Literary Device ChartFigurative

DeviceDefinition Examples

Simile A comparison of one thing to another, using the words like or as.

He is as fast as a leopard.

He is as slow as molasses.

She is like a rabbit.

Metaphor An implied comparison in which one thing represents another thing.

She was fairly certain that life was a fashion show.

He drowns in a sea of grief. (represents tears)

Mike is a teddy bear.

Personification A figure of speech in which human qualities are given to something nonhuman.

The stars in the clear night sky winked at me.

The car danced on the icy road

The moon smiled upon the river.

The flowers begged for water.

Onomatopoeia A word which imitates a natural sound. I jumped and splashed into the sea.

Miaow chirp The buzzing

bee flew

away.

Oxymoron A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms are placed together.

Cruel kindness

Working holiday

passive aggressive

living dead Hyperbole An exaggerated statement that is not to be taken

literally. These shoes

take 50 million years to put on!

My shoes are killing me.

I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse.

I'm so tired, I could die.

Repetition Using the same word or phrase more than once to emphasize a point

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado; Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California (“I Have a Dream” speech by MLK)

Pun A “play” on words: double-meaning Do you validate?

The name of a glasses store: For Eyes

Cacophony Words that are harsh and unpleasant to the ear put together in a sentence

Dishes crashing on the floor

Horns blaring in a traffic jam

Alliteration The same letter or sound repeated at the beginning of words placed close together

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

A big black bug bit a big black dog

Assonance Repetition of VOWEL sounds within words that are close together

Up in the sky there flies a great spy plane.

Allegory

Rhyme The repetition of sounds -End rhyme- the last word on each line rhymes.

My Beardby Shel SilversteinMy beard grows to my toes,I never wears no clothes,I wraps my hair Around my bare,And down the road I goes.

Euphony

Sarcasm Saying the opposite of what you really mean You don’t say!

Tell me something I don’t know!

Yeah, because THAT’S never happened!

Allusion A reference either directly or indirectly to a well known literature or a person or event in history. Often used in metaphor or simile

He acted like a Scrooge whenever he went to the market

I’m surprised that his nose didn’t grow like a Pinocchio when he said that.

Irony: 3 types“Irony is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning.” (https://www.thoughtco.com/irony-figure-of-speech-1691196)

Dramatic: the audience or the reader knows what is going to happen in the plot, but characters in the story don’t know what is going to happenVerbal: What you say is not what you really mean I say, “You

look great today!” (Actually, I think you look awful!)

Situational: What happens is opposite to the expected outcome

The story of the Goose and the Golden Egg

The sign that says: “We are committed to excellence.”

Source: literarydevices.net