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Tropes

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Figures of speech involving a change in the usual meaning of words

Explore this topic in depth (2)

Figurative Language in Poetry — Figurative language is not ornamental extra language: it is one of poetry’s ways of making connections and testing meanings. This guide introduces metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe and related figures, with practical steps for reading how they develop across a poem.

Imagery in Poetry — Imagery is the sensory language that helps a poem be felt as well as understood. This guide explains how to recognise different kinds of imagery and explore what they do without rushing past the words into interpretation.

Detailed Definition
Tropes are figurative language devices—such as metaphor, metonymy, irony, or hyperbole—that shift words from literal to imaginative meaning; they form the core of poetic expression by enabling indirect, evocative, and symbolically rich communication beyond denotation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Tropes: Metaphor in Shakespeare’s "All the world’s a stage"; Irony in Auden’s "The Unknown Citizen"; Hyperbole in John Donne’s "Go and catch a falling star"; Contemporary: Jorie Graham uses apostrophe to address climate data as if sentient
Additional Notes
Tropes: Conventional figures of speech or thematic devices (e.g., metaphor, irony, the “carpe diem” motif); foundational to poetic expression; not clichés when freshly deployed.
Also Known As
Figurative language Rhetorical devices Figures of speech Stylistic turns
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