English Quiz - Literary Devices

Alliteration

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

Anaphora

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

Assonance

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

Consonance

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

Cacophony

A discordant series of harsh, unpleasant sounds to convey disorder.

Euphony

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

Homophone

Two or more words that possess the same pronunciation yet distinct meanings.

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like their meanings.

Pun

Ambiguity generated from the different possible meanings of a word or similar sounding words.

Repetition

The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for effect.

Rhyme

The correspondence or echoing of sound between words or the ending of words.

Allusion

An implicit reference to something in history, culture, or literature.

Ambiguity

A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in the same context.

Apostrophe

Speaking directly to a real or imagined listener or inanimate object.

Hyperbole

An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses.

Metaphor

A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other.

Metonymy

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

Oxymoron

A phrase that contains conflicting or even contradicting meanings.

Personification

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

Simile

A direct comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as.'

Symbolism

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

Synecdoche

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

Caesura

A pause or break in a line of verse, prompted by punctuation or meter.

Chiasmus

Repetition of any group of verse elements in reverse order.

Enjambment

The continuation of the logical sense beyond the end of a line of poetry.

Meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse.

Stanza

A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit.