Simile = compares two unlike things by

using the comparative words like or as to

suggest they are one and the same thing.
Example: Life is
Explanation: Life

like a box of chocolates.

is like a box of chocolates
because of the many choices one has to
make.

Metaphor = compares two unlike things

without using the comparative words like
or as to suggest they are one and the
same thing.

 Example = Life is a box of chocolates.

Explanation = The choices we face in life

are as varied and unknown as the flavors

hidden in chocolates in a box.

Analogy = compares two things, which are

alike in several respects, for the purpose of
explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or
difficult idea or object by showing how the
idea or object is similar to some familiar one

 Example =

For answers successfully

arrived at are solutions to
difficulties previously discussed,
and one cannot untie a knot if he is
ignorant of it. --Aristotle

Explanation

= In order to arrive at a
solution, we must know what the
problem is

Irony = is when one outcome

is expected, but the opposite
occurs, usually with a
coincidental twist of events.
Example: An earthquake
occurring during an
earthquake drill

Verbal Irony = Where one thing is

said, but another, opposite meaning
is inferred.
Example:

Hannibal the
cannibal said, Id love to have
you over for dinner.

Dramatic Irony = occurs when the

audience knows something a
character does not and the outcome
or meaning is the opposite of what
the character expects.

A symbol has meaning in itself, but stands

for something else. However, a symbol is
not what it symbolizes.
For example, a dove is a bird, but when
used as a symbol it represents peace. If
the dove dies, peace does not die.

Likewise, the American

flag is a piece of cloth
with red and white bars
and white stars on a blue
field. It symbolizes the United
States of America and, to some, freedom.
However, if someone burned the flag, the
only thing that has been destroyed is a
piece of cloth. The United States still
exists, as well as freedom.

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in

which objects, persons, and actions in a
narrative, are equated with the meanings that
lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying
meaning has moral, social, religious, or political
significance, and characters are often
personifications of abstract ideas such as
charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a
story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a
symbolic meaning.

Example: While the literal

meaning of The Crucible focuses
on the Salem Witch Trials, its
symbolic meaning (or allegorical
meaning) is about the Red
Scare and McCarthyism.