1. alliteration
Definition: the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of an English language phrase.
Examples: \will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character\King, Jr.
\— that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth\ 2. assonance
Definition: The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance serves as one of the building blocks of verse. Examples:
\field, winding hither and thither through the weeds, dragging their long tails amid the rattling canisters.\
(James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916)
\(Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm, 1977)
3. consonance
Definition: Broadly, the repetition of consonant sounds; more specifically, the repetition of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words. Examples:
‘T was later when the summer went Than when the cricket came,
And yet we knew that gentle clock Meant nought but going home.
‘T was sooner when the cricket went Than when the winter came, Yet that pathetic pendulum Keeps esoteric time.
(Emily Dickinson, \
4. onomatopoeia Definition:
Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing, which it
describes. It creates a sound effect that makes the thing described, making the idea more expressive and interesting.
Examples:
The buzzing bee flew away.
The sack fell into the river with a splash.
The books fell on the table with a loud thump. He looked at the roaring sky.
The rustling leaves kept me awake.
a group of words reflecting different sounds of water are; bloop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip etc.
Similarly, words like growl, giggle, grunt, murmur, blurt, chatter etc. denote different kinds of human voices.
Moreover, we can identify a group of words related to different sounds of wind, such as; swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whisper etc.
5. simile
Definition: A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of words ―like‖ or ―as‖. Therefore, it is direct comparison. Examples:
1. Written by Joseph Conrad,
―I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.‖
2. In her novel ―To the Lighthouse‖, Virginia Woolf compares the velocity of her thoughts about the two men with that of spoken words.
―. . . impressions poured in upon her of those two men, and to follow her thought was like following a voice which speaks too quickly to be taken down by one‘s pencil . . .‖
3. Robert Burns uses a simile to describe beauty of his beloved. ―O my Luve‘s like a red, red rose That‘s newly sprung in June; O my Luve‘s like the melodie That‘s sweetly played in tune.‖
6. metaphor
Definition: Metaphor is a figure of speech makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made on a single or some common characteristics. Examples:
1. ―She is all states, and all princes, I.‖
John Donne , a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of metaphors
throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work ―The Sun Rising,‖ the speaker scolds the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most evocative metaphors in literature, he explains ―she is all states, and all princes, I.‖ This line demonstrates the speaker‘s belief that he and his beloved are richer than all states, kingdoms, and rulers in the entire world because of the love that they share.
2. ―Shall I Compare Thee to a summer‘s Day‖,
William Shakespeare was the best exponent of the use of metaphors. His poetical works and dramas all make wide-ranging use of metaphors.
―Sonnet 18,‖also known as ―Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer‘s Day,‖ is an extended metaphor between the love of the speaker and the fairness of the summer season. He writes that ―thy eternal summer,‖ here taken to mean the love of the subject, ―shall not fade.‖
3. ―Before high-pil‘d books, in charact‘ry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain,‖
The great Romantic poet John Keats suffered great losses in his life – the death of his father in an accident, and of his mother and brother with the tuberculosis.
When he began displaying signs of tuberculosis himself at the age of 22, he wrote ―When I Have Fears,‖ a poem rich with metaphors concerning life and death. In the line ―before high-pil‘d books, in charact‘ry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain‖, he employs a double-metaphor. Writing poetry is implicitly compared with reaping and sowing, and both these acts represent the emptiness of a life unfulfilled creatively.
7. metonymy
Definition: It is a figure of speech that takes the place of the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated
Examples:
England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.) The suits were at meeting. (The suits stand for businesspersons.)
Pen is mightier than sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
The Oval Office was busy in work. (―The Oval Office‖ is metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)
1. The given lines are from Shakespeare‘s ―Julies Caesar‖ Act I. ―Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.‖
Mark Anthony uses ―ears‖ to say that he wants the people present there to listen to him attentively. It is metonymy because the word ―ears‖ replaces the concept of attention. 2. This line is from Margaret Mitchell‘s novel ―Gone with the Wind‖.
―I‘m mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it secedes or it would have ruined the Christmas parties.‖
Scarlett uses ―Georgia‖ to point out everything that makes up the state: citizens, politician, government etc. It is a metonymy extremely common in the modern world, where a name of a country or state refers to a whole nation and its government. Thus, it renders brevity to the ideas.
3. These lines are taken from ―Out, Out‖ by Robert Frost. ―As he swung toward them holding up the hand Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling‖
In these lines, the expression ―The life from spilling‖ is a metonymy that refers to spilling of blood. It develops a link between life and blood. The loss of too much blood means loss of life. 4. These lines are from the poem ―Yet Do I Marvel‖. ―The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirror Him must someday die,‖
Countee Cullen uses ―flesh‖ to represent human and questions God why we have to die when we are created in His likeness.
8.synaesthesia
Definition: a technique adopted by writers to present ideas, characters or places in such a manner that they appeal to more than one senses like hearing, seeing, smell etc. at the same. Examples:
1. Dante makes use of synesthesia in his poem ―The Devine Comedy‖. In the first canto, the poet tells us about ―Inferno‖ where he was sent. He says, ―Back to the region where the sun is silent.‖ Here, poet binds the sense of sight with the sense of hearing. By using the phrase ―the sun is silent‖, he declares that the sun is there but it does not provide any warmth or comfort. This description gives us an idea that the place he is driven to is dreadfully frightening. 2. We notice synesthetic imageries in John Keats ―Ode to a Nightingale‖: ―Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provencal song, and sun burnt mirth!‖
In the above, Keats associates visual sensations with the sense of taste. In the same poem, he further states:
―In some melodious plot, Of beechen green,
Singest of summer in full throated ease.‖
Keats associates the act of melodious singing with a plot covered with green beechen trees and thus associates visuals with the sense of hearing.
3. We see Shakespeare employing synesthetic device in play ―King Lear‖ Act 2, Scene 2: ―Thou art a lady: if only to go warm were gorgeous, Why nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear‘st, Which scarcely keeps thee warm.‖
In the above extract, Lear makes fun of his daughter ―Goneril‖ for wearing revealing attire. He associates the word ―warm‖ with ―gorgeous‖ which is an attempt to blend the sense of touch with the sense of sight.
9. antonomasia Definition:
a substitution of any epithet or phrase for a proper name, such as \I. The reverse process is also sometimes called antonomasia. Examples:
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