AP Spanish Literature Figuras Retóricas

aliteración

Alliteration is a stylistic literary device identified by the repeated sound of the first consonant in a series of multiple words.

Allen ate apples awkwardly.

hipérbole

A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point.

I literally died.

metáfora

A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two.

Freddie is a pig when he eats.

onomatopeya

the use of imitative and naturally suggestive words for rhetorical, dramatic, or poetic effect.

Boo!

personificación

Personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are given to animals, objects or ideas. It is the opposite of a metaphor but is very similar. In the arts, personification means representing a non-human thing as if it were human.

The fire ran wild.

símil

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid

I'm as brave as a lion

anáfora

Anaphora is the repetition of a certain word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines of writing or speech.

I have a dream that...

I have a dream that...

antítesis

Antithesis is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

apóstrofe

an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person that is not present.

Twinkle twinkle little star,

how I wonder what you are,

up above the world so high,

like a diamond in the sky.

circunlocución o perífrasis

Circumlocution is a long, complicated word which means a long, complicated way of expressing something. To cut to the chase, circumlocution means to beat around the bush.

The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight, like a ruled line, far, far away along a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist. The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam.

elipsis

...

enumeración

An enumeration is a complete, ordered listing of all the items in a collection.

Get eggs, rice, cheese, butter and milk please.

eufemismo

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Passed away in place of died

gradación

scale

first ____ then ____

hipérbaton

an inversion of the normal order of words, especially for the sake of emphasis, as in the sentence.

This I must see

asíndeton

the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

cacofonía

Refers to the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unmelodious sounds primarily those of consonants to achieve desired results.

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,an

And the mome raths outgrabe.

epíteto

An adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.

Sailing across the wine-dark sea to men.

metonimia

A figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

paradoja

A paradox is a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true.

I must be cruel to be kind.

polisíndeton

he use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some could otherwise be omitted

He ran and jumped and laughed for joy.

sinécdoque

a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something, or vice versa.

She organized her life around the little yellow ball. (tennis ball)

sinestesia

technique adopted by writers to present ideas, characters or places in such a manner that they appeal to more than one senses like hearing, seeing, smell etc. at a given time.

The word would fill her mind for a few minutes with a single color: not an unpleasant sensation but still an intrusion... Patriarch: Brown, she thought, a temple of a word, a shiny red brown, like the surface of a chestnut.

retruécano

A pun.

The two pianists had a good marriage. They always were in a chord.