Literary Devices PDF

LITERARY DEVICES - Techniques to help create deeper meaning and more vivid detail - Allows readers to connect on a stronger level - Helps to understand the author’s motivations - Allows the overall meaning of the literary work to come through more clearly - Make the literary work more inte...

LITERARY DEVICES - Techniques to help create deeper meaning and more vivid detail - Allows readers to connect on a stronger level - Helps to understand the author’s motivations - Allows the overall meaning of the literary work to come through more clearly - Make the literary work more interesting to read  TABLE OF CONTENTS Alliteration Metaphor Allusion Oxymoron Analogy Paradox Archetype Personification Foreshadowing Pun Hyperbole Simile Imagery Symbol Irony Understatement ALLITERATION DEFINITION The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of nearby words. ALLITERATION EXAMPLE The falcon took flight with flair.  ALLUSION DEFINITION A direct or indirect reference in one work to another work or to a historical person or event.  ALLUSION EXAMPLE In Shakespeare’s play of the same name, Hamlet compares his dead father to the ancient Greek god, Apollo.  ANALOGY DEFINITION A comparison based on partial similarity for the purpose of making something clearer.  ANALOGY EXAMPLE The Trees by Philip Larkin The growth of a tree as an The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said; The recent buds relax and spread, Their greatness is a kind of relief. analogy for the Is it that they are born again And we grow old? No, they die too. Their yearly trick of looking new growth of human beings. Is written down in rings of grain. Yet still the unresting castles thresh In fullgrown thickness every May. Last year is dead, they seem to say, Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.  ARCHETYPE DEFINITION An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life.  ARCHETYPE EXAMPLE The Hero The hero leaves his/her home to go on an adventure, performing deeds that bring honor to the community. FORESHADOWIN G DEFINITION A device of hinting at the future events occurring later in the work. FORESHADOWIN G EXAMPLE A discovery of an injured bird might foreshadow the main character’s accident.  HYPERBOLE DEFINITION Intended exaggeration, a device often used to create irony, humour, or dramatic effect.  HYPERBOLE EXAMPLE A character saying he caught a fish two metres long.  IMAGERY DEFINITION Using descriptive words that appeal to our senses in order to form a mental image of a key scene or object.  IMAGERY EXAMPLE Autumn By T.E. Hulme Images add visual clarity to the poem. They are intense, A touch of cold in the Autumn night- jam-packed with meaning, I walked abroad, and can evoke so much for a And saw the ruddy moon lean over a hedge Like a red-faced farmer. reader in so few words. I did not speak, but nodded, And round about were the wistful stars “Red-faced farmer” = With white faces like town children tanned from the outdoors “Wistful stars with white faces like town children” = pale from staying indoors  IRONY DEFINITION Differences between reality and appearance/expectation. VERBAL IRONY DEFINITION The contrast between what a character says, and what he or she really means. VERBAL IRONY EXAMPLE A character who gives a compliment grudgingly is told, “That’s big of you.”  DRAMATIC IRONY DEFINITION The contrast between what a character says or believes, and what the audience knows to be true.  DRAMATIC IRONY EXAMPLE A student believes a classmate has stolen her calculator, but the audience knows it has been tidied away by an efficient maintenance  SITUATIONAL IRONY DEFINITION The contrast between what happens, and what was expected or appropriate.  SITUATIONAL IRONY EXAMPLE A late-arriving boyfriend is met with unexpected, forgiving laughter.  METAPHOR DEFINITION An implied comparison that does NOT use like or as, thus connecting two or more usually unlike things that have something in common.  METAPHOR EXAMPLE “The greater part of untested men appeared quiet and absorbed. They were going to look at the war, the red animal - the red swollen god.” The Red Badge of Courage  OXYMORON DEFINITION A device that combines contradictory words for effect.  OXYMORON EXAMPLE Bitter sweet Knowledgeable fool Known secret Clearly misunderstood  PARADOX DEFINITION An apparent contradiction or absurdity that is somehow true.  PARADOX EXAMPLE “It was the best of times, It was the worst of times.” The Tale of Two Cities PERSONIFICAT ION DEFINITION A technique in which inanimate objects or concepts are given human qualities, form, or actions. PESONIFICATI ON EXAMPLE “...the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places.” Frankenstein  PUN DEFINITION A play on words using a word with two meanings, two words of similar meanings, or words that are similarly spelled or pronounced.  PUN EXAMPLE “Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead.” Romeo and Juliet  SIMILE DEFINITION A definitely stated comparison that uses like or as.  SIMILE EXAMPLE “Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky, Like a patient, etherized upon a table.” The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  SYMBOL DEFINITION Something that represents or stands for something else.  SYMBOL EXAMPLE A dove for peace A maple leaf for Canada A book for knowledge UNDERSTATEME NT DEFINITION Occurs when a situation or thing is described as if it is less important or serious than it actually is. UNDERSTATEME NT EXAMPLE A hero describing a particular Tuesday when she stumbled into a bank holdup, was taken hostage, and saved the other hostages by disarming the robbers (sustaining five bullet wounds and a severed foot in the process), as merely a “bad day.”