a guide to literary elements SHAMPOO a guide to literary elements

Simile: Items from different classes are explicitly compared by a connective such as like, as, or than, or by a verb such as appears or seems. Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore ... Poe

Simile: “cute as a kitten” “as busy as a bee” "as snug as a bug in a rug” "as happy as a clam” “pretty like a flower” “quick like a cheetah” “quite like a mouse”

Exaggeration for poetic effect Robert Burns writes to one of many women in his life: So fair thou art, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I: And I will love thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun: Hyperbole: Exaggeration for poetic effect

a peck of pickled peppers! Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers! Alliteration: Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more stressed syllables.

The wind sweeps the clouds. Metaphor: An implied Rather than direct comparison. The wind sweeps the clouds.

Giving Human Characteristics to Nonhuman Things PERSONIFICATION Giving Human Characteristics to Nonhuman Things

The teapot on the stove screeched when it finally got hot.

The morning sun peeked over the horizon.

One dark and stormy night, the wind howled through my window.

ONOMATOPOEIA a word that imitates the sound it represents hiss

Mother Goose Bow-wow, says the dog, Mew, mew says the cat, Grunt, grunt, goes the hog, And squeak goes the rat. Tu, whu, says the owl, Quack, quack, says the duck, And what the cuckoo says you know.

Oxymoron: a two word paradox Jumbo Shrimp

Oxymoron: a two word paradox Great Depression Jumbo shrimp Cruel to be kind Pain for pleasure Clearly confused Act naturally Beautifully painful Painfully beautiful Deafening silence Pretty ugly Pretty fierce Pretty cruel Definitely maybe a two word paradox