Fundamental concepts on figures of speech

1. Figures of Speech
Basics

2. Oxymoron
The combination of two words that
contradict each other.Eg: Bitter
sweet,Faithful enemy

3. Paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement that
may nonetheless be true

4. Simile
A figure of speech involving a comparison
between unlike things using like, as, or as
though.

5. Iamb
A metrical foot or a a unit of rhythm in
poetry that consists of one syllable that is
unstressed followed by one syllable that is
stressed.

6. Pentameter
A line of verse in poetry that has five
stressed syllables in each line.Iambic
pentameter is a commonly used type of
metrical line in traditional verse and verse
drama.

7. Metaphor
The comparison between essentially unlike
things without using words ,applications
of name or descriptions to something to
which it is not literally applicable.Eg:She is
the star of our school

8. Pun
Play on word or humorous use of sigle
word or sound with two or more implied
meanings

9. Imagery
A word or sequence of words
representing a sensory experience

10. Onomatopoeia
The use words to imitate the sounds they
describe.

11. Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sound
particularly at the beginning of word

12. Allusion
A reference to the person or work outside
the poem or literary piece

13. Allegory
The representation of abstract ideas or
principles by concrete or material forms
through figurative treatment of one subject
under the guise of another.

14. Couplet
A pair of lines ,usually rhymed

15. Sonnet
A 14 line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed
rhyme scheme .The rhyming scheme of Shakespearean
or English sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg and the
Petrarchan or Italian sonnet is abba abba cde cde or
abba abba cd cd cd.

16. Rhyme scheme
the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends
of the lines of a poem or verse.

17. Italian (or Petrarchan)
sonnet
A form of sonnet popularised by Petrarch
with the following rhyming scheme
:abbaabba cdecde cdcdcd

18. Ballard
A narrative poem written in four line
stanza,characterised by swift action and
narrated in a direct style.

19. Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or
the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general
for the special.
An example: "Lend me a hand." , “a ten sail”, instead of
saying ten ships

20. Elegy
Elegy :A lyric poem that laments the dead.
A more explicitly identified elegy is W.H.
Auden's "In Memory of William Butler
Yeats" and his "Funeral Blues.

21. Epic
A long narrative poem that records the adventures of
a hero. Epics typically chronicle the origins of a
civilization and embody its central values. Examples
from western literature include Homer's Iliad and
Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Milton's Paradise Lost.

22. Hyperbole
This is the use of exaggeration to evoke
strong feelings or impression. John Donne
uses hyperbole in his poem: "Song: Go
and Catch a Falling Star.

23. Irony
The use of words to convey a meaning that
is often opposite to their literal meaning;
typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

24. Quatrain
Four line stanza or grouping of four lines
of verse