Figures of Speech

Simile - a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a
different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy
like a fox).
Example:
You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
Go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground
Like a skyscraper
Metaphor - a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to
which it is not literally applicable.
Example:
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Hyperbole - is a figure of speech, which involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of
emphasis.
Example:
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause girl, you're amazing
Just the way you are
Example 2:
If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you, tonight

Personification- is a figure of speech where human qualities are given to animals, objects or
ideas. It is the opposite of a metaphor but is very similar.
Example:

Alliteration is a stylistic literary device identified by the repeated sound of the first consonant in
a series of multiple words, or the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds
at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of a phrase.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create
internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance
serves as one of the building blocks of verse.
Apostrophe - in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is
addressed as though present.
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words.
Onomatopoeia refers to a word that phonetically mimics or resembles the sound of the thing it
describes.
Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.
Anaphora is a literary and rhetorical device in which a word or group of words is repeated at the
beginning of two or more successive clauses or sentences. This technique adds emphasis and
unity to the clauses.
Repetition consists of repeating a word, phrase, or sentence, and is common in both poetry
and prose. It is a rhetorical technique to add emphasis, unity, and/or power. Due to this
definition of repetition, it is a common technique for orators to use.