figure of speech sometimes represented by an exclamation, such as “Oh.” A writer or speaker speaks directly to someone who is not present or is dead, or speaks to an inanimate object.

events, actions, characters, settings or objects represent specific abstractions or ideas. The emphasis is typically placed on the abstract ideals represented or symbolized by the work’s literary elements. In other words, the meaning behind the surface narrative has even greater value as a literary work.

the repetition of the same consonant sounds in a line of text. The focus is on the sound made by consonants and not necessarily the letters themselves. In addition, alike consonant sounds can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of words, and is created when these words appear in quick succession.

involves intentionally using a word or phrase for effect, two or more times in a speech or written work. The words or phrases should be repeated within close proximity of each other.

"...now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT. And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bejeweled halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out.." The simile is a reference to the BIBLE.

"...There came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before." The chiming of the clock makes the partygoers pause and become confused and anxious.

"And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock." Poe is clearly setting the reader up for something scary or bizarre to happen at the stroke of midnight.

The Prince invites his rich, noble friends to his castle to thwart the Red Death. He surrounds the castle with a lofty wall and with gates of iron. The guests "brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded bolts. They resolved to leave no means of egress to the sudden despair or of frenzy within." The fortressed castle fails to keep Death out and ironically keeps the guests imprisoned after the Red Death's arrival.

Poe's description of the arrangement of the 7 rooms suggests the rooms represent stages of life, because when you are in one stage, you can see only a little of the next stage.

"... when the minute hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound..." This time-telling device represents the passing of time as it is a reminder that death eventually comes to every life.

This is the word choice the author, speaker uses in the literary piece of work