The Study Guide to Literary Devices
Alliteration- The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Allusion- An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Anapest – A metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.
Antithesis- A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.
Apostrophe- A punctuation mark used to indicate either possession. Assonance- The repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables
Caesura- A break between words within a metrical foot.
Consonance- Agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions.
Couplet- Two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, forming a unit.
Dactyl- A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or one long syllable.
Elision- The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking.
Enjambment- The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause.
Epic- A long poem, typically derived from oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of
Extrametrical- A tool for prodosic analysis of a word in linguistics.
Falling meter- Meter containing metrical feet that move from stressed to unstressed syllables.
Foot- Many meters use a foot as the basic unit in their description of the underlying rhythm of a poem.
Free verse- Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter. Hyperbole- Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Iamb- A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable or a short syllable followed by a long syllable.
Irony- The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Meiosis- consists of
Allusion- An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Anapest – A metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.
Antithesis- A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.
Apostrophe- A punctuation mark used to indicate either possession. Assonance- The repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables
Caesura- A break between words within a metrical foot.
Consonance- Agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions.
Couplet- Two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, forming a unit.
Dactyl- A metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or one long syllable.
Elision- The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking.
Enjambment- The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause.
Epic- A long poem, typically derived from oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of
Extrametrical- A tool for prodosic analysis of a word in linguistics.
Falling meter- Meter containing metrical feet that move from stressed to unstressed syllables.
Foot- Many meters use a foot as the basic unit in their description of the underlying rhythm of a poem.
Free verse- Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter. Hyperbole- Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Iamb- A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable or a short syllable followed by a long syllable.
Irony- The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Meiosis- consists of