Figure Of Speech English

All Grades For Any Test or Exam, Figure of speech, Poetic Devices , Literary Terms 

Figure of speech 

Figure Of Speech 

1- SIMILE- Simile is a figure of speech in which two different objects/things are compared together,at least one quality should be same in both.('just as' 'as','such as',  'as' 'like' 'similarly' ) are used to show the comparison.

 For eg.

1-Life is like a box of chocolates.    

2- She is like a rose.                        

3. He is as blind as bat.                  

4- as brave as a lion.                       

5- wan pale as late winter's moon.   

6- Her face ashen like that of a corpse.                                             

7- seems as big as doom.                

8- spectacles like bottle bits on stone

2- METAPHOR-

Definition-Metaphor is an implied simile or a hidden comparison.The likeness is embodied in a single word.Here the two dissimilar objects are identified as one.without using as,so, like,

For example.                         

1-Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India.                                               

2- Love is battlefield.                   

3-The camel is the ship of desert.   

4- He is the star of the family.           

5- The lion is the king of the forest. 

6- Squrrel's game 8- rat's eyes.       

7- Father's gnarled disease.            

8- future's painted with fog.     

9-weight wedding band.                

10- My life is an open book.           

11- Laughter is the music of soul.  

13-The  world is a stage.

3- PERSONIFICATION-      Definition-  personification is" giving human characteristics to non-human things / abstract.Here lifeless objects or abstract ideas are treated as if they are living beings.

A very common example of personification is " Love is blind". Here Love has been seen as a living human beings, who has no ability to see.

1- Anxiety is sitting on her face.       

2- Experience is the best teacher.   

3-Jealousy is green- eyed monster. 

4-Truth sits upon the lips of dying man.                                                

5-I am poem of the Earth.          

6-The earth can teach us.         

7-Aunt Jennifer's Tigers.                

8- Trees sprinting.                           

9- The rain replies to the poet.       

10- The thunder roared in the evening sky.                                    

11- Leaves dancing across the lawns.

4- ALLITERATION-Definition- *Alliteration is the repetition of a sound or a letter at the beginning of multiple words in series.

*Use of same consonant at the beginning of each word.

* Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

1- It's silence silences.                    

2- terribly transient feet.            

3-stood still to smile.                        

4- My mother beside me.                 

5- fingers fluttering.              

6-prancing proud.                        

7-his hurt hand.                  

8-sudden strangeness.                    

9- war with fire war with gas.          

10- cooling covert.

5- HYPERBOLE- Definition-It is figure of speech of exaggeration or over statement in order to lay high emphasis on the statement.Here things are represented as greater or lesser, better or worse than what they really are.

1- The rivers of blood flowed in the battlefield.

2- She wept oceans of tears.

3-The waves rose mountain high.

4-The man in the cave had the strength of a thousand elephant.

5-Why, man,if the rivers were dry,I am able to fill them with tears.

She laments, the whole world lament with her.

6-OXYMORON- CONTRAST

Definition-It is a figure of speech in which two contradictory words or expressions are put together in a statement which are opposite in meaning and yet they are seemingly true and beautiful.

For example 

1-She is my sweetest enemy.

2- He is an innocent criminal.

3- Some students are regularly irregulars.

4-This is an open secret.

5-Life is bitter sweet.

6-I have sweet pain in my stomach.

7- APOSTROPHE-

Definition- It is a figure of speech by which poet addresses a dead person or a personified idea or object.The absent, the inanimate and the abstract is addressed as if they are present, living and conscious.or

*Addressing someone absent,dead or non- human as if that person or thing were present.

For example. When the poet says; 

O death! Where is thy sting'? 

O graves! Where is thy victory?

1-O World! O Life! O Time!

2- O Solitude! Where are thy charm.

3-'" O Nature thou are my goddess"

4-" Blow Wind Blow!"

5- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky.

(By Jane Taylor -1806)

8- ASSONANCE-

Definition- Assonance is the repetition of similar vowels in successive words or diphthong sound in one or more words/ syllables.

For eg.

1-Men sell bedding bells.

M- e -n, s-e-ll. b-e-dding,b-e-ll.

2-Amme actually arrived on time.

3-Optimism offers opportunities.

4-In summer icecream is incredible irresistible.

9- REPETITION-

Definition- The action of repeating something that has already been written or said.

When words or phrases are repeated in literary works.It is used in poetry,song and to create rhythm.

Eg.1- smile, smile and smile

2-war with gas war with fire

3- without rush without engine

4-"Oh ,woeful, Oh woeful and woeful day.    By William Shakespeare R.J.

 5-"And miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep." 

By Robert Frost ( Stoping by wood by snowing evening"

 6- time after time, over and over

Heart to heart,, hour to hour,,

Boys will be boys,

10-Paradox- paradox is a statement,which contradicts itself.

Both must be true and untrue at the same time.

For Eg.1- He is a wise fool.

2-It is the beginning of the end.

3- Less is more.

4-The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

5-Earn money by spending it.

