Literary Devices and Figurative Language

• Literary devices and figurative language are used in writing.

Figurative Language Explained

• Figurative Language is writing that is not meant to be taken literally.
• It is used to get a point across and convey a message.

Literary Devices Explained

• Literary devices are specific techniques used in figurative language to convey a message.
• They work alongside the plot and characters to elevate a story.
• Literary devices prompt reflection on life, society, and what it means to be human.
• There are many styles of literary devices, each with a specific purpose

Specific Types of Literary Devices

Alliteration

• Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
• Examples:
  • "She sells seashells by the seashore."
  • "Sheep should sleep in a shed."
  • "A big black bug bit a big black bear."

Allegory

• An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning which is typically moral or political.
• Situations in the story echo stories from history or modern-day life, without explicitly stating this connection.
• Allegories express large, complex ideas in an approachable manner.
• Writers use allegories to create some distance between themselves and the issues they are discussing, especially when those issues are strong critiques of political or societal realities.
• Examples:
  • Santa Claus is an allegory that illustrates how one person can change the world by giving.
  • A fisherman uses a sinking boat as an allegory for a bad marriage; if you ignore the leaks for a while, you both drown.

Allusion

• An allusion is a figure of speech that refers to a famous person, place, or historical event, either directly or through implication.
• Allusions are used to develop characters, frame storylines, and help create associations with well-known works.
• Allusions references Victorian fairy tales and popular culture, to the Bible and the Bard (Shakespeare).
• Example: “Bah humbug" alludes to Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol and is associated with its curmudgeonly character, Ebenezer Scrooge and expresses dissatisfaction.

Analogy

• An analogy shows how two things are alike with the ultimate goal of making a point about this comparison.
• The point of an analogy is not merely to show, but also to explain.
• Example: "What you're doing is as useful as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic," communicates that the first task is useless by comparing it to a similarly useless task.

Anecdote

• An anecdote is a very short story that is usually interesting or amusing and concerns real people and real incidents.
• Anecdotes are often humorous, but also often impart a deeper truth and are not the same as a joke because the purpose is not just to evoke laughter.
• Example: "I once had a border collie. She was so smart! Every morning, I'd open up the front door and she'd run out, pick up the newspaper and deliver it to my husband at the breakfast table."

Cliffhanger

• A cliffhanger is a plot device in which a component of a story ends unresolved, usually in a suspenseful or shocking way.
• They compel audiences to turn the page or return to the story in the next installment.
• A cliffhanger can end a chapter of a novel, a television episode, a scene in a film, or a serialized story (book or movie).
• Cliffhanger endings usually fall into two categories:
  • The main character comes face-to-face with a dangerous or possibly life-threatening situation.
  • A shocking revelation comes to light, threatening to alter the course of the narrative.
• Cliffhangers mark the end of a section of a narrative with the express purpose of keeping audiences engaged in the story.

Flashback

• A flashback is an interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an event that occurred before the main time frame of a work's action.
• Writers use flashbacks to complicate the sense of chronology in the plot and to convey the richness of the experience of human time.
• Examples:
  • A story about a girl who is afraid of heights includes a flashback to a time when she fell off of the top of a playground as a young child.
  • A story about a man who acts strangely and rue includes a flashback to a scene of war, in which this man was a soldier.

Foreshadowing

• Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story.
• This can create suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that things may not be as they seem.
• Foreshadowing does not necessarily mean explicitly revealing what will happen later in your story.
• When it is used effectively, many readers may not even realize the significance of an author's foreshadowing until the end of the story.

Hyperbole

• Hyperbole is a technique where an author or speaker intentionally uses exaggeration and overstatement for emphasis and effect.
• Hyperbole is a common literary device that also appears in everyday storytelling and common figures of speech.
• Examples:
  • I slept like a rock last night.
  • These high heels are killing me.
  • Be careful, it's a jungle out there.

Imagery

• In poetry, imagery is a vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers' senses and imagination.
• Imagery is not focused solely on visual representations or mental images—it refers to the full spectrum of sensory experiences, including internal emotions and physical sensations.
• Different types of imagery:
  • Visual (sight)
  • Auditory (sound)
  • Organic (internal sensation)
  • Gustatory (taste)
  • Kinesthetic (motion)
  • Tactile (touch)
  • Olfactory (smell)

Irony

• Irony is a literary device in a situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality, or the difference between what something appears to mean versus its literal meaning.
• Types of Irony:
  • Dramatic Irony (Tragic Irony): A writer lets their reader know something that a character does not.
    • Situational Irony: A discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or would be appropriate in the situation, and what really happens
    • Verbal Irony: A statement in which the speaker means something very different from what he or she is saying.

