APPENDIX A Literary terms
Here are a few of the most widely used literary devices. You will probably be familiar with them in practice but perhaps cannot always put a name to them. alliteration the repetition of sounds at the beginning of words and syllables Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.
climax
I came; I saw; I conquered!
epigram a short pithy saying Truth is never pure, and rarely simple. (Oscar Wilde) euphemism an indirect way of referring to distressing or unpalatable facts I've lost both my parents. (= they've died) She's rather light-fingered. (= she's a thief) hyperbole exaggeration Jack cut his knee rather badly and lost gallons of blood. What's for lunch? I'm starving. I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum. (Shakespeare: 'Hamlet') irony saying one thing while clearly meaning the opposite For Brutus is an honourable man. (Shakespeare: 'Julius Caesar') litotes understatement He was not exactly polite. (= very rude) I am a citizen of no mean city. (- St Paul boasting about Tarsus and hence about himself) metaphor a compressed comparison
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