6- The more you give the more you get.

11.-Synecdoche-  Synecdoche is a statement in which only part of something refers  to the whole or the whole is expressed to one part.

1-Ask for her hand (part) marriage

2-Plz check my wheels ( part) -car

3- There are hired hands in factory. (Part) workers

4- The boots on the ground ( part) soldiers.

- The hundred heads of cattle ( part animals) (whole)

 2. I have many mouths to feed.(part)

*The whole is used the part is understood.

3-Australia won the match

12-Anaphora- when a word is repeated multiple times within a phrase that part is known as Anaphora.

For Eg.Every morning,, every afternoon and every evening I walk by a lake.

2-He had one apple,one Banana and one pear.

3-My life is happy, my life is simple and my life is complete.

13-Antithesis:  Antithesis is a contrast 

   in which one word or Idea is set against another in order to

heighten the effect of what is said

1 United we stand, divided we fall

2. Mon proposes. God disposes

14-Allegory:  An allegory is a literary composition of poem and a story in which the Characters , places and event have  symbolic                                                                                  significance.character and events are used to convey the message. The real Characters are not introduced and represented in other form.

Foe eg. 1-George Orwell" Animal Farm"animal runs a family. 

2-Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene. The Faerie Queene  represents Glory and queen 

The Red cross Knight represents Virtue and holiness

Una represents truth.

15--Ballad : A ballad is a song that narrates a story.It has short stanzas. The language is simple.

and the story is told through dialogue and action.It is a folk song and little epic.

For Eg.1-" La Belle Dame Sans Merci' by John Keats

    2-" During Wind and Rain" by Thomas Hardy

3-"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by S.T. Coleridge.

16-Transferred Epithets- A transferred Epithets is that when an adjective is usually used to describe one thing, and it transferred to another. An epithet is a word or phrase which describes the quality of someone.

For Eg. Happy Birthday. 

Who is happy, if birthday. No, the person whose birthday is there

2- It is a boring day.

3- I passed a sleepless nights.

17.Comedy : A comedy deals with the light side of life. It's main aim is to create entertainment and laughter to audience.In essence it is           mirthful and  humurous .comedy is a play of happy ending.

The TEMPEST By W. Shakespeare.

Twelfth Night by W. Shakespeare.

18-Parable : A parable is a story  which is designed to teach a moral lesson.                                                                      

19.Satire : It is a literary work in which the writer ridicules the human

vices and follies.

20-Sonnet : It is a poem of fourteen iambic Pentameter lines limited to the exposition of a single

idea. The subject matter may be reflective or patriotic.

1-Shakespearean sonnet .

2-Spenseian Sonnet

2-Miltonic sonnet

21.Irony. It is a statement whose intended meaning is contrary to the literal meaning.

It is a statement which contradicts the situation.

Eg.1-I don't believe it ever entered his wise head.

2- What a lovely weather, she said when it was raining.

22-Metonymy.It is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted for that of another to which it is in some way related.

# When a phrase is replaced with another which has a similar meaning,use to describe something.

1-The pen is mightier than sword.  2-My husband is considered a silver box

3-Crown stands for kingdom

4-Heart stands for love and feelings

Eg.3-, Sceptre for loyalty

       4- Red tape for offical routine.

24-Onomatopoeia- It is a figure of speech in which the sound of the words  give the sense.

Eg.1-The murmuring of innumerable bees.

2-My watch ticks loudly.

3- The door opened with bang.          4- I heard the water lapping on the crag.

Example- snake hissing , lion roaring, elephant trumpeting,birds chirping,etc.

25.Liotes- It is ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the Negative of its contray.

1- He is not coward.

2- He is not wise.

3- You are not bad.

26-Anticlimax:.   Anticlimax gives an   ineffective  end to anything that has suggested a climax.

eg. On the same day he lost his family, his fortune and his best suits of clothes.

27-Climax. It is the point of highest dramatic tension or a major turning point in an action ( as in the play)

  Epigram. An epigram is a brief saying in which is remarkable for its brevity and point.

Eg. 1.The child is father of the man.

        2.The highest art is to conceal art.

28.Alliteration. Alteration is the close repetition of the same sound in a line

of the same sound in a line.

Eg.The furrow followed free

29.Allusion. It is a figure of speech that makes a reference to some historical or literary figures or other works or event.

30.Lyric : A lyric is a poem of intense feelings such such as  that of love or victory. A lyric was originally

intended to be sung to the accompaniment of the

lyre.

31.Enjambment Enjambment occurs when a sentence in a poem continues beyond the end of a line without a pause, like from the first to the second line here. It creates a flowing, uninterrupted feeling that matches the ongoing drive and the narrator’s continuous thoughts, adding smoothness to the poem’s structure.

For example 

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills". 

2. “Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday”  

I LITERARY TERMS

11-Antithesis:  Antithesis is a contrast in 

  which one word or Idea is set against another in order to

heighten the effect of what is said

1 United we stand, divided we fall

2. Mon proposes. God disposes.