Personification
It is a stylistic device which consists in ascribing life or any other property of a living being to inanimate or abstract things (Ex. The wind howled and moaned). Personification is the usual thing, method employed in fairy-tales and fables. There are different degrees of personification. A thing or idea may be fully personified if they are made to perform all actions which are not typical of them (Ex. Morning awoke quiet and pleased, a bit subdued as if holding its breath). A thing or idea is partially personified if in some aspects they are presented as living beings and in other aspects as things or ideas themselves. Ex. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers
From the seas and the streams,
I bear light shade for the leaves
When laid in their noonday dreams. Apostrophe is the weakest type of personification. It is an address to an idea or a thing, mostly to phenomena of nature (Ex. Break, break, break on the cold gray stones, oh, sea).
Hyperbole
It is the use of exaggerated terms for the sake of artistic emphasis (Ex. I will love you still my dear till all the seas go dry). It expresses a notion which doesn't correspond to reality, but both the writer and the reader are fully aware of this fact. Hyperbole is very often combined with a metaphor (Ex. To have oceans of time. This season the city is a desert). Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating some quality or quantity. When it is directed the opposite way when the size, shape or characteristic features are not exaggerated but are intentionally diminished, we deal with a special type of hyperbole which is called understatement. Understatement shows not the actual diminishing of the object, but a subjective impression of it (Ex. Then came a woman of a pocket size). Hyperbole frequently occurs in colloquial language. Very often hyperbole becomes common and loses its stylistic coloring (Ex. I haven't seen you for ages). Hyperbole is used in works of literature and created by writers for definite purposes, and it strikes our imagination by their unexpectedness (Ex. I was scared to death. He put a red-head boiled potato down my back)
5. Oxymoron
It is a stylistic device the syntactical and semantic structures of which are contradictory. Each oxymoron is a combination of two semantically contradictory notions which help to emphasize the complex nature of a thing or phenomenon, and shows at the same time the dialectical unity of these contradictory qualities. These qualities simultaneously exist in the described phenomenon. As a rule, one of the members shows the feature which is universally acknowledged and observed. The other member expresses a purely individual subjective possession of this object. We may say that in oxymoron in a laconic way the existing discrepancy of the object is revealed. Oxymoron may be expressed through:
1) adjective + noun (ex. sweet pain, adoring hatred)
2) adjective + adjective (ex. the biggest little town)
3) adverb + adjective (ex. dreadfully pleasant)
4) verb + adjective (ex. to cry silently)
5) noun + preposition + noun (ex. a victory in defeat)
6) particle II + preposition + noun or verb + preposition + noun (ex. ruined by civilization)
7) extended word-combination based on antonyms (ex. You are right in the wrong way) Oxymorons can never be regarded as phraseological units. They are not reproduced in speech. They are always built anew.
Zeugma
It is the use of a word in two meanings simultaneously. One meaning is literal and the other is transferred. Both meanings of the word clash in a sentence and it produces a humorous effect. Most often zeugma is built on polysemantic verbs which are made to refer to two different nouns (ex. She used to cram him with delicious things from dinner and with ghost stories at night. He took his hat and took his leave).
Pun
It is based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a word or phrase. It requires a larger context for its realization than zeugma. It may be based on polysemy, homonyms, ironical etymology of words (ex. "Bow to the board", said Bumble. Oliver seeing no board but a table bowed to that. Is life worth living? It depends on the liver). Pun combine notions opposite in meaning but they sound alike. It makes the statement absurd, ironical or comical. There are four types of pun:
1) It is a play of words based on polysemy (ex. Did I hit a woman with a child? - No, sir, I hit her with the brick)
2) Pun may be based on full or partial homonymy (ex. Is it customary to tick the waiter in the restaurant? - Why, yes, sir. - Then hand me a tick. I have been waiting for an hour)
3) It may be based on homophones (ex. You are the most earnest person I've ever saw. - It is absurd to say that you are not Earnest.
4) It may be based on antonymy (ex. In ten minutes there will be an undress rehearsal)