Poetic and Literary Devices

Flashcards for poetic and literary devices.

Adnomination

Repetition of words with the same root, differing by one sound or letter to create euphony.

Allegory

Representation of ideas through symbolic characters, events, and imagery to convey hidden meanings.

Alliteration

Repetition of the first consonant sound in a series of words or in stressed syllables.

Allusion

Reference to a myth, character, literary work, work of art, or an event.

Anaphora

Word repetition at the beginning of sentences to give emphasis.

Epiphora

Word repetition at the end of sentences.

Antithesis

Emphasizing contrast between two things or fictional characters.

Apostrophe

Directed speech to someone who is not present or to an object.

Assonance

Repetition of vowels in order to create internal rhyming.

Consonance

Repetition of consonants.

Cataphora

Mentioning of the person or object further in the discourse.

Climax

Arranging text in such a manner that tension gradually ascends.

Anticlimax

Tension descends.

Charactonym

Giving fictional characters names that describe them.

Ellipsis

Word or phrase omission.

Euphemism

Replacing offensive words with lighter equivalents.

Dysphemism

Replacing a neutral word with a harsher word.

Epigram

Memorable and brief saying, usually satirical.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration of the statement.

Litotes

Understatement.

Hypophora

Asking a question and answering it right away.

Verbal Irony (Antiphrasis)

Using words to express something different from their literal meaning for ironic effect.

Situational Irony

Result differs from the expectation.

Dramatic Irony

Situation is understandable for the audience but not the fictional character/actor.

Merism

Describing people/objects by enumerating their traits.

Metalepsis

Referencing one thing through the means of another thing, which is related to the first one.

Metaphor

Comparing two different things that have some characteristics in common.

Metonymy

Giving a thing another name that is associated with it.

Onomatopoeia

Imitating sounds in writing.

Oxymoron

Combining contradictory traits.

Parallelism

Arranging a sentence in such a manner that it has parallel structure.

Chiasmus

An inverted parallelism.

Parenthesis

Interrupting a sentence by inserting extra information enclosed in brackets, commas, or dashes.

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to nonhumans.

Pun

A kind of wordplay.

Antanaclasis

Repetition of the same word or phrase, but with a different meaning.

Malapropism

Usage of the incorrect word instead of the word with a similar sound.

Paradox

Self-contradictory fact; however, it can be partially true.

Paraprosdokian

Arranging a sentence in such a manner so the last part is unexpected.

Polyptoton

Repetition of the words with the same root.

Rhetorical question

Questioning without expecting the answer.

Simile

Direct comparison.

Synecdoche

Generalization or specification based on a definite part/trait of the object.

Tautology

Saying the same thing twice in different ways.

Zeugma (or Syllepsis)

Applying a word to a few other words in the sentence in order to give different meaning.