STYLISTIC DEVICES
Simile : An explicit comparison between two things which are basically quite different
using words such as like or as.
Metaphor: A comparison between two things which are basically quite different
without using like or as. While a simile only says that one thing is like another, a
metaphor says that one thing is another. (adj. metaphorical)
Personification: A kind of metaphor in which animals, plants, inanimate (leblos)
objects or abstract ideas are represented as if they were human beings and possessed
human qualities.
Synecdoche : A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole or
where the whole stands for a part.
Symbol: Something concrete (like a person, object, image, word or event) that stands
for something abstract or invisible.
Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of
neighbouring words.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Assonance: The repetition of the same vowel sound.
"It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!"
Metre: A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within a line of a poem.
Onomatopoeia: The use of words which imitate the sound they refer to. (adj.
onomatopoeic )
Rhyme: The use of words which end with the same sounds, usually at the end of
lines.Tiger! Tiger! burning bright / In the forests of the night.
Anaphora: The repetition of a word or several words at the beginning of successive
lines, clauses or sentences.
"To raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it
takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who
protect our health and safety.”
Simile : An explicit comparison between two things which are basically quite different
using words such as like or as.
Metaphor: A comparison between two things which are basically quite different
without using like or as. While a simile only says that one thing is like another, a
metaphor says that one thing is another. (adj. metaphorical)
Personification: A kind of metaphor in which animals, plants, inanimate (leblos)
objects or abstract ideas are represented as if they were human beings and possessed
human qualities.
Synecdoche : A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole or
where the whole stands for a part.
Symbol: Something concrete (like a person, object, image, word or event) that stands
for something abstract or invisible.
Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of
neighbouring words.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Assonance: The repetition of the same vowel sound.
"It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!"
Metre: A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within a line of a poem.
Onomatopoeia: The use of words which imitate the sound they refer to. (adj.
onomatopoeic )
Rhyme: The use of words which end with the same sounds, usually at the end of
lines.Tiger! Tiger! burning bright / In the forests of the night.
Anaphora: The repetition of a word or several words at the beginning of successive
lines, clauses or sentences.
"To raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it
takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who
protect our health and safety.”
