Ambiguity is an idea or situation that can be understood or interpreted in multiple ways. This concept includes ambiguous sentences, and ambiguous storylines and arguments – teachers may even have written that your essay points are ‘too ambiguous’! It is often… Continue Learning »
Sibilance is a device in which a hissing “s” sound is created as a result of using repeated soft consonants. It is a specific type of alliteration. While most frequently created by the use of ‘s’, it is also effective… Continue Learning »
Personification is a technique in which human characteristics are applied to inanimate, non-living objects. This is typically achieved through the use of a metaphor. These characteristics often include specific feelings or emotions. Why use Personification? Creating Empathy: The use of personification… Continue Learning »
Onomatopoeia is where a word’s pronunciation is used to imitate sounds, specifically the sound that it describes (e.g. “bang”). This technique can sometimes be confused with interjections. An interjection, as the name suggests, is when speech is inserted as a a… Continue Learning »
Bathos is the effect created when a considered or serious subject matter descends into the trivial or silly. These sudden transitions are often very anti-climactic, and often are used to progress or transition into a more humorous subject matter. The… Continue Learning »
‘Ode to a Nightingale’ is a poem by John Keats in which emotions such as sadness and despair are explored, along with ideas related to transience and the passage of time. Keats is an extremely well known and highly regarded… Continue Learning »
‘Talking in Bed’ is a poem by Philip Larkin, which was published in 1964. The poem takes the everyday occurrence of two people lying in bed together, and then explores a whole range of thoughts and emotions associated with relationships. Larkin… Continue Learning »
A Caesura is a break in the normal flow of a sentence, phrase or metrical line. It is normally as a result of a piece of punctuation such as a comma or full stop. Types of Caesura There are a… Continue Learning »
Semantic Field is a term used to describe a group of words, all of which share a similar concept, theme or subject. Associated Terminology Semantics This is the study of meaning in language, both in a philosophical and linguistic sense…. Continue Learning »