main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly

All the politicians agreed to disagree.

An exaggeration so dramatic that no one would believe its true

Laughter is the best medicine.

A statement that is a comparison of two things that are not alike.

“It was a rimy morning, and very damp. I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window… Now, I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass, … On every rail and gate, wet lay clammy; and the marsh-mist was so thick, that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village—a direction which they never accepted, for they never came there—was invisible to me until I was quite close under it.”

When a set of words uses the same sound or letters repeatedly

Two Sunflowers Move in a Yellow Room (By William Blake)“Two Sunflowers

Move in the Yellow Room.

‘Ah, William, we’re weary of weather,’

said the sunflowers, shining with dew.

Our traveling habits have tired us.

Can you give us a room with a view?”

A comparison of two things that are not alike, uses "like" or "as"

His classmates laughed at him, saying he had a pea-sized brain.

A set of words that can have more than one meaning behind them

words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer to or describe

OXYMORON

Symbolism

“I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.”

Annabel Lee (By Edgar Allan Poe)“I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me.”

refers to repetitive sounds produced by letters such as t,p,q,x, & z within a sentence or phrase

Sarcasm

The businessman was so busy that he was attending to a million calls simultaneously.

Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)“Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!

O anything, of nothing first create!

O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!

Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!

Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!

when two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds

He was so hungry, he ate that whole cornfield for lunch, stalks and all.

personification

Imagery

Rebels raised a white flag to negotiate

words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words; In simple words, it is a difference between appearance and reality.

The Charge of the Light Brigade (By Alfred Tennyson)“Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!’ he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.”

Our soldiers are as brave as lions.

The shadow of the moon danced on the lake.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high o’er vales and hills.”

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

As I Walked One Evening (By W. H. Auden)

“I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you

Till China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountain

And the salmon sing in the street,

I’ll love you till the ocean

Is folded and hung up to dry.”

The burger, aromatic with spices, made his mouth water in anticipation of the first bite.

The immigrant looked around to talk to somebody, but could find no one who spoke his language. He felt claustrophobic and desolate.

“I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and restless.”— With Love, by Thin Lizzy

The buzzing bee flew away.

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” (Mark Twain)

The student moved as fast as lightning after getting permission from the teacher for an early release.

He gave a red rose to his wife on Valentine Day.

The Green Gables Letters (By L. M. Montgomery)“I hied me away to the woods — away back into the sun-washed alleys carpeted with fallen gold and glades where the moss is green and vivid yet. The woods are getting ready to sleep — they are not yet asleep but they are disrobing and are having all sorts of little bed-time conferences and whisperings and good-nights.”

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating`

‘Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; ”

THE MASTER- by Edgar Allen Poe

She ate seven sandwiches on a sunny Sunday last year.

The doctor was absolutely unsure of the nature of his illness.

kick the bucket

“Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue. Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard. People had to wait until sunup to find out what folks were talking about the night before.”

The politician said through peace they could achieve what was not possible through war.

A new road to freedom passes through this valley of death.

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free;

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

Double, double toil and trouble,

fire burn and cauldron bubble

When the astronaut landed on the moon, he felt loneliness. Thinking there was no one else, he became a little forlorned, though the view of Earth was stunningly beautiful.

oxymoron

A person flips out in anger over a hockey game on television and breaks their TV. And you say: "I have a little bit of a temper."

Alliteration

Cool as a cucumber!

Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.

The audience knows that a killer is hiding in the closet, but the girl in the horror movie does not.

“April is the cruelest month.”

The burning wood hissed and crackled.