English 11 rhetorical/literary devices

Metaphor

two or more different things/ideas are asserted to be the same by a direct comparison

simile

A definitively stated comparison of two or more different things/ideas using words like or as

Understandment

A statement that deliberately represents something as smaller/less intense or less important than it really is

Diction

A writer's intentional word choice intended to convey a particular effect

Rhetorical question

Questions that are asked for the purpose of directing listeners to a specific, simple response and are not meant to be answered

Rhetoric

The art of persuading through speaking or writing

Connotation

The emotional/inventive understanding of a word; the implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word. Words can have a (+) (N) (-) connotation

Imagery

The use of words to capture a sensory experience: slight = visual, sound = audial, touch = tactile, smell = olfactory, taste = gustatory

Allusion

a reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing

Symbol

any object, person, place, or action that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself—such as a quality, attitude, belief, or value.

Irony

discrepancy between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, what is meant or said and what others understand