Golden Sheet -o- Figures of Speech

Allergory

a prolonged metaphor; a story that conveys a deeper, broader meaning

Alliteration

Same consonantal sound at beginning of words

Allusion

Textual reference to a mythological, historical, or literarysource

Anaphora

Repetition of the same (or similar) words at beginning of successive clauses

Anastrophe

Upsetting of natural word order

Archaism

A word or construction that is not contemporary with the work of literature.

Assonance

Repetition of similar vowel sounds

Asyndeton

Lack of conjunctions

Chiasmus

ABBA word order

Conclamatio

Shouting of emotion

Ellipsis

Omission of a word

Enjambment

Delaying of words onto the next line to create suspense

Figures etymologica

Different words from same etymological root; pater...patria, e.g.

Graecism

Greek word or construction

Hapax legomenon

Word only occurring once in extant literature

Hendiadys

Use of two related nouns often connected by conjunctions to express a single idea; "one through two"

Homioteleuton

Similar sounding word endings

Hyperbaton

Alteration of usual word order

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Irony

Use of words meaning the opposite

Katabasis

a literal or figurative journey to the underworld; lit. "a going down"

Litotes

Assertion of idea by denying the opposite

Metonymy

Substitution of a word with that which it is associated

Neologism

Newly coined word or expression

Onomatopoeia

use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning

Oxymoron

the juxtaposition of contradictory terms

Patronymic

An epithet that relates to one's ancestry

Personification

imagery by which human characteristics are attributed to non-human things

Pleonasm

Use of more words than necessary; a preponderance of the same or similar notions

Polyptoton

the repetition of the same word in different forms

Polysyndeton

use of a greater number of conjunctions that usual or necessary

Prolepsis

a word attributed to a noun before it is logically appropriate

Simile

a comparison using words such as "ut, similis, qualis, velut, veluti"

Strong adversative

Establish the contrast of what comes before and what it follows

Synchisis

ABAB word order

Syncope

Omission of sound or letters of a word sometimes for metrical convenience

Synecdoche

a form of metonymy in which a part of something represents the entire thing

Tmesis

Seperation of parts of a compound word

Transferred epithet

the application of a adjective to a noun with which it does not grammatically agree

Tricolon crescens

a series of three or more clauses that increase in length & intensity

Zeugma

use of a single word with two others in two different ways; "a yoking"

Synizesis

the contraction of two vowels into a single syllable

Aposiopesis

Breaking away from narrative

Aristeia

epic literary topos describing a moment of super-human excellence (often with god/goddess assistance)

Anabasis

resurrection; "A going up"

Consolatio

literary topos when a parent consols a child

Dignitas/kleos

Glory, reputation

Ekphrasis

an extended description of work or art, building or something, etc

in medias res

literary topos when a story starts in the middle of the chronological narrative

Ktisis

"Founding" a tale that explains how a city was founded

Periplous

a nautical odyssey; lit. "A sailing around"

Pietas

Devotion

Xenia

Guest/host relationship

Anadiplosis

Starting a clause with the same word that concluded the previous clause; "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

hysteron proteron

a reversal of the natural, logical, or chronological order; "the latter, the former"

Diaeresis

a pause between words that coincides with the end of a metrical foot

Golden Line

a form of chiasmus or synchysis in which a verb positioned in the middle of the line

Hiatus

a lack of elision where two syllables would normally be elided

anagnorisis

"recognition"; a moment when a character's true identity is realized

deus (dea) ex machina

when a outside force (usually a deity in epic & tragic lit.) resolves the conflict of a scene