Simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance, speaker and personification basic literary terms (part i)
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The document explains basic literary terms including simile, metaphor, personification, speaker, alliteration, and assonance. It defines each term, provides common examples, and cites literary instances to illustrate their usage. The content serves as an introductory guide for understanding these fundamental concepts in literature.
Simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance, speaker and personification basic literary terms (part i)
- 1. Mohammad Jashim Uddin Assistant Professor Department of English Northern University Bangladesh Basic Literary Terms (Part I) https://youtu.be/jL-IDGPLrm8
- 2. Simile A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
- 3. Common Examples of Simile Our soldiers are as brave as lions. Her cheeks are red like a rose. He is as funny as a monkey. The water well was as dry as a bone. He is as cunning as a fox.
- 4. Examples of Simile in Literature My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water’d shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree My heart is like a rainbow shell… (“A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti)
- 5. Rossetti has used simile thrice in this part of the poem, comparing her heart to a “singing bird”, “an apple-tree”, and a rainbow shell.” The poet makes comparison of heart to a happy bird in a nest, an apple tree full with fruits and a beautiful shell in the sea, full of peace and joy.
- 6. O my Luve is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve is like the melody That’s sweetly played in tune.
- 7. Metaphor Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.
- 8. The phrase, “My brother is the black sheep of the family,” is a metaphor because he is not a sheep, nor is he black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal, which typically stays away from the herd, and the person being described shares similar characteristics.
- 9. Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison that is different from a simile, in that we do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one
- 10. Common Speech Examples of Metaphors My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.) The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.) It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and life is going to be without hardships)
- 11. Metaphor Examples in Literature She’s all states, and all princes But thy eternal summer shall not fade Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
- 12. Personification Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. For example, when we say, “The sky weeps,” we are giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky has been personified in the given sentence.
- 13. Common Examples of Personification Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn’t she? The wind whispered through dry grass. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. Time and tide wait for none. The fire swallowed the entire forest.
- 14. Speaker In writing, the speaker is the voice that speaks behind the scene. In fact, it is the narrative voice that speaks of a writer’s feelings or situation. It is not necessary that a poet is always the speaker, because sometimes he may be writing from a different perspective, or may be in the voice of another race, gender, or even a material object. It usually appears as a persona or voice in a poem. Read on to learn more about speaker in literature.
- 15. Alliteration Alliteration is derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.
- 16. Consider the following examples: But a better butter makes a batter better. A big bully beats a baby boy. Both sentences are alliterative because the same first letter of words (B) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence. An important point to remember here is that alliteration does not depend on letters but on sounds. So the phrase not knotty is alliterative, but cigarette chase is not.
- 17. Alliteration Examples in Literature “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes; A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.” (William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”) This is an example of alliteration with the “f” and “l.” in words “forth, fatal, foes” and “loins, lovers, and life”.
- 18. Assonance Assonance takes place when two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds.
- 19. “Men sell the wedding bells.” The same vowel sound of the short vowel “-e-” repeats itself in almost all the words, excluding the definite article. The words do share the same vowel sounds, but start with different consonant sounds – unlike alliteration, which involves repetition of the same consonant sounds. Below are a few assonance examples that are common.
- 20. Common Assonance Examples We light fire on the mountain. I feel depressed and restle Go and mow the lawn. Johnny went here and there and everywhe The engineer held the steering to steer the vehicle.