A statement which while seemingly contradictory or absurd may actually be well-founded or true; a logic twist, such as “Everything I say is a lie.”

A: Adam's kryptonite was chocolate cake.

N: Never have a heart two sizes too small.

Referring metaphorically to persons, places or things from history or previous literature, with which the reader is expected to have enough familiarity to make extended associations, such as “The new kid is as mean as Grendel and twice as ugly” (reference to Beowulf) or “He must think he’s some kind of Superman.”

This Love by Taylor Swift

An antithesis which brings together two sharply contradictory terms, such as “wise fool,” “little big man,” “eloquent silence,” and “loving hate.”

Saying less than is true, a purposeful under-exaggeration, such as “The reports of my death have been exaggerated.”

A play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings, such as “To write with a broken pencil is pointless.”