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Literary Devices
| Term | Definition | example |
|---|---|---|
| Alliteration | The occurrence of the same letter or sound used multiple times in one sentence | Example: she sells seashells by the sea shore |
| Allusion | An indirect or direct reference to a person, thing, or a different text, | example: “If you do that, you will be opening Pandora’s box”. |
| Analogy | A comparison between two things for clarity. | An example is,this ball is as light as feather. |
| Anaphora | Repeating a word or expression before phrases, verses and sentences which gives a rhetorical affect. | “Be loud, be proud, be a charger!” |
| Antithesis | A person or object that is the direct opposite as someone or something else | Example: "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." |
| Cacophony | words that sound harsh or something, unpleasant to read. | “The dog clawed and nawed on the steak bones.” |
| Caricature | describing something and like overexaggerating features comically | Example: 1:Can I have some ice cream? 2: Only a spoonful. 1: *pulls out comically large spoon* |
| Cliché | An overused saying or phrase that has lost effectiveness.. | Ex. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree |
| Diction | The way, style or choice of words a writer or speaker uses to express thoughts and feelings. | Ex. (formal) Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you. (informal) Hi, it’s nice to meet you. |
| Ethos | Using an ethical line of reasoning when trying to persuade. | |
| Euphemism | A replacement of a word or saying that may come across offensive or unpleasant, would be replaced by a kind and polite word or expression. | Ex. Kick the bucket (describes death) |
| Euphony | Pleasant sounds or words to the ear. | Ex: Lullaby, or a beautiful singing voice. |
| Hyperbole | Exaggerating a situation using descriptive words that are not necessarily taken seriously. | Ex: ¨He is running faster than the wind¨ |
| Imagery | Visually descriptive, it helps you imagine something while reading it. | “The soft, fluffy clouds danced overhead.” |
| Verbal Irony | Occurs when something is said in context of the opposite meaning of the situation | Ex. it's a hurricane outside and someone says ¨wow what beautiful weather outside¨ |
| Dramatic Irony | Occurs when the audience understands something about a character’s actions or an event but the characters do not. | Ex. In a scary movie, the character goes into a house they think is empty, but the audience knows the killer is in the house. |
| Situational Irony | When in a situation, the opposite of what you expect happens. | Ex. “There is so much sun out today” and then it starts raining. |
| Logos | A way of persuading an audience using logic and facts | Ex. The Earth is round because there are satellite images proving so. |
| Metaphor | An unlikely comparison not using “like” or “as.” | Ex: The calm lake was a mirror |
| Mood | How a reader is made to feel about a piece of writing intentionally by the author. | Ex: feeling sad, happy, excited, curious when reading a text. |
| Onomatopoeia | the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named . | Ex. Pop, click, bang |
| Oxymoron | A figure of speech containing two contradicting words. | Ex. deafening silence, bittersweet, act naturally |
| Paradox | a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. | I.e. “This is a false statement” |
| Parallelism | The use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose which correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc. | Ex: Like Father, Like son. |
| Pathos | Qualities that make the reader/audience feel sympathy/pity/sadness for a character | (people dying, traumatic events, EXT) |
| Personification | Giving human qualities to an object or something nonhuman, such as an animal. | Ex. The piece of cake was calling my name |
| Pun | Commonly known as a play on words. Involving words w/ similar sounds but different meanings. It typically relies on the given word/phrase having multiple meanings & is generally intended to be used humorously.Can be used in a serious manner in literature. | Ex. ‘A chicken crossing a road is truly poultry in motion” |
| Rhetorical Question | A question that is asked to create dramatic effect rather than to seek an answer. | Example: “Are you serious right now?” A rhetorical question could be applied in this context to express discomfort in another person's actions or opinions. |
| Sentence Structure | The way your sentence is worded grammatically. The way you arrange the nouns/verbs. | I.E. “the boy sat in the chair” vs “in the chair the boy sat” |
| Simile | A comparison between two objects to make a more detailed description. | Example The books were heavy as rocks. |
| Symbolism | Using symbols to represent ideas or qualities, | for example a dove is a symbol of peace |
| Synecdoche | When only a part of something is used to refer to the whole of something. | Ex. “Do you like my new wheels?” When someone asks if you like their wheels, they are referring to their new car. |
| Tone | Tone is the way an author expresses their emotions through diction. | Ex. school has started so now I am sad. I like ya cut g, so now I am happy again |
Created by:
MooshroomsRCool