college comp literary devices

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

double entendre

a statement that has two meanings, one of which is dirty or vulgar

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

Understatement

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Bildungsroman

a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education.

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

cliche

a worn-out idea or overused expression

Ekphrastic

A poem inspired by a work of visual art.

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.

cacophony

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

Archetype

a very typical example of a certain person or thing

Aposiopesis

stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished

spoonerism

An often comical switching of the first sounds of two or more words

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Tricolon

Sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses.

Climax

Most exciting moment of the story; turning point

Tmesis

Intentionally breaking a word into two parts for emphasis

Anastrophe

Inversion of the natural or usual word order

Litotes

A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Asyndeton

omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Hyperbole

exaggeration

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it

Analogy

A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

Allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Chiasmus

A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed

Hendiadys

use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea.

Polysendeton

the use of repeated conjunctions between words or clauses in a sentence to emphasize what's being said