Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of
two or more stressed syllables.
A reference to something supposed to be
known,but not explicitly mentioned;
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek & he is mild;
He became a little child.
Antithesis:juxtaposition of
Contrasting Words or Ideas (Often,
Although
Not Always, in Parallel Structure).
Address of something not human or some
person not present.
Repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded
and followed by different consonants, in the
Ellipsis: Omission of a Word or
Short Phrase Easily Understood in
Context.
Robert Burns writes to one of many
women in his life:
So fair thou art, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I:
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
Exaggeration for poetic effect
Three Kinds of Irony:
1. Verbal Irony Is a Discrepancy
beween What Is Said or Written and
What Is Meant..
2. Dramatic Irony Occurs When an
Audience Perceives Something That a
Character in the Literature Does Not
Know.
3. Irony of Situation Is a Discrepancy
Between the Expected Result and
Actual Results
Verbal Irony: a Discrepancy Between
What Is Said or Written and What Is
Meant
To: All English faculty
From: Department Chair
Subject: Big Words
I have received another complaint from a
student. The student says her teacher uses
big words. I was sympathetic. I told her that college teachers
sometimes use big words. I told her college students sometimes try to
learn big words. She was not convinced. She was not satisfied. That
is not good. Walt Disney teaches us that the customer is always right.
We should do what Walt Disney tells us. That is why I ask that you not
use big words. Thank you for not using big words.
Dramatic Irony Occurs When an
Audience Perceives Something That a
Character in the Literature Does Not
Know
In the Greek drama
Oedipus Rex, the
audience is aware that
Oedipus has killed his
father and married his mother long before he
is aware of this situation.
irony of situation is a discrepancy
between the expected result and
actual results
In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” the
protagonist is expected to fall apart when she
hears of her husband’s death in a train accident,
but instead she experiences joy. When her
husband walks in the door, instead of being
delighted as observers might expect, she drops
dead.
Litotes:deliberate Understatement,
Especially When Expressing a
Thought by Denying Its Contradictory
Metonymy:reference to
Something or Someone by
Naming One of Its
Attributes.
The pen is mightier than the sword
ONOMATOPOEIA
a word that imitates the sound
it represents
hiss
Parallelism:similarity of
Structure in a Pair or Series of
Related Words,
Phrases, or Clauses.
An implied Rather than direct comparison.
The wind sweeps the clouds.
Jumbo Shrimp
a statement that seems to be
self-contradictory but which is
actually true
Shame is Pride’s Cloak!
William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell”
Items from different classes are explicitly
compared by a connective such as like, as,
or than, or by a verb such as
appears or seems.
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
... Poe
A figure of speech in which a part is used for
the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for
a part (as the law for police officer
Giving one’s hand
in marriage