Literary device category
Figures of Speech
Figures of speech create meaning through comparison, substitution, emphasis, and imaginative uses of language.
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- AnalogyLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechAn analogy develops a comparison to explain how an unfamiliar or complex subject works. Map the relevant relationship between the two domains and recognize where the comparison stops being useful.
- AnthropomorphismLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechAnthropomorphism makes a nonhuman entity function significantly like a human—for example by speaking, governing, dressing, or participating in human society. Treat the boundary with Personification as a matter of degree rather than an absolute rule.
- ApostropheLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechIn apostrophe, a speaker talks to someone or something that cannot ordinarily answer in the scene. The address can make emotion immediate and can reveal how the speaker regards the addressee.
- CircumlocutionLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechCircumlocution takes an indirect verbal route instead of stating something simply. In this project it emphasizes avoidance, tact, evasion, or difficulty reaching the point, while acknowledging substantial overlap with Periphrasis.
- ConceitLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA conceit develops a comparison beyond a single quick image. The writer explores several implications of an unusual connection, inviting readers to follow its logic as well as its imagery.
- EpithetLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechAn epithet is a descriptive label or qualifying phrase attached to a person, place, or thing, often repeatedly. Identify the trait the label selects and how that naming shapes reputation, tone, or characterization.
- EuphemismLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA euphemism replaces a direct or uncomfortable expression with milder, less explicit wording. Analysis should consider both what is being softened and whether the wording shows tact, avoidance, manipulation, or institutional distance.
- HyperboleLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechHyperbole deliberately exaggerates beyond literal possibility or reasonable scale. The exaggeration signals intensity, humor, or attitude; readers should explain the real feeling or claim beneath it.
- ImageryLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechImagery uses language that appeals to the senses so readers can imagine an experience more concretely. It can evoke sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or a purposeful combination of senses.
- KenningsLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA kenning renames something through a compact compound or paired figurative phrase, often drawing on Germanic poetic tradition. Identify the ordinary referent and explain the compressed relationship between the kenning's parts.
- LitotesLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechLitotes communicates an idea by denying its opposite: not unkind suggests kind without stating it directly. Identify the negated opposite and compare the restrained expression with the stronger positive meaning it implies.
- MalapropismLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA malapropism substitutes the wrong word for an intended word because the two sound similar. Infer the intended word, then explain how the mistaken meaning changes the statement or characterizes the speaker.
- MetaphorLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA metaphor describes one thing as if it were another so that qualities of the second reshape how we understand the first. Readers should identify both sides of the comparison and explain what the transferred qualities contribute in context.
- MetonymyLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechMetonymy names something through a closely associated term, such as a place for an institution or an object for an office. Identify the substituted term and explain the cultural or contextual association that connects it to the intended referent.
- OxymoronLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechAn oxymoron places apparently contradictory words in a compact phrase, making readers hold both qualities together. The tension may name a complex experience rather than produce a logical error.
- Pathetic FallacyLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechPathetic fallacy makes weather, landscape, or another part of nature seem to feel a human emotion. Identify the environmental element, the emotion assigned to it, and how that attribution shapes the scene's atmosphere.
- PeriphrasisLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechPeriphrasis expresses a referent or idea through an expanded indirect phrase instead of a shorter ordinary term. In this project it emphasizes stylistically meaningful or descriptive renaming, while acknowledging substantial overlap with Circumlocution.
- PersonificationLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechPersonification presents a nonhuman thing as if it could act, feel, think, or communicate in a human way. The human attribution must shape how the subject is understood; vivid description alone is not enough.
- PunsLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechPuns exploit a word's multiple meanings or the similarity between different words to activate more than one interpretation. Identify both readings and explain whether the wordplay creates humor, irony, emphasis, or thematic connection.
- Rhetorical QuestionLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA rhetorical question uses the form of a question to make readers consider a point. It may imply an answer, challenge an assumption, or express emotion, although someone could still choose to answer it.
- SimileLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechA simile helps readers understand or imagine one thing by comparing it openly with something different. Words such as like or as often signal the comparison, but they count only when they connect unlike things figuratively.
- SynecdocheLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechSynecdoche substitutes a part for a whole, a whole for a part, or sometimes a member for a larger class. Name both referents and show the structural part-whole or member-class relationship between them.
- SynesthesiaLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechLiterary synesthesia describes one sensory mode through language associated with another, such as a bright sound or a bitter color. Identify both senses and explain what the crossing contributes to the description.
- UnderstatementLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechUnderstatement deliberately presents something as less serious, intense, valuable, or difficult than context indicates. Compare the wording with the known reality and explain what the gap accomplishes.
- ZeugmaLiterary Device · Figures of SpeechIn zeugma, one word does grammatical work across two or more coordinated parts of a sentence. The relationship may be straightforward, but many familiar examples create wit or surprise because the governing word takes on a different sense with each part.