Literary devices

Literary devices

By: Chloe Case

What are Literary Devices?

Literary devices are specific techniques that allow a writer to convey a deeper meaning that goes beyond what's on the page.

​Types of Literary Devices

• ​Metaphor

• Simile

• Imagery

• Symbolism

• Personification

• Hyperbole

• ​Irony

• Juxtaposition

• Paradox

• Allusion

• Allegory

• Ekphrasis

​Metaphors

​A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. In other words, a metaphor is a figure of speech that directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas.

For example: 'You're room is a pig sty!'

When you use a metaphor, you do not use words like as and like.

​Similes

​A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. To clarify, a simile is a way to compare.

For instance, 'Your room is as messy as a pig sty!'

Unlike metaphors, similes compare with as and 'like'.

​Imagery

​Imagery is the use of figurative language to describe something. Most times, imagery is used to appeal to all five senses.

Smell imagery: As we approached the tree, the air around it smelled crisp and precise.

​Imagery is a literary device that refers to the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience or create a picture with words for a reader.

Symbolism​

​Symbolism is a literary device that refers to the use of symbols in a literary work. A symbol is something that stands for or suggests something else; it represents something beyond literal meaning. In literature, a symbol can be a word, object, action, character, or concept that embodies and evokes a range of additional meaning and significance.

​Personification

​Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human. Personification is a common form of metaphor in that human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things. This allows writers to create life and motion within inanimate objects, animals, and even abstract ideas by assigning them recognizable human behaviors and emotions.

​Hyperboles

Hyperbole is a figure of speech and literary device that creates heightened effect through deliberate exaggeration. Hyperbole is often a boldly overstated or exaggerated claim or statement that adds emphasis without the intention of being literally true. In rhetoric and literature, hyperbole is often used for serious, comic, or ironic effect.

​Irony

​Irony is a literary device in which contradictory statements or situations reveal a reality that is different from what appears to be true. There are many forms of irony featured in literature. The effectiveness of irony as a literary device depends on the reader’s expectations and understanding of the disparity between what “should” happen and what “actually” happens in a literary work. This can be in the form of an unforeseen outcome of an event, a character’s unanticipated behavior, or something incongruous that is said.

​Juxtaposition

​Juxtaposition is a literary device that implies comparison or contrast. Writers create juxtaposition by placing two entities side by side to create dramatic or ironic contrast. Juxtaposition is a form of implied comparison in that there is no overt comparison or inference on the part of the writer. This allows the reader to discern how the paired entities are similar or different. The effect of this literary device is a more profound understanding of contrast and creating a sense of fate or inevitability in the comparison.

​Paradox

​A paradox is a statement that appears at first to be contradictory, but upon reflection then makes sense. This literary device is commonly used to engage a reader to discover an underlying logic in a seemingly self-contradictory statement or phrase. As a result, paradox allows readers to understand concepts in a different and even non-traditional way.

​Allusion

​An allusion is a reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, event, or other literary work with which the reader is presumably familiar. As a literary device, allusion allows a writer to compress a great deal of meaning and significance into a word or phrase. However, allusions are only effective to the extent that they are recognized and understood by the reader, and that they are properly inferred and interpreted by the reader. If an allusion is obscure or misunderstood, it can lose effectiveness by confusing the reader.

​Allegory

Allegory is a narration or description in which events, actions, characters,

settings or objects represent specific abstractions or ideas. Allegory generally operates on two levels as a literary device. The overt or surface narrative /description is meant to have enough literary elements to be a standalone work that is interesting and/or entertaining by itself. However, the emphasis of allegory is typically placed on the abstract ideals represented or symbolized by the work’s literary elements. In other words, the meaning behind the surface narrative has even greater value as a literary work. Though many allegories are intended to be didactic in providing a moral, ethical, or religious lesson, not all allegories set out to achieve this goal.

Ekprasis

​Ekphrastic refers to a form of writing, mostly poetry, wherein the author describes another work of art, usually visual. It is used to convey the deeper symbolism of the corporeal art form by means of a separate medium. It has often been found that ekphrastic writing is rhetorical in nature and symbolic of a greater meaning.

Example: A photograph of an empty landscape can convey desolation, abandon and loss. Similarly, one can convey the same sentiments and concepts by using phrases such as ‘an empty doorway’ or ‘a childless nursery’.

​You have just learned twelve literary devices!

Keep the good work up!​

Great Job!

Great Job!

​You have just learned twelve literary devices!

Keep the good work up!​