english literary

Anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word or phrase of one clause at the beginning of the next clause. Example: 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas or words in a balanced grammatical structure. Example: 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or an inanimate object. Example: 'O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth!'

Appositive

A noun or noun phrase that renames, identifies, or describes another noun placed directly beside it. Example: 'My teacher, a former journalist, helped me write the article.'

Caesura

A strong pause or break near the middle of a line of verse. Example: 'To be, or not to be—that is the question.'

Chiasmus

A rhetorical structure in which concepts or words are repeated in reverse grammatical order. Example: 'Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.'

Conceit

An elaborate, extended metaphor comparing two strikingly dissimilar things. Example: Comparing two lovers' souls to the twin legs of a mathematical compass.

Epigram

A concise, clever, and often paradoxical statement or short poem. Example: 'I can resist everything except temptation.'

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Example: 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people.'

Meiosis

An intentional understatement used to belittle, dismiss, or diminish the importance of something. Example: Referring to the Atlantic Ocean as 'the pond.'

Peripeteia

A sudden reversal of fortune or unexpected change in circumstances in a literary work. Example: Oedipus discovering his true identity and falling from king to tragic outcast.

Polyptoton

The repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings or functions. Example: 'With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.'

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical emphasis or rhythm. Example: 'We have ships and men and money and stores.'

Synesthesia

A figurative device where one sensory experience is described in terms of another sense. Example: 'A loud shirt' or 'a sweet sound.'

Synecdote

A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole, or vice versa. Example: Referring to a car as 'wheels.'

Tmesis

The intentional separation of parts of a compound word by inserting an intervening word. Example: 'Abso-bloody-lutely.'

Zeugma

A figure of speech in which a single word (usually a verb or adjective) applies to two or more nouns in different senses. Example: 'He broke my heart and my favorite vase.'