LITERARY TECHNIQUES

auxesis

building upon ideas, usually in groups of threes

simile

a phrase that uses like or as to compare two things

alliteration

where the same letter or sound is repeated at the beginning of words in a line or sentence

olfactory imagery

imagery that relates to smell

gustatory imagery

imagery that relates to taste

elegy

lament for the dead

synecdoche

where a part of the subject represents the whole

synecdoche example

i hired 20 hands

metonym

where a larger concept is represented by an object or noun related to it

metonym example

the crown

kinesthetic imagery

imagery related to movement or feeling

tricolon

occurring in threes/groups of three

syntax

the word order

circumvent

to talk around something

isocolon

occurring in twos or fours

parenthesis

use of brackets or double dashes

parallelism

repetition of syntax or grammatical structure

caesura

a pause

hyperbaton

manipulation of the normal word order

epizeugma

placing the key verb at the end of the sentence

anadiplosis

using the same word that ends the last phrase to begin the next one

ploce

repeated single word

epistrophe

repeated endings

anaphora

repeated beginnings

synonymia

use of synonyms

syntheton

pairs of words joined by an “and”

antithesis

the use of two directly opposing ideas

double entendre

a phrase with two meanings, usually with sexual connotations or a pun

antanaclasis

repeated word where the second use means something different

polyptoton

repeating a word in a different context to the first use

sibilance

repeated s or z (hissing) sounds

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds

consonance

repetition of consonant sounds

dental alliteration

repetition of d and t sounds

fricative alliteration

repetition of v and f sounds

plosive alliteration

repetition of p, b, g and k sounds