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Hyperbole (/ haɪˈpɜːrbəli / ⓘ; adj. hyperbolic / ˌhaɪpərˈbɒlɪk / ⓘ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and creates strong impressions. As a figure of speech, it ...
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). [1][2] In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of speech constitute the latter.
Uses of figurative language, or figures of speech, can take multiple forms, such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and many others. [10] Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature says that figurative language can be classified in five categories: resemblance or relationship, emphasis or understatement, figures of sound, verbal games, and errors.
A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech. [1] Keith and Lundburg describe a trope as "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". [2] The word trope has also undergone a semantic change and now also describes commonly ...
The easiest stylistic device to identify is a simile, signaled by the use of the words "like" or "as". A simile is a comparison used to attract the reader's attention and describe something in descriptive terms. Example: "From up here on the fourteenth floor, my brother Charley looks like an insect scurrying among other insects."
MacLeish uses a myriad of poetic devices and figures of speech to help identify what a poem is, and moreover what it should be. In lines 1-8, MacLeish uses similes (comparing a poem via like or as to globed fruit, medallions, etc) to construct his idea of an ideal poem. But similes are not the only figures of speech used.
Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern. This structure is particularly effective when "specifying or enumerating pairs or series of like things". [1] A scheme of balance, parallelism represents "one of the basic principles of grammar and rhetoric".
Alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of syllable -initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels, if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. [1] It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " P eter P iper p icked a p eck of p ickled p e pp ers," in which the "p" sound is ...