Literary Devices and Figures of Speech

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Allegory

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Representation of abstract/spiritual meaning through concrete forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. Example: King Midas is an allegory for greed.

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Alliteration

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Repetition of sounds at the beginning of a word. Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

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Allusion

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Reference to a person/place/etc. especially from literature, history, or the Bible. Example: Benvolio's reference to Cupid in Romeo & Juliet.

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Anachronistic

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Old or outdated; no longer used at the time.

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Anacoluthon

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A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence.

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Anaphora

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Repetition of the first word/phrase in successive sentences. Example: 'You is kind, you is smart, and you is important.' from The Help.

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Anastrophe

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Inversion of typical word order. Example: 'The greatest teacher, failure is.' - Yoda.

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Antanaclasis

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Repetition of a single word with different usages. Example: 'We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.' - Benjamin Franklin.

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Anthimeria

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Substitution of one part of speech for another; noun to verb. Example: 'Let me Google that for you.'

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Anthropomorphism

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The attribution of human characteristics to animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate objects.