Figurative Language Terms

Sound

The combination of tones and noises that make up a word.

Connotation

What a word suggests beyond its literal meaning.

Denotation

The dictionary meaning of a word.

Figurative Language

Language that uses expressions not meant to be taken literally.

Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'.

Simile

A comparison of unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.

Personification

Giving human qualities to animals, objects, or concepts.

Apostrophe

Addressing someone absent or dead as if they were present.

Synecdoche

A part is substituted for a whole or vice versa.

Metonymy

Substituting a word with something closely related.

Symbol

Something that means more than what it is.

Allegory

A narrative that has a second meaning beneath the surface.

Paradox

An apparent contradiction that is somehow true.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for effect.

Understatement (Meiosis)

Deliberate downplay of a situation.

Pun

A play on words with similar sounds but different meanings.

Sarcasm

A form of verbal irony meant to mock or convey contempt.

Synesthesia

Describing one sense in terms of another.

Irony

A discrepancy between what is said and what is meant.

Allusion

A reference to a person, event, place, or work.

Tone

A speaker’s attitude toward the subject.

Juxtaposition

Placing dissimilar things side by side for comparison.

Speaker

Distinct from the author of the poem or text.

Colloquialism

Language that imitates informal speech.

Idiom

A phrase whose meaning is not predictable from the individual words.

Imagery

Vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses.

Malapropism

An incorrect use of a word, often used for comedic effect.

Conceit

A far-fetched comparison between two dissimilar things.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within words.

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sounds they represent.

Rhyme

Repetition of accented vowel sounds and all succeeding sounds.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem, often in iambic pentameter.

English Sonnet (Shakespearian)

Consists of three quatrains and a couplet; follows ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.

Italian Sonnet (Petrarchan)

Contains an octave and a sestet; follows ABBACDDC CDECDE rhyme scheme.

Ballad

A narrative poem with a simple, folksy style, often with a tragic theme.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Free Verse

Poetry that lacks a regular meter and rhyme scheme.

Heroic Couplet

Two lines of rhymed iambic pentameter.

Epic

A long, serious narrative poem about heroic deeds.

Lyric

A short, expressive poem often set to music.

Ode

A formal poem of exalted emotion celebrating someone or something.

Elegy

A poem of mourning for the dead or missing.

Prose Poem

A form of free verse that lacks the structure of poetry.

Dramatic Monologue

A poem in which a speaker addresses an audience or a character.

Diction

The author's choice of words.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines.

Anastrophe

Inversion of the normal word order.

Antithesis

Contrast between opposing ideas in a balanced structure.

Caesura

A natural break or pause in a line of poetry.

Enjambment

Poetry in which lines flow into one another without pause.

Chiasmus

A figure of speech where the structure of the first clause is reversed in the second.

Polysyndeton

The use of multiple conjunctions for effect.

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions.

Parallelism

The repetition of grammatical structures in successive phrases.

Periodic Sentence

A sentence where the main clause is withheld until the end.

Loose Sentence

A sentence where the main clause comes at the beginning.

In media res

Beginning a narrative in the middle of the action.

Ellipsis

Omitting words that are implied in a sentence.

Protagonist

The central character in a work of literature.

Antagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Anti-hero

A protagonist with qualities opposite to those of a traditional hero.

Archetype

Universal symbols that evoke deep responses in readers.

Climax (Turning Point)

The decisive moment that determines the outcome of a conflict.

Comedy

A piece of literature that typically ends well.

Tragedy

A serious drama that ends in catastrophe for the protagonist.

Deus ex machina

An unexpected intervention that resolves a conflict.

Hamartia

A hero's fatal flaw that leads to their downfall.

Hubris

Excessive pride that often leads to tragedy.

Motif

A recurring element that appears throughout a work.

Aside

A short speech to the audience that other characters cannot hear.

Catharsis

The emotional release experienced by the audience at the end of a tragedy.

Soliloquy

A speech where a character reveals their thoughts alone on stage.

Stock Character

A character relying on cultural stereotypes, instantly recognizable.

Recurring Symbolic situations

Descent into the underworld, call to the quest, damsel in distress who is saved from a monster and later marries her herioic, handsome, and rich savior

Recurring Themes

Pride, madness, blindness, forbidden love

Recurring characters

witches/crones, star-crossed lovers, mentor, mad scientist, underdog, female fatale, Oracle, stern father figure, nuturing mother figure, guilt-ridden figure in search of redmption

Symbolic Colors

green=life; blue=water, transquility; red=blood, death, anger

Recurring images

blood, water, rose, lion, snake, eagle, feast or banquet