| Connotation: |
An idea associated with a word or phrase. |
| Denotation: |
The explicit meaning of a word |
| Hyperbole: |
Exaggeration used for effect.
"tons of money", "a million thanks," |
| Imagery: |
What do you see in the poem?
- Whirl up sea --
whirl your pointed pines
(the image of a forest of pine trees swaying back and forth
like the cresting waves of a stormy sea.) |
| Irony: |
One thing is said, but the opposite meaning is intended. |
| Metaphor: |
A comparison without "like" or "as":
- Where were the greenhouses going,
Lunging into the lashing
Wind driving water
So far down the river
All the faucets stopped?
|
| Metonymy: |
A person or thing is not named directly,
but by some associated thing.
- The prisoner addressed the bench.
|
| Motifs: |
Ideas, or elements that recur throughout the poem. |
| Oxymoron: |
Words with opposite meanings.
| tight slacks |
Old New York |
bitter-sweet |
| sweet sorrow |
good grief |
sanitary landfill |
|
| Paradox: |
A statement, which at first, seems contradictory or absurd. |
| Personification: |
Human qualities are attributed to an animal, object, or idea:
- I am silver and exact.
I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful--
|
| Pun: |
Words with a double meaning.
A bear walks into a bar and says:
"How about a gin and.............................. tonic?
The bartender asks: "What's with the big pause?"
The bear replies: "Just born with them, I guess." |
| Repetition: |
A word or phrase is used more than once for emphasis.
- See the flags; snow-white tent,
See the bear and elephant,
See the monkey jump the rope,
Listen to the Kallyope, Kallyope, Kallyope!
|
| Simile: |
A comparison using "like" or "as".
- her lower lip
was like an orange
mint. and
i was a crying
little boy
in the candy store.
|
| Synechdoche: |
A part represents the whole:
A fleet of a hundred sail. |
| Symbolism: |
Something that stands for something else.
(Myths & Legends) |
