IMAGES

Imagery is of two general types:

figurative (figures of speech) and sensory.

A. Figures of Speech

1. SIMILEan expressed comparison using such words as like or as between
two things different in themselves but alike in one unexpected aspect. (It is not
just an ordinary comparison.)

2. METAPHORan implied comparison between two things different in them-
selves in which the name, nature, or act of one is attributed to the other, and is
not merely likened to it, as in a simile.

3. HYPERBOLEa deliberate use of exaggeration for emphasis.

4. METONYMYthe use of a closely related word instead of the literal one.
Cause may be used for effect, subject for attribute, etc.

5. SYNECDOCHEa form of metonymy that uses the name of a part for the
whole, or the whole for a part.

6. PERSONIFICATIONthe endowing of plants, animals, or inanimate objects
with human life or traits.

7. APOSTROPHEa form of personification using an invocation or direct address
tothe dead, absent, inanimate, or abstract as living and present.

8. IRONYa form of satire in which a hidden meaning is suggested either by
declaring the opposite of what is felt to be the truth or by hinting at a condition
of affairs not believable.

9. OXYMORONjoining incongruous words for witty effect.

10. LITOTESmaking a statement by denying the reverse of it.

11. PARADOXa statement which at first seems to be contradictory but is not so
in fact.

12. ANTITHESISa contrast of ideas placed side by side.

13. CHIASMa reversal of poetic order in successive lines.

14. CLIMAXthe arrangement of parts of a sentence (or paragraph) in such a
way that the most important element comes at the end, each preceding ele-
ment more important than the element before it.

15. ANTICLIMAXan arrangement of parts in which the least important or least
dignified element comes surprisingly at the end.

16. ALLEGORYa prolonged metaphor, usually in narrative form. Actions sym-
bolize other actions; characters are types of personifications.

17. FABLEa short allegory teaching a simple truth in which animals are usually
used to portray human virtues or vices.

18. PARABLEa short, serious allegory which conceals a moral under the guise
of familiar objects and actions.

19. EPIGRAMa terse witty saying, stating a general truth (often satirical).

20. PROVERBan epigrammatic saying of popular wisdom in popular language.