Figurative language in songs

A seemingly contradictory statement, which actually makes sense or contains some truth.

• irony

• oxymoron

• hyperbole

• paradox

A ‘softer’, more inoffensive word or phrase, used as a substitute for one considered too harsh or blunt, when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

• euphemism

• irony

• hyperbole

• pun

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

The use of words which actually sound like the objects or actions to which they refer

• euphemism

• hyperbole

• onomatopoeia

• oxymoron

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

The giving of human qualities to an animal, object or abstract idea.

• pun

• personification

• alliteration

• onomatopoeia

Tags

CCSS.L.6.5A

when what is said is actually the opposite of what is meant

• analogy

• verbal irony

• hyperbole

• simile

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

A figure of speech that implies a comparison between two relatively unlikely things.

• metaphor

• personification

• simile

• hyperbole

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

The repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

• alliteration

• pun

• synecdoche

• metaphor

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

• irony

• anaphora

• allusion

• onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, or the whole for a part.

• oxymoron

• simile

• synecdoche

• pun

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

A play on words; sometimes on different meanings of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

• irony

• hyperbole

• personification

• pun

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A