Figures of speech in Literature: 25 devices with examples

Figures of speech appear in every Literature in English paper, in objective questions ("Identify the figure of speech in this line"), in poetry analysis, and in unseen passages. They also turn up in English Language papers. This guide covers the devices you're most likely to meet, with examples and the confusions to avoid.

Remember: in theory answers, naming a device is only half the job. You must also explain its effect: what it shows, emphasises or makes the reader feel.

Comparison devices

1. Simile

A direct comparison between two different things using "like" or "as".

• Her voice was as sweet as honey.
• He fought like a lion.

2. Metaphor

A comparison that says one thing is another, without "like" or "as".

• Time is a thief.
• The classroom was a zoo.

Common confusion: if "like" or "as" makes the comparison, it's a simile. If not, it's a metaphor.

3. Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things.

• The wind whispered through the trees.
• The sun smiled down on the farmers.

4. Apostrophe

Addressing someone absent or dead, or a thing or idea, as if it could hear.

• O Death, where is thy sting?
• Africa, my Africa!

Common confusion: personification gives human qualities; apostrophe speaks to something. They often occur together: "O wind, carry my message home" is apostrophe, and it also personifies the wind.

Exaggeration and understatement

5. Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

• I've told you a million times.
• This bag weighs a ton.

6. Litotes

Understatement using a negative to express a positive.

• She is not a bad singer. (meaning she sings well)
• It's no small achievement.

7. Meiosis

Understatement that makes something seem less important than it is.

• Calling a serious wound "a scratch".

Contrast and contradiction

8. Oxymoron

Two contradictory words placed side by side.

• bitter sweet, deafening silence, living death, cruel kindness

9. Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but contains a truth.

• The child is father of the man. (Wordsworth)
• The more you learn, the less you know.

Common confusion: an oxymoron is a pair of words; a paradox is a whole statement or idea.

10. Antithesis

Contrasting ideas placed in balanced phrases or clauses.

• Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
• To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Irony and sarcasm

11. Verbal irony

Saying the opposite of what you mean.

• Saying "What lovely weather!" during a thunderstorm.

12. Sarcasm

Bitter or mocking verbal irony, intended to hurt or ridicule.

• "Oh, brilliant — you've broken it again."

13. Dramatic irony

When the audience knows something a character does not. It's very common in drama and a favourite examination term.

• In a tragedy, the audience knows a character is walking into a trap while the character believes they are safe.

14. Situational irony

When the outcome is the opposite of what was expected.

• A fire station burns down.

Substitution devices

15. Metonymy

Replacing a thing with something closely associated with it.

• The pen is mightier than the sword. (writing versus military force)
• Aso Rock has announced a new policy. (the Nigerian Presidency)

16. Synecdoche

Using a part to represent the whole, or the whole for a part.

• All hands on deck. (hands = sailors)
• Nigeria won the match. (the country = the national team)

Common confusion: in synecdoche, the substitute is a part of the thing; in metonymy, it is merely associated with it.

17. Euphemism

A mild or polite expression for something unpleasant.

• He passed away. (died)
• She is between jobs. (unemployed)

Other important devices

18. Rhetorical question

A question asked for effect, not for an answer.

• Who does not love freedom?

19. Climax

Arranging words or ideas in increasing order of importance.

• I came, I saw, I conquered.

20. Anticlimax (bathos)

A sudden drop from the serious or important to the trivial.

• He lost his family, his fortune and his umbrella.

21. Allusion

A brief reference to a well-known person, event, place or text.

• He is a real Judas. (biblical allusion to betrayal)

22. Repetition and refrain

Repeating words or lines for emphasis. A refrain is a line repeated at intervals, often at the end of stanzas.

Sound devices

23. Alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words.

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• The soft sea sang.

24. Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

• The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
• Go slow over the road.

25. Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate the sounds they describe.

• buzz, hiss, bang, crash, splash, sizzle

Common confusion: alliteration repeats consonant sounds at the start of words; assonance repeats vowel sounds anywhere in words. And it's the sound, not the letter, that counts: "cat" and "kite" alliterate; "city" and "cat" do not.

Quick self-test

Identify the figure of speech:

1. The leaves danced in the wind.
2. Her smile was like sunshine.
3. He is as old as the hills.
4. O Moon, why do you hide your face?
5. A deafening silence filled the room.
6. The White House issued a statement.
7. The bees buzzed around the flowers.
8. He is not unintelligent.

Answers: 1. Personification. 2. Simile. 3. Simile with hyperbole. 4. Apostrophe (with personification). 5. Oxymoron. 6. Metonymy. 7. Onomatopoeia (and alliteration with "bees buzzed"). 8. Litotes.

How to write about devices in theory answers

A strong answer has three parts:

1. Name the device.
2. Quote the exact words.
3. Explain the effect: what it emphasises, what image it creates, or what feeling it evokes, and how it connects to the poem's or passage's theme.

Weak: The poet uses personification.

Strong: In "the wind whispered secrets", the poet personifies the wind, giving it the human action of whispering. This creates a mysterious, intimate mood and suggests that nature holds knowledge hidden from people.

Practise identifying devices

Levia's Literature in English Level 1 (Literary Terms and Devices) focuses on exactly these skills, and later levels apply them to prose, drama, poetry and unseen passages. Every answer explains the device and why it fits.