Literary+Devices

Add your definitions and examples of literary devices: alliteration, dialect, idiom, imagery, jargon, metaphor, onomatoepoeia, personification,simile, slang, symbolism. Include any pictures that illustrate the term.

Add examples from //In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.//


 * __Alliteration -__**

The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in //"on scrolls of silver snowy sentences"// (Hart Crane).

Repetition of consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables. A frequently used poetic device, it is often discussed with assonance (the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within two or more words with different end consonants) and consonance (the repetition of end or medial consonants). example: Sally's ship was sinking.

**SYNONYMS** dialect, vernacular, jargon, cant, argot, lingo, patois. //These nouns denote forms of language that vary from the standard.// Dialect //usually applies to the vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation characteristic of specific geographic localities or social classes. The// vernacular //is the informal everyday language spoken by a people.// Jargon //is specialized language understood only by a particular group, as one sharing an occupation or interest.// Cant //now usually refers to the specialized vocabulary of a group or trade and is often marked by the use of stock phrases.// Argot //applies especially to the language of the underworld.// Lingo //is often applied to language that is unfamiliar or difficult to understand.// Patois //is sometimes used as a synonym for// jargon //or// cant, //but it can also refer to a regional dialect that has no literary tradition. Variety of a language spoken by a group of people and having features of vocabulary, grammar, and/or pronunciation that distinguish it from other varieties of the same language. Dialects usually develop as a result of geographic, social, political, or economic barriers between groups of people who speak the same language.//
 * __Dialect -__**
 * 1) ## A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists: //Cockney is a dialect of English.//
 * 2) A variety of language that with other varieties constitutes a single language of which no single variety is standard: //the dialects of Ancient Greek.//
 * 3) The language peculiar to the members of a group, especially in an occupation; jargon: //the dialect of science.//
 * 4) The manner or style of expressing oneself in language or the arts.
 * 5) A language considered as part of a larger family of languages or a linguistic branch. Not in scientific use: //Spanish and French are Romance dialects.//

See samples of idioms on this website: []
 * __Idiom__** -

He refused to loosen his purse strings.
 * __Imagery__**
 * 1) A set of mental pictures or images.
 * 2) ## The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
 * 3) The use of expressive or evocative images in art, literature, or music.
 * 4) A group or body of related images, as in a painting or poem.
 * 5) Representative images, particularly statues or icons.
 * 6) The art of making such image


 * Jargon** -//n.//
 * 1) Nonsensical, incoherent, or meaningless talk.
 * 2) A hybrid language or dialect; a pidgin.
 * 3) The specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. See synonyms at **dialect**.
 * 4) Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.


 * __Metaphor__**
 * 1) A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in //"a sea of troubles"// or //"All the world's a stage"// (Shakespeare).

The formation or use of words such as //buzz// or //murmur// that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
 * __Onomatopoeia__**

A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form, as in //Hunger sat shivering on the road// or //Flowers danced about the lawn.//
 * __Personification__**

A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by //like// or //as,// as in //"How like the winter hath my absence been"// or //"So are you to my thoughts as food to life"// (Shakespeare).:
 * __Simile -__**

The metal can bounced, banging against the walls like a squat madman foaming at the mouth.

"He was cute as a dumpling and just as round." Shirley stood tall as a warrior."

-Nonstandard vocabulary of extreme informality, usually not limited to any region. It includes newly coined words, shortened forms, and standard words used playfully out of their usual context.__**
 * __Slang


 * __Symbolism__** -

The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.