Language devices Flashcards
(26 cards)
Imagery
Very descriptive writing that uses the language of the senses.
Example: The eerie silence was shattered by her scream.
Symbolism
When an object takes on a deeper meaning.
Example: Symbols of love can be cupid or a heart.
Simile
A direct comparison of two UNLIKE items using LIKE or AS. Example: As easy as pie.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which things are compared by stating that one thing IS another.
Example: Time is money.
Personification
When human characteristics are given to non-living objects or animals.
Example: The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
Hyperbole
Great exaggeration.
Example: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
Alliteration
Repetition of words with the same beginning sounds. Example: Becky’s beagle barked and bayed, becoming bothersome for Billy.
Repetition
Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis
Example: I can’t read/I can’t write/ I can’t spell
Line breaks
Where the poet chooses to end one line and begin another, especially used in free verse.
Example: We real cool. We/Left school.
End Rhyme
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line.
Example: We real cool. We left school.
internal Rhyme
A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line.
Example: He wouldn’t quit, this boxer spit more rhymes than Chaucer.
Rhetorical question
A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.
Example: Why don’t I ever get what I want?
What is consonance?
Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words near each other.
Example: The silken, sad, uncertain sound.
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words near each other.
Example: I stop a lot on the bobbing water.
Allusion
A reference to another work of literature, person, or event
Example: Michael Jordan couldn’t have blocked that shot that day.
stanza
A group of lines in a poem
Meter
A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
Verbal irony
In this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s true meaning
Dramatic irony
(Theater) irony occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience, but not by the characters in the play.
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates the sound it represents.
Direct chracterisation
When the author makes statements about a character’s personality directly to the reader
Foreshadowing
The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot
Hypophora
A figure of speech in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the question
Indirect characterisation
The character’s personality is revealed through that character’s thoughts, words, or interactions with others
