Literary Devices What are literary devices Literary devices

Literary Devices

What are literary devices?

Literary devices ❖ They are elements used by writers to create a specific effect in any given literary piece ❖ When used effectively, literary devices help readers appreciate, interpret, and analyze a literary work

Imagery: ❖ A sensual apprehension (a sight or smell) or a concept (femininity or mortality) presented in a text ❖ Examples: ➢ He fumed and charged like an angry bull ➢ He fell down like an old tree during a storm

Literary devices ❖ Foreshadowing ➢ A literary device in which the author gives clues about events that will happen later on in the story ❖ Oxymoron ➢ A figure of speech in which is apparently contradictory ideas to the terms that appear in conjunction ➢ Examples: “Less is more”, “Deafening silence”

Literary devices ❖ Metaphor ➢ ➢ ❖ An image that lies to tell a truth by transferring identity from one thing to another. Describe something without using “like”or “as”. Examples: “a blanket of snow” Allusion ➢ A reference to a person, place, historical event, literature, myth, or folklore that relates back to the orignial conversation.

Symbol ❖ An image that means more than it denotes (seems) ❖ Examples: a skull, heart, clock, rose, etc.

Personification Examples of personification: ❖ Attributing human characteristics or qualities to inanimate objects or things that are nonhuman. ● The wind whistled loudly. ● The leaves danced in the wind. ● The alarm clock screams early every morning.

Literary devices ❖ Alliteration: ➢ Repetition of consonant sounds in a sequence of words ➢ Example: “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping” -E. A. Poe

Literary devices ❖ Simile: ➢ A comparison of two objects using “like” or “as” ➢ Examples: ➢ as happy as a clam ➢ as tall as a tree ➢ bright like sun

Literary devices ❖ Paradox ➢ a statement leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory ➢ Example: “sound of silence”, “comfortable misery” ❖ Irony ➢ A statement that seems deliberately contradictory or opposite to what one expects ➢ Example: a bird who is afraid of hights

Literary devices ❖ Pun ➢ A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Literary devices ❖ Pathetic fallacy ➢ Used to reflect the actions and emotions of a story/character in nature (usually the weather). ➢ Think of the dark and gloomy weather in E. A. Poe’s “The Raven” and the narrator’s dark and gloomy mood over losing Lenore. ❖ Allegory ➢ A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one ➢ Example: “Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey”.

Literary devices ❖ Magic realism ➢ A literary genre in which realistic narrative is combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy.

EXTRA! You’ve got to have it! ● Monologue: like a soliloquy, is a lengthy speech. However a monologue is addressed to other characters on stage, not to the audience. ● Soliloquy: a lengthy speech in which a character – usually alone on stage – expresses his or her thoughts to the audience. ● Aside: a brief remark by a character revealing his thoughts or feelings to the audience, unheard by the other characters.