Literary Devices: Terms You Should Know

Alliteration: When the beginning of two or more words have the same sound. E.g. many things/ like movies

Allusion: A metaphor. E.g. We dye our hearts

Figurative Language: Language that contains words that are used in their non-literal senses. E.g. similes

Free Verse: A verse that doesn't follow a metrical pattern. E.g. Tell me what songs you listen to by yourself at 2 am

Hyperbole: Intentional exaggeration. E.g. he took away her sun, her light, her everything.

Imagery: Figurative description or illustration. E.g. sitting in your bed, the laptop on your lap, screen dimly lighting up your face.

Lyric: Having form and musical quality. E.g. more like tsunami tides/ in my eyes

Metaphor: A way of describing someone or something by comparison without using "as" or "like". E.g. My mind would be at civil war.

Mood: A distinctive emotional quality. E.g. 2am is for the poets who can't sleep because their minds are alive with words for someone who's not there.

Onomatopoeia: A word or phrase that describes the sound of something. E.g. roar of the wind

Oxymoron: A word or sentence or phrase that contains two contradicting ideas/phrases. E.g. A brilliant idiot

Paradox: A statement that's contradicting itself and is weird but could be true. E.g. I hate the way I don't hate you.

Personification: Giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or attributes. E.g. My mind would be at civil war.

Repetition: Repeating words, phrases, verses... E.g. I fall in love so many times/ I fall in love with a book, or a film

Rhyme Scheme: A rhyme pattern used in a poem. E.g. the way you cut your hair/ I hate the way you drive my car/ I hate it when you stare

Simile: A metaphor that uses as or like. E.g. swift as a coursing river

Stanza: A verse in music is equal to a stanza in poetry. E.g. If gloomy thoughts were rifle shots

Symbol: Something used in the place of something else as a representative. E.g. I want the ink to spill from your tongue.

Tone: Stress of voice on syllables of a word. E.g. We dye our hair/ beautiful blonde to say look what I can do

Understatement: When something is said as less serious than it is. E.g. Life is first borea