Literary and Poetic Terms
Term
Definition
Examples
end-stopping
The ending of a sentence,
phrase, or clause at the end of a
line of poetry
alliteration
The repetition of similar
consonant sounds at the
beginning of words that are
close to one another
allusion
A reference to characters,
places, events, or objects from
history, religion, mythology, or
literature
apostrophe
An address to an absent or dead
person, to an object, or to an
abstract concept
assonance
The repetition of similar vowel
sounds in words that are close
to one another
connotation
The feelings, ideas, or
associations suggested by a
word in addition to its
denotation, or dictionary
meaning
The repetition of similar
consonant sounds within or at
the end of words
The dictionary meaning of a
word, aside from its implications
and associations
The continuation of a sentence,
phrase, or clause from one line
of poetry into the next without a
pause
“The sun did not shine. /
It was too wet to play. /
So we sat in the house /
All that cold, cold, wet day.” (Dr.
Seuss, The Cat in the Hat)
• “I have stood still and stopped
the sound of feet” (Robert Frost,
“Acquainted with the Night”)
• PayPal, American Apparel,
Coca-Cola
• He was a real Scrooge.
• “You can’t, can’t settle down,
until the Icarus in your blood, in
your blood drowns” (Sunset
Rubdown, “Idiot Heart”)
• “Hello darkness, my old
friend...” (Paul Simon, “The
Sound of Silence”)
• “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are”
• “His palms are sweaty, knees
weak, arms are heavy / There's
vomit on his sweater already,
mom's spaghetti” (Eminem, “Lose
Yourself”)
• home – safety, family, warmth,
love, rest
• black – power, elegance, fear,
anger, mystery, formality, death,
depression, evil
• “A winding river / Gets wound
around a heart” (Paul Simon,
Can’t Run But)
• home – a place where one lives
• black – the very darkest colour,
the opposite of white
• “Save us from night, /
from bleak open highways /
without end” (Roo Borson, “Save
us From”
• “A one-handed spin on the
wheel takes him down /
the far side” (Don Coles,
“Kingdom”)
consonance
denotation
enjambment
hyperbole
The exaggeration or
overstatement of the literal
situation to create dramatic or
comic effects
• “I have a million things to do
today”
• “ [Save us] from living rooms
like the tomb,
their plaid chesterfields
and galaxies of dust” (Roo
Borson, “Save us From”)
imagery
Verbal description that creates
images, or pictures, in the
imagination, or that appeals to
any of the senses--sight,
hearing, touch, taste, and smell,
as well as the sense of
movement and sensations within
the body (e.g., hunger, fatigue,
etc.)
• “They were jet, those wings....
They gave off no sheen in the
light, no gleam to the eye. They
drank up the light and diminished
it: they were wings of pure
shadow.” (Meredith Ann Pierce,
The Darkangel)
• “At long last, the train stopped
at Hogsmeade station, and there
was a great scramble to get
outside; owls hooted, cats
meowed, and Neville’s pet toad
croaked loudly from under his
hat.” (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
irony
A figure of speech in which there
is a gap between appearance
and reality, between expectation
and result, or between surface
meaning and deeper meaning
• The fire station burns down.
• People make themselves sick by
worrying about their health.
• I packed spare pants for my
kids in case of diaper leaks, and
one of them threw up on her
shirt.
metaphor
A figure of speech that
compares two things directly by
speaking of them as if they are
the same
• “Well, in war he was a tiger”
(M. Ward, “Requiem”)
• an emotional rollercoaster
metonymy
A figure of speech that
represents something by using
an idea, place, or object that is
closely related to it
• “the Crown” refers to the
king/queen
• “the White House” refers to the
United States presidency
• “Hollywood” refers to the
American film industry
onomatopoeia
Words that imitate the sounds
that they describe
•
•
•
•
“bang”
“crash”
“moo”
“sizzle”
oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines • “living dead”
contradictory words in a way
• “educated guess”
that makes sense
• “only one choice”
• “agree to disagree”
paradox
A statement that is apparently
contradictory but, when
examined more closely, contains
some element of truth
• “You can save money by
spending it.”
• “Skip the youth, it’s aging me
too much” (Frightened Rabbit,
“Skip the Youth”)
• “I must be cruel only to be
kind” (William Shakespeare,
Hamlet)
personification
The giving of human traits,
actions, or characteristics to
inanimate objects or abstract
concepts
• “I fall into the corner’s arms”
(Frightened Rabbit, “The
Woodpile”)
• “Goldfish. The snack that smiles
back.”
simile
A figure of speech that
compares things using words
such as “like,” “as,” “than,” or
“resembles”
• as busy as a bee
• faster than a speeding bullet
• “My love is like a red, red rose”
(Robert Burns, “”My Love is Like
a Red, Red Rose”)
symbol
A person, place, thing, or action
that suggests meanings beyond
itself
• doves represent peace
• lions represent courage
• rings represent fidelity or a vow
synecdoche
A figure of speech that has
several variations; in one of the
most common, a part of a thing
is used to stand for the whole
The central idea or meaning of a
text; a key idea that is explored
within a text
• “wheels” for car
• “hired hands” for labourers
theme
• a theme of Hamlet is revenge
• a theme of The Crucible is mass
hysteria