Idioms Some of the most commonly used idioms include:

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Cory Long
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Didacticism Charles Dickens frequently sought to educate readers on the conditions the poor faced to raise sympathy for those less fortunate.

1 Didacticism Charles Dickens frequently sought to educate readers on the conditions the poor faced to raise sympathy for those less fortunate. Such is the case in Oliver Twist: So they established the rule that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they) of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this view, they contracted with the waterworks to lay on an unlimited supply of water, and with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal, and issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week and half a roll on Sundays. Idioms Some of the most commonly used idioms include: A penny for your thoughts. Back to the drawing board. Add insult to injury. Beat around the bush. Don t judge a book by its cover. Curiosity killed the cat. Don t cry over spilt milk. Don t put all your eggs in one basket. Feeling under the weather. It was a piece of cake. Make a long story short. See eye-to-eye. Taste of one s own medicine. The last straw. Your guess is as good as mine. Metonymy Other stories include Aesop s fables, which each contain a moral as to how one should behave. Meiosis Calling the period of violence in Northern Ireland The Troubles or referring to the Civil War as Our recent unpleasantness are both examples of meiosis. So is calling the Atlantic Ocean the pond. When people refer to celebrity life and culture as Hollywood or royalty as the crown, they are using metonymy (which is sometimes considered a specific form of synecdoche, or the whole ). Other examples include: Silicon Valley (the technology industry) The press (any media outlet) The Golden Arches (McDonald s) Romeo and Juliet s Mercutio employs the most famous meiosis of all time when he announces, as he dies from a mortal wound, I am hurt. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.

Top Three Epigraphs from Literature Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. G.K.

Charles Lamb (To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee) NOTICE Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons

2 Top Three Epigraphs from Literature Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. G.K. Chesterson (Coraline, Neil Gaimon) Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. Charles Lamb (To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee) NOTICE Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance. (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain) Trope Trope is a figure of speech in which the speaker or writer intends for the reader to see another meaning, other than the literal. It could be a word, a phrase, or an image used to create artistic effect. Trope is classified into several different types, including, but not limited to: allegory, irony, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, personification, pun, simile and synecdoche. For example, William Shakespeare opens Romeo and Juliet with the line: Two households, both alike in dignity suggesting the Capulets and Montagues are respectable families; however, the reader comes to understand the families are anything but noble. A trope is a writer s device that often plays into stereotypes and presumed expectations, refusing to embody any originality of thought. An archetype is a fundamental human motif that exists in universal myth. Lupita Nyong o

Anaphora Hypophora Anaphora is most common in speeches and literature, such as Robert Frost s poem Acquainted with the Night : I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. Hypophora is frequently evidenced through the character Daisy in The Great Gatsby: Why candles?

Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it. Epiphora Imagery John F.

Stephen King is considered a master of imagery, as evidenced from this excerpt from Salem s Lot: The house itself looked toward town.

3 Anaphora Hypophora Anaphora is most common in speeches and literature, such as Robert Frost s poem Acquainted with the Night : I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. Hypophora is frequently evidenced through the character Daisy in The Great Gatsby: Why candles? objected Daisy, frowning. She snapped them out with her fingers. In two weeks it ll be the longest day in the year. She looked at us all radiantly. Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it. Epiphora Imagery John F. Kennedy s speech, The Strategy for Peace demonstrates epiphora: The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want war. We do not now expect a war. Stephen King is considered a master of imagery, as evidenced from this excerpt from Salem s Lot: The house itself looked toward town. It was huge and rambling and sagging, its windows haphazardly boarded shut, giving it that sinister look of all old houses that have been empty for a long time. The paint had been weathered away, giving the house a uniform gray look. Windstorms had ripped many of the shingles off, and a heavy snowfall had punched in the west corner of the main roof, giving it a thumped, hunched look. A tattered no trespassing sign was nailed to the right-hand newel post.

Malapropism Satire Malapropisms are sometimes called acyrologia, or Dogberryisms, based on a character is Shakespeare s play Much Ado About Nothing.

Supposively/supposably (supposedly), Dan works nights as a waiter to make ends meet. For all intensive (intents and) purposes.

4 Malapropism Satire Malapropisms are sometimes called acyrologia, or Dogberryisms, based on a character is Shakespeare s play Much Ado About Nothing. They are often funny: You shouldn t take anything for granite (granted). He hits from both sides of the plate. He s amphibious (ambidextrous). Supposively/supposably (supposedly), Dan works nights as a waiter to make ends meet. For all intensive (intents and) purposes. I could of/would of/should of (could have/would have/should have) studied for the vocabulary test. but practiced the piccolo instead. When an author uses exaggeration, irony or humor to criticize a person or society, satire is present. It often points out the foolishness of a group or idea. In Jonathan Swift s A Modest Proposal, he proposes that all children should be eaten to deal with London s overcrowding situation. In Mark Twain s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author satirizes religious hypocrisy: There weren t anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there weren t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it s cool. If you notice, most folks don t go to church only when they ve got to; but a hog is different. Paradox A paradox is used to challenge the mind and make the reader think in a new way: You can save money by spending it. The second sentence is false. The first sentence is true. I know one thing is true: that I know nothing at all. War is peace George Orwell I must be cruel to be kind William Shakespeare in Hamlet

Zeugma A figure of speech applied to multiple parts of the sentence: She opened her door, and her

Asyndeton The concept of omitting conjunctions for effect. For example: Read, write, learn.

She stole the show and my wallet. On the farm, I grew potatoes, and bored.

nick of time. At the speed of light. Lost track of time. I was frightened to death.

Although many allegories are religious in nature (i.e. The Old Man and the Sea, The Chronicles of Narnia), that is not always the case.

Manor Farm is symbolic of Russia. The plot parallels the Russian Revolution of 1917.

5 Zeugma A figure of speech applied to multiple parts of the sentence: She opened her door, and her heart, to the orphan. She killed time, and the mailman. Asyndeton The concept of omitting conjunctions for effect. For example: Read, write, learn. Reduce, reuse, recycle. His boat, and his dreams, sank. He milked the situation, and the cow. She stole the show and my wallet. On the farm, I grew potatoes, and bored. Allegory Cliché A term or phrase that has been used so often, it no longer holds meaning: In the nick of time. At the speed of light. Lost track of time. I was frightened to death. I fell head over heels for my college boyfriend. This is the quiet before the storm. Although many allegories are religious in nature (i.e. The Old Man and the Sea, The Chronicles of Narnia), that is not always the case. Two other examples include: In George Orwell s Animal Farm, animalism represents communism, and the Manor Farm is symbolic of Russia. The plot parallels the Russian Revolution of In Plato s Allegory of the Cave, the speaker suggests two worlds, one of education and awareness (outside the cave/the light) and one of obliviousness and submission (inside the cave/the dark)

Literary Devices. Assembled by Mrs. Fireman Updated 2017

Literary Devices. Assembled by Mrs. Fireman Updated 2017 Literary Devices Assembled by Mrs. Fireman Updated 2017 allegory a story or poem in which characters, settings and events stand for other people, events, or abstract ideas alliteration at least two repetitions