2. METAPHOR  A figure of speech in which a term or phase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.  As in “He is a lion in battle”  The effect of metaphors is that it aims to create imagery so that we may visualize the connection between two objects or things when they are not.  Metaphors are just the use of direct comparison.

3. SIMILE  Comparison of two nouns that are unlike, with “like” or “as”.  Her cry was as a lions roar when he is hungry.  A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another of a different kind.  The effect that a simile has in a poem is that it paints a picture in our minds as a simile is a descriptive set of words.

4. PERSONIFICATION  Attribution of a human nature or characteristics with something non human.  Example from the lyrics of the song Welcome Home (Sanitarium) by Metallica: “Moon is full, seems to change, just labeled mentally deranged.”  People use personification to make stories/ poems more dramatic and interesting or to convey a certain mood.

5. ALLITERATION  The same letter or sound occurring at the beginning of closely connected or adjacent words.  Sam says cereal is super.  Can be used to drive home a point with repetition and can be used in poetry – alliterations can be soft or hard on the ears by using different letters, e.g. H is soft where as K is harsh.