualities from a person or character.

Dehumanisation

"They were treated like objects"

Dehumanisation

Giving animal traits to humans or non-human things.

Zoomorphism

"He prowled like a lion"

Zoomorphism