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| Allegory | a type of symbolism; is a description or a narrative (poetry or prose) with a secondary, or underlying, meaning. An excellent example of allegory is George Orwell’s Animal Farm. In that book, the situation, the characters, and the plot all have allegorical connections. (Briefly, they overthrow a cruel farmer - the farm’s animals are meant to parallel the Russian Revolution where the proletariat revolted against their dictator.) |
| Character allegory | characters often represent various ideal qualities: This meaning extends throughout the epic. Human virtues and vices were common in medieval literature, though they were generalized. |
| Apostrophe | addressing something for someone (or someone) non-living or incapable of response as if it could hear and respond, such as “O, howling wind…” |
| Irony | exists when there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is real. |
| Verbal irony | when what is said is different from what is meant. |
| Dramatic irony | when the reader knows something a character does not know. |
| Situational irony | when some aspect of the situation seems incongruous to either what seems appropriate or to what is expected. |
| Metaphor | a comparison of two dissimilar things in order to see one in a new way |
| Metonymy | the use of a closely related detail for the thing actually meant, such as using The White House to refer to the president. |
| Overstatement | saying more than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates the truth. |
| Paradox | a statement that consists of two contradictory or incompatible elements; are startling and get us to think. They are a kind of metaphor that reveals the truth. |
| Personification | attributing human qualities or characteristics to non-living or non-human things in order to create empathy. |
| Simile | essentially a metaphor that uses “like” or “as” |
| Synecdoche | the use of a part for the whole, such as “all hands on deck” or “the meeting can begin now that all the suits are here.” |
| Symbol | a thing person, or idea that stands for something else |
| Understatement | saying less than the situation warrants. The contrast illuminates that truth. |
