Creative Writing: Figures of Speech

Study Notes

Figures of Speech

Irony: Occurs when outcomes differ from expectations, often with humorous or tragic effects. Types include:
- Situational Irony: Discrepancy between expected and actual outcomes.
- Dramatic Irony: Audience knows more than characters.
- Verbal Irony: Speaker says the opposite of what they mean.
Oxymoron: Combines contradictory terms to create a paradoxical effect, e.g., "organized chaos," "friendly fight."
Paradox: Presents two contradictory concepts simultaneously, often conveying a deeper truth, e.g., "I hate what I love."
Parallelism: Uses similar sentence structure for clarity and rhythm; ensures consistency in parts of a sentence, e.g., "I like singing, kayaking, and dancing."
Antithesis: Juxtaposes strongly contrasting ideas for emphasis, e.g., "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
Metaphor: Implies a comparison between unrelated things, asserting one is another, e.g., "The exam was a piece of cake."
Simile: Explicitly compares one thing to another using "like" or "as," e.g., "Grandad is wise like an owl."
Synecdoche: A part of something is used to represent the whole, e.g., "Our class brain always has all the answers."
Metonymy: Replaces a word with one closely associated, e.g., "The crown will find an heir."
Personification: Attributes human traits to non-human entities, e.g., "The trees danced back and forth in the wind."
Syllepsis: One word applies to two others with different meanings, e.g., "She broke my heart and my phone screen."
Onomatopoeia: Uses words that mimic sounds, e.g., "The cars SMASHED into each other."
Hyperbole: Exaggerates for emphasis, making something sound much greater than it is, e.g., "I am so hungry, I could eat a horse."
Litotes: An understatement that expresses an affirmative by negating its contrary, e.g., "You are not wrong" = meaning "You are right."
Ellipsis: Indicates omitted words or a pause using three dots (...), e.g., "My cat… he’s gone…"
Asyndeton: Omits conjunctions for a concise effect, e.g., "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."
Alliteration: Repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely connected words, e.g., "Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers."
Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words, e.g., "Clap your hands and stamp your feet."
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses for emphasis, e.g., "With malice toward none, with charity for all..."

Types of Diction

Diction: The careful selection of words to convey meaning and establish writing style, e.g., "please ensure that you arrive on time" vs. "don’t be late!"
Formal Diction: Long, complex sentences maybe appropriate for official communication, e.g., "Please be advised that the meeting scheduled tomorrow has been postponed to next week."
Informal Diction: Characterized by shorter, conversational sentences.
Colloquial Language: Reflects familiar and informal conversation, e.g., "Don’t chicken out."
Slang: Very informal language unique to certain groups, e.g., "He is flexing his new phone to his classmates."
Poetic Diction: Language that is distinct to poetry and creative writing, elevating expression, e.g., found in poems and fiction.

Additional Literary Terms

Tone: Reflects an author's attitude toward a subject, shaping reader interpretation.
Theme: Summarizes the underlying meaning of a work, relevant in poetry and literature.
Enjambment: Continues a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next without a pause, enhancing flow.