Common Literary Terms

"I know one thing; that I know nothing."

• OxyMoron

• Ambigouity

• Paradox

• Irony

The White House issued a statement.

• Metonomy

• Synecdoche

• Allusion

• Allegory

Time is a thief

• Epiphany

• Metonymy

• Hyperbole

• Metaphor

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.

• Tone

• Synecdoche

• Rhytm

• Imagery

The multiple descriptions of water throughout the novel signified purity.

• Allegory

• Imagery

• Irony

• Motif

The marriage counselor's husband filed for divorce.

• Allegory

• Ambigiouty

• Irony

• Paradox

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

• Antithesis

• Hyperbole

• Epiphany

• Alliteration

The fog formed fingers that fondled the foliage

• Diction

• Rhythm

• Alliteration

• Antithesis

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

• Personification

• Metaphor

• Allegory

• Paradox

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse

• Metonymy

• Allusion

• Imagery

• Hyperbole