Figurative Language & Sound Devices

a comparison of two unlike objects using the words "like" or "as." Ex/The stars in the night sky sparkled like diamonds.

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• imagery

a comparison of two unlike objects (does not use "like" or "as").

Ex/Mrs. Connors is a grouchy bear without her morning coffee.

• metaphor

• personification

• imagery

• oxymoron

giving human qualities or traits to something that is NOT human.Ex/ The flowers danced in the lawn.

• personification

• imagery

• oxymoron

• alliteration

vivid language that appeals to the senses; uses sensory words that appeal to the reader's sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch.Ex/ The giant tree was ablaze with the orange, red, and yellow leaves. (Sight)

• imagery

• oxymoron

• alliteration

• assonance

a phrase made of two or more words that actually have opposite meanings. These phrases are so interesting because they are two opposites joined together to create one great, descriptive expressionEx/Deafening silence OR clearly confused

• oxymoron

• alliteration

• assonance

• consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of neighboring words.Ex/ The winds will weep

• alliteration

• assonance

• consonance

• repetition

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity (EX/The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain--hear the vowel 'a' sound)

• assonance

• consonance

• repetition

• onomatpoeia

Repetition of consonant sounds at the end of words (usually in non-rhyming words) (ex/He stood on the road and cried.)

• consonance

• onomatopoeia

• hyperbole

• irony

repeating words or phrases

• repetition

• onomatopoeia

• hyperbole

• irony

the use of words whose sounds echo their meaning.Ex/The leaves rustle in the wind and crunch under my feet.

• onomatopoeia

• hyperbole

• irony

• pun