English Tropes

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metaphor

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A metaphor is a figure of speech that constructs an analogy between two things or ideas; the analogy is conveyed by the use of a metaphorical word in place of some other word. For example: "Her eyes were glistening jewels".

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simile

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a comparison of one thing w/ another

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synecdoche

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a figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive one or vice versa

whole for part or part for whole

Take thy face hence.

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metonomy

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Rhetoric. (A figure of speech characterized by) the action of substituting for a word or phrase denoting an object, action, institution, etc., a word or phrase denoting a property or something associated with it; an instance of this.

the crown for royalty

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personification

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the attribution of human form to a thing

The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.

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irony

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the meaning of a statement is the opposite of what is expressed

as clear as mud

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hyperbole

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overstatement

The bag weighed a ton

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litotes

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understatement

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress

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periphrasis

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a figure of spech in which a meaning is ecpressed by several words in place of fewer

eg did go in place of went
As he is but my father's brother's son

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antithesis

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an opposition or contrast of ideas: He must increase, but I must decrease

in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter

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anadiplosis

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is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

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anaphora

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the repetition of the same word or phrase in several successive clauses, usually in the beginning

Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition

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antistrophe

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the repetition of words in inverse order

all for one and one for all

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chiasmus

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the order of words in one of two || clauses is inverted in the other

He knowingly led and we blindly followed

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hyperbaton

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the costumary or logical order of words is inverted, esp for the sake of emphasis

Object there was none. Passion there was none

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asyndeton

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a rhetorical figure which omits the conjunction

I came, I saw, I conquered

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anacoluthon

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a want of grammatical sequence, the passing from one construction to another before the former is completed

Had ye been there — for what could that have done?

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Aposiopesis

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a rhetorical artifice, in which the speaker comes to a sudden halt, as if unable or willing to procede

They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—

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apostrophe

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a speaker abruptly stops discourse to address pointedly some person or think present or absent

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo

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rhetorical question

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a question asked only to produce an effect or make a statement, rather than to elicit an answer or information

how much longer must our people endure this injustice?

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alliteration

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the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases.

dressy daffodils

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assonance

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repetition of vowel sounds

the jar was round upon the ground

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consonance

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repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

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trope

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A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning.

Rhetoric. A figure of speech which consists in the use of a word or phrase in a sense other than that which is proper to it; also, in casual use, a figure of speech; figurative language.