Sound and Word Figures

Sound Figures

• Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds, such as demonstrated in "O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma."
• Assonance involves the ordered repetition of vowel sounds, like in the phrase "O que o vago e incognito desejo/de ser eu mesmo de meu ser me deu".
• Paronomasia uses words with similar but distinct sounds and meanings, for example, “Conhecer as manhas e as manhãs/ O sabor das massas e das maçãs”.
• Onomatopoeia creates words to imitate sounds, subtly suggesting noises, as with "toc toc" at the door.

Word Figures

• Comparison approximates two identified elements via explicit comparatives like "tal qual," illustrated by "Ela é bonita como uma flor".
• Metaphor uses a term with a different habitual meaning based on similarity, where the comparative connection is implied, e.g., "Ela é uma flor".
• Metonymy uses a word in place of another to indicate a "proximity" relationship, such as selling "cem cabeças de gado".
  • Part for the whole: Vendeu cem cabeças de gado
  • Brand for the product: Ela usou cotonetes para arrumar a maquiagem.
  • Author for the work: Ele leu Machado de Assis na juventude.
  • Container for content: Estava com fome e comi dois pratos de comida.
• Synesthesia combines sensations perceived by different sensory organs in one expression, such as "Ela tem uma voz doce".
• Catachresis uses a "worn-out" term due to the lack of a specific word, for example, "Ela apoiou-se no braço do sofá".

Thought Figures

• Hyperbole uses exaggerated images connotatively, illustrated by "Chorou um rio de lágrimas".
• Euphemism softens an image to avoid shocking, as in "Ela já não está entre nós".
• Antithesis associates contrary ideas through words or sentences with opposite meanings, like "a vida é mesmo assim dia e noite, não e sim".
• Paradox associates contradictory, irreconcilable terms with apparent incoherence, such as "O Amor é um fogo que dói e não se sente”.
• Oxymoron can be seen in "Eu te amo calado, como quem ouve uma sinfonia de silêncios e de luz".
• Gradation sequences words or expressions to establish a progression, e.g., "Em terra, em cinza, em pó, em sombra, em nada".
• Apostrophe interpellates a real or imaginary person, present or absent, to emphasize an idea, like "Ó Glória de mandar, ó vã cobiça!”.

Syntax or Construction Figures

• Personification or prosopopeia attributes human characteristics to animals/inanimate objects, as in "O céu mentiu, não vai chover!".
• Irony makes a statement meant to be understood in the opposite sense, for example, "Marcela amou-me durante quinze meses e onze contos de réis".
• Hyperbaton inverts the direct order of sentence terms, such as "Ouviram do Ipiranga as margens plácidas/ de um povo heroico um brado retumbante”.
• Anaphora repeats words at the beginning of verses or sentences in prose, e.g., "Amor é um fogo que arde sem se ver;/ É ferida que dói e não se sente...".
• Parallelism repeats syntactic structure, demonstrated by "De repente, não mais que de repente;/Fez-se de triste o que se fez amante...”.
• Polysyndeton coordinates sentence terms via repeating the same conjunction, as in "E chora e ri e se descabela".
• Asyndeton omits connectives and conjunctions, similar to an ellipsis, exemplified by "Cheguei, descansei, dormi".
• Ellipsis omits a term that can be identified by context, e.g., "Fiz um texto hoje" (omitting "eu").
• Zeugma is a specific form of ellipsis where a term omitted in one statement was previously used, for example, "Eu comi o bolo, ele, a cobertura".
• Anacoluthon unexpectedly changes course in a sentence’s syntactic construction, leaving a term "loose," such as "O homem, chamar-lhe mito não passa de anacoluto”.