Figurative Language: Schemes & Tropes

simile

An explicit comparison, often (but not necessarily) employing "like" or "as." My love is like a red, red rose —Robert Burns

anthropomorphism

Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena (eg. talking flowers in Thru the Looking Glass)

litotes

Deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite; understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable.

oxymoron

Placing two ordinarily opposing terms adjacent to one another. A compressed paradox, Examples: The Sounds of Silence, Festina lente (make haste slowly).

personification

Reference to abstractions or inanimate objects as though they had human qualities or abilities. The insatiable hunger for imagination preys upon human life —Samuel Johnson

metonymy

Reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes, Examples: The pen is mightier than the sword; We await word from the crown.

hyperbole

Rhetorical exaggeration. Hyperbole is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors, Example: I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

irony

Speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest. Example: O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this. -- Much Ado about Nothing (Shakespeare)

anthimeria

Substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used as a verb). Example: I've been Republicaned all I care to be this election year.

euphemism

The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.

parable

The explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose. A parable.

antanaclasis

The repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance. Examples: Your argument is sound...all sound. —Benjamin Franklin, "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." —Vince Lombardi

rhetorical question (erotesis)

The rhetorical question is usually defined as any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks. For example, "Why are you so stupid?" is likely to be a statement regarding one's opinion of the person addressed rather than a genuine request to know.

apostrophe

Turning one's speech from one audience to another. Most often, apostrophe occurs when one addresses oneself to an abstraction, to an inanimate object, or to the absent.

onomatopoeia

Using or inventing a word whose sound imitates that which it names (the union of phonetics and semantics). Example: The buzzing of innumerable bees.

syllepsis

When a single word that governs or modifies two or more others must be understood differently with respect to each of those words. A combination of grammatical parallelism and semantic incongruity, often with a witty or comical effect. Not to be confused with zeugma. Rend your heart, and not your garments. Joel 2:13 You held your breath and the door for me —Alanis Morissette "Fix the problem, not the blame." —Dave Weinbaum

meiosis

kind of litotes:a belittling of one thing to magnify another Eg: One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day

dysphemism

substitution of a derogatory or offensive word or phrase for an innocuous one

pun

the use of words or phrases to exploit ambiguities and innuendoes in their meaning, usually for humorous effect; a play on words // Using words that sound alike but that differ in meaning (A pun is its own reword).

synesthesia

when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another. Example: The sight of red ants makes you itchy. In literature, synesthesia refers to the practice of associating two or more different senses in the same image. Red Hot Chili Peppers' song title,"Taste the Pain," is an example. (Boris Pasternak: "I will lift it to my lips and listen"

metaphor

A comparison made by referring to one thing as another. Life is a beach. Who captains the ship of state?

auxesis

A figure of speech in which something is referred to in terms disproportionately large (a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole). Example: Look at this wound! (said of a scratch)

paradox

A statement that is self-contradictory on the surface, yet seems to evoke a truth nonetheless. Example: He who saves his life shall lose it.

allegory

A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. The most obvious use of allegory is work-length narratives such as Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

synecdoche (or synechdoche)

A whole is represented by naming one of its parts (genus named for species), or vice versa (species named for genus). Example: Listen, you've got to come take a look at my new set of wheels (One refers to a vehicle in terms of some of its parts, "wheels")