Juxtaposition

• Juxtaposition is when two or more elements are deliberately placed together in order to emphasize their differences, reveal unexpected similarities, or to explore the relationship between the two.
• Juxtaposition can:
  • Help us better understand a character by making the character's goodness or moral virtue clearer to readers by placing them in contrast to wicked characters. (ie: Cinderella)
  • Make a point or link two ideas. (ie: "Parting is such sweet sorrow” – Romeo & Juliet
  • Point out absurdity in the situation. (ie: Think of the images on the slides)

Metaphor

• A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares one thing to another for rhetorical effect.
• A metaphor is often poetically saying something is something else.
• Example: "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players." - William Shakespeare

Mood

• Mood is the feeling created in the reader by reading a literary work or passage.

Motif

• A motif is a literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work.
• Sometimes, a motif is a recurring image.
• Other times, it's a repeated word, phrase, or topic expressed in language
• It can be a recurring situation or action, or a sound or smell, a temperature, even a color.
• The key aspect is that a motif repeats and helps to illuminate the dominant ideas, central themes, and deeper meaning of a story.

Onomatopoeia

• Onomatopoeia refers to a word that phonetically mimics or resembles the sound of the thing it describes.
• Words to describe the noises that animals make are all onomatopoetic, such as a dog's "bark," a cat's "meow," or a coo's "moo.”
• The onomatopoetic words for animal sounds change quite a bit from one language to another, as the words must fit into the larger linguistic system.
• A pig says "oink” in English, "buu" in Japanese, “grunz” in German, “knor," in Dutch.

Oxymoron

• Oxymorons are oppositional words joined to create a unique word or phrase.
• Oxymorons can seem absurd yet make perfect sense at the same time and support a lighthearted mood or tone, as well as emphasize conflict
• Oxymoron adds dramatic effect, create a playful tone, reveal a deeper meaning, or add irony
• Examples:
  • Jumbo Shrimp
  • Seriously Funny
  • Original Copy
  • Clearly Confused
  • Plastic Glasses
  • Bittersweet
  • Military Intelligence
  • Business Ethics

Paradox

• A paradox is a literary device that contradicts itself but contains a piece of truth.
• Example: I would love to go to that restaurant, but it's always so busy - nobody can ever get in.

Pathetic Fallacy

• Pathetic fallacy is a literary device that attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature.
• The word pathetic in the term stands for “imparting emotions to something else," and not in the derogatory sense of being miserable.
• Example: “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills...” - William Wordsworth, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Personification

• Personification gives human characteristics, such as emotions and behaviors, to non-human things, animals, and ideas.
• It uses the non-literal use of language to convey concepts in a relatable way.
• Example: The story jumped off the page!

Pun

• A pun is a play on words which usually hinges on a word with more than one meaning or the substitution of a homonym that changes the meaning of the sentence for humorous or rhetorical effect.
• Example: "Corduroy pillows are making headlines,” where "headlines" usually refers to something that is new and popular, but changes the meaning in that after having slept on a corduroy pillow, a person would wake up with lines on their heads.

Simile

• Similes create a comparison using like, as, resembles, than, or as though and paints a picture for the reader, with examples:
  • "He looks like right after the maul hits the steer and it no longer alive and don't yet know that it is dead." - As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
  • "O my Luve is like a red, red rose That's newly sprung in June; O my Luve is like the melody That's sweetly played in tune." - A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
  • "The cafe was like a battleship stripped for action" - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
  • "Life is like a box of chocolates.” – Forrest Gump

Symbol

• Symbolism is a literary device that uses symbols, be they words, people, marks, locations, or abstract ideas to represent something beyond the literal meaning.
• The concept of symbolism is not confined to works of literature, and can be found in every corner of our daily life.
• There are 5 ways to use symbolism: to add emotion, to add imagery, to connect themes, to define characters, and to conceal darker meaning
• Example: Colours and their symbolism
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Red
  • Purple
  • White
  • Black
  • Dark vs. Light

Tone

• Tone reflects the writer's attitude toward the subject matter or audience of a literary work.
• By conveying this attitude through tone, the writer creates a particular relationship with the reader that, in turn, influences the intention and meaning of the written words.
• The writer's tone may reflect their personal attitude or opinion and also apply to convey the attitudes and feelings of a certain character or narrator.
• Look closely at the literary choices made by the writer to not unfairly assign a tone to them and interpret tone judiciously.
• Examples of Tone:
  • Nostalgic
  • Derisive
  • Petulant
  • Pessimistic
  • Regretful
  • Anticipating
  • Facetious
  • Inspirational
  • Joyful
  • Nervous
  • Assertive
  • Sympathetic
  • Envious
  • Reverent
  • Playful
  • Ironic
  • Persuasive
  • Fearful
  • Dry
  • Conflicted