Figures of Speech and Poetic License in Literature
To Reduce Syllables Per Line
Aphesis
Omission of the initial part of a word or phrase (It is à ’tis).
Syncope
Omission of one or more sounds, letters, or syllables from the middle of a word (ever à e’er).
Apocope
Omission of the last letter or syllable at the end of a word (often à oft).
Elision Plus Contraction (Slurring of a Syllable)
There is à there’s.
To Increase Syllables Per Line
Addition of a Stressed Syllable
Past tense: -éd (clothed à clothéd).
Word Formation
By using prefixes (-a, -en) and endings (-y, -less).
Varieties of Poetic License
Homophony
Same pronunciation, different form.
Differentiation
Same form, different pronunciation.
Synonymy
Same meaning, different form.
Polysemy
Same form, different meaning.
Neologisms
Invention of new words (foresuffered: previsto de todos sufrimientos).
Compounding
(music-loving).
Functional Conversion
Adapting an item to a new grammatical function without changing its form (and storms bugle his fame: y las tormentas proclamaron su fama).
Figures of Speech
Metaphor
Compares two different things; metaphors describe an object in terms of another.
Allegory
A story or poem with two levels of meaning (symbolic level and story level).
Conceit
A kind of metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way.
Personification
Giving human qualities to non-human things.
Metonymy
A type of metaphor in which an object is used to describe something that is closely related to it (closely associated). The substitution of “world” for “people”, or “muse” for “poetry”, “muse” for “inspiration”. “The Stage” for the theatrical profession, “The Bench” for the judiciary; “Ashes” for death or ruin, “Chains” for Tyranny or Slavery.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole. Examples: “after forty winters…” à “winters” for “years”. “Feathers” for “Wings”.
Amplification
A rhetorical figure. It is the process of enriching a sentence so that the reader can understand it more clearly.
Apostrophe
In poetry, an apostrophe is a term used when the poet or the speaker directly addresses someone or something that is not present in the poem.
Pun
A play on words based on the ambiguity of those words.
Parallelism
Associated with the syntactic repetition and regularity.
Antithesis/Antonymy/Oxymoron
It means semantic opposition.
Alliteration
It is the repetition of a sound at the beginning of a word.
Anaphor
Repetition of one or more words in different sentences.
Ellipsis
Omission of words or phrases.
Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next.
Hyperbaton
It consists of inverting the logical sense of the sentences.
Hyperbole
It is an exaggeration that increases the qualities of something.
Ploce
It is the repetition of the same word in a line.
Polyptoton
It appears when a word is repeated but it presents some changes in its form (inflections).
Homeoteleuton
It appears when a series of close and adjacent words have the same or similar ending.
Epiphora
Final repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a line.
Symploce
Repetition of words or phrases at both the beginning and end of successive clauses or sentences.
Epanalepsis
When a word is repeated: 1) at the beginning of a clause and also at the end, 2) at the beginning and the middle of a clause, 3) at the middle and the end of a clause. (With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout).
Anadiplosis
It is the repetition of the same word or words when one is located at the end of a line and the other at the beginning of the following line (He gave his life // his life was all he could give).
Epizeuxis
It appears when a phrase is repeated to produce a special effect (emphasis) à Come away, come away Death.
Simile
A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using “like” or “as”.