A pause or break in a line or verse
Example:
It is for you we speak, || not for ourselves:
You are abused || and by some putter-on
That will be damn’d for’t; || would I knew the villain...
-William Shakespeare
The passage of regular or approximately equivalent time intervals between definite events or the recurrence of specific sounds or kinds of sounds.
Example:
“Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” -Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The reader is aware of something about which the character involved knows nothing
Example: A scary movie when the character walks into a house but the audience knows the killer is in the house.
A contrast between what is said and what is actually meant
Example: A mother looks at her son’s messy room and says, “Wow, you should win an award for cleanliness.”
A figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with each other.
Example: That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
A comparison made between two frequently dissimilar items or situations in order to provide insight into the nature of one or both of them.
Example: Comparing the colonization of distant planets and galaxies to the colonization of distant islands in a vast ocean
The duplication of sounds, usually at the end of a line or verse.
Example:
“Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered, weak and weary…”
-The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
A reference to a historical or literary figure or event that may allude to myth, religion, or to any other aspect of ancient or modern culture
Example: You’re a regular Einstein
A contrast between what appears to be and what really is
Example: In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience/reader knows that Juliet has faked her death, but Romeo does not and he thinks she is really dead. (dramatic irony)
A kind of metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way. Often, conceits are extended metaphors that dominate an entire passage or poem.
Example: Marriage is like getting a root canal.
Childbirth is like getting a nail driven through your foot.