Literary Devices

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds especially of the initial consonant

Alliteration

The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way.

Anaphora

The repetition of the same word

Anaphora

This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty,

this seat of Mars

Apostrophe

Address to someone or something not present

Apostrophe

Oh ancestors, what would you say about this matter?

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions

Asyndeton

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Chiasmus

ABBA word order

Chiasmus

It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling.

Enjambment

Delay of the final word or phrase of a sentence to the beginning of the

following line

Enjambment

I think I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.

Hyperbaton

Words that naturally belong to one another are separated for emphasis

or effect

Hyperbaton

Alone he walked on the cold, lonely roads.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration, emphatic overstatement

Hyperbole

Waves high as mountains broke over the reef.

Litotes

Deliberate understatement

Litotes

Jackie Robinsons breaking of baseball’s color barrier was no small

accomplishment.

Metaphor

A comparison in which one thing is said to be another

Metaphor

Henry was a lion on the battlefield.

Metonymy

One word closely related to another used to suggest the other word

Metonymy

The Crown had absolute power in the Middle Ages.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe

Onomatopoeia

The burning crackled and hissed; now and again an owl hooted somewhere

in the darkness.

Personification

Giving human qualities to animals or objects

Personification

Love enfolded us in her arms.

Polysyndeton

Use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some

may be excessive

Polysyndeton

Marge and Susan and Anne and Daisy and Barry all planned to go for a

picnic.

Simile

Figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things

using like, as, or as though

Simile

He is like a mouse in front of the teacher.

Synchesis

Interlocked word order, ABAB

Synchesis

I run and shoot, fast and accurate.

Tmesis

Separation of one word into two parts (in Latin this is always the

separation of a compound word)

Tmesis

He shall be punished, what man so ever offended.