Literary Device List 2

Front 1

Bathos

Back 1

An anticlimax produced from an overreaching for grand style, especially when the subject is not normally so treated.

Front 2

Antanaclasis

Back 2

The repeating of a single word, but with a different meaning each time.

Front 3

Aphorism

Back 3

A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.

Front 4

Parison

Back 4

Correspondence of words within successive sentences or clauses by repetition of specific words or matching up nouns or verbs.

Front 5

Metaphor

Back 5

Comparison between two unlike things (no like/as)

Front 6

Hyperbaton

Back 6

Reversal of normal word order (as in “Bears I love”)

Front 7

Epizeuxis

Back 7

Repetition of words in immediate succession.

Front 8

Anaphora

Back 8

The repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or lines.

Front 9

Synecdoche

Back 9

A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole. For example: “Lend me a hand.”

Front 10

Synaesthesia

Back 10

The description of one kind of sense in terms of another Ex: “The sky smelled blue.”

Front 11

Syllogism

Back 11

A method of presenting a logical argument. In its most basic form, the syllogism consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. An example of a syllogism is: Major premise: When it snows, the streets get wet. Minor premise: It is snowing. Conclusion: The streets are wet.

Front 12

Poetic License

Back 12

Any departure from convention or from factual accuracy taken by a writer to achieve a desired effect.

Front 13

Paralipsis

Back 13

“Mentioning by not mentioning”

Front 14

Litiotes

Back 14

An affirmative is expressesed by the negative of the contrary, as in “not happy”.

Front 15

Cacophony

Back 15

Harsh sounds