Literary Examples

Front

What is a simile?

Back

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using the words 'like' or 'as'. Example: 'Her hair was like snow.'

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5A

CCSS.L.5.5A

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

Front

What is a hyperbole?

Back

A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally. Example: 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.'

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5A

Front

What is a metaphor?

Back

A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'. Example: 'Juliet is the sun.'

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5A

CCSS.L.5.5A

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

Front

What is an oxymoron?

Back

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Example: 'Jumbo shrimp.'

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

Front

What is anaphora?

Back

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. Example: 'I have a dream' in Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech.

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Front

What is personification?

Back

Personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are attributed to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract concepts. Example: 'The wind whispered through the trees.'

Tags

CCSS.L.6.5A

Front

What is alliteration?

Back

Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Example: 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore.'

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.RL.2.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Front

What is onomatopoeia?

Back

Onomatopoeia is a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound it describes. Example: 'buzz', 'hiss', 'clang'.

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

Front

What is a pun?

Back

A pun is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term or similarity in sound for humorous or rhetorical effect. Example: 'Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.'

Front

What is imagery in literature?

Back

Imagery is the use of descriptive language to create vivid mental pictures for the reader. Example: 'The golden sun set behind the purple mountains.'

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5