Literary Terms Refresher

Literary Terms Refresher

Literary Devices

What are they? Why use them?

Literary devices are ways that authors and writers use language to make their writing more interesting.

• Literary devices are certain patterns of words that EVERY writer uses in the same way

• Literary devices are ANYTHING an author uses to get their point across.

These literary devices help the reader "see" or imagine the story, understand the character's thoughts and feelings, and add layers of extra, deeper meaning.

• So instead of saying, "He sat and had a thought..."

• A writer says, "He plopped himself in a soft chair and tried to remember why he chose to play this stupid game in the first place."

• What makes the second sentence so much better than the first one?

Multiple Choice

The implicit (implied meaning), rather explicit meaning of a word, consisting of the suggestions, associations, and emotional overtones attached to a word.

Example: My mother's actions were childlike as she searched for her keys again.

• euphemism

• connotation

• hyperbole

• denotation

Figurative language and Literary devices

Let's review

Multiple Choice

The most specific or literal meaning of a word is used.

Example: Her shirt is blue.

• simile

• paradox

• denotation

• imagery

Multiple Choice

The specific techniques that an author (or writer) uses to relay an intended message in their writing.

Examples: imagery, word choice, tone, flashback

• opinion

• personification

• simile

• author's craft

Multiple Choice

Language that creates an impression involving the senses.

Example-visual/eyes, auditory/ears, tactile/touch, taste, etc.

I came inside because the house smells of chocolate brownie.

• metaphor

• imagery

• simile

• feelings

Multiple Choice

Substituting a mild or pleasant phrase or word for a harsh phrase or word.

Example- saying "pass away" instead of "to die"

• paradox

• metaphor

• connotation

• euphemism

Multiple Choice

“Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.” – “Romeo” is a reference to Shakespeare’s Romeo, a passionate lover of Juliet, in “Romeo and Juliet”. This is an example of what?

• illusion

• allusion

• metaphor

Multiple Choice

A hyper and dramatic exaggeration.

Example-I had so much homework that I needed a truck to carry it home!

• denotation

• hyperbole

• simile

• oxymoron

Multiple Choice

But a better butter makes a batter better. This is an example of what type of literary device?

• allusion

• alliteration

• simile

Multiple Choice

She runs like the wind!

• onomatopoeia

• metaphor

• simile

• personification

Multiple Choice

Regional or local expressions in a language. The meaning is not literal and sometimes sounds idiotic!

Examples-Hold your horses! or Give me some sugar (a kiss).

• idiom

• simile

• author's craft

• personification

Multiple Choice

We could hear the click click click of their pens. So annoying!

• onomatopoeia

• metaphor

• simile

• personification

Multiple Choice

A figure of speech where something is described as being something else, but the words "like" and "as" are not used.

Example-Her eyes were saucers, opened in fear.

• denotation

• paradox

• metaphor

• imagery

Multiple Choice

The weight of the roll of money in my pocket was a comfort blanket to my worries.

• onomatopoeia

• metaphor

• simile

• personification

Multiple Choice

A figure of speech in which something is described as though it is something else, but the words "like" or "as" are not used. Also, the expression is used (or extended) throughout the entire text.

Example-Kino is compared to being an animal throughout The Pearl.

• imagery

• author's craft

• connotation

• extended metaphor

Multiple Choice

It is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but which may include a latent truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas.

Examples:

Your enemy’s friend is your enemy.

I am nobody.

“What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw

Wise fool

“I can resist anything but temptation.” – Oscar Wilde

• paradox

• personification

• idiom

Multiple Choice

Using the words "like" or "as" to compare two unlike ideas.

Example-His room is as clean as a whistle!

• denotation

• idiom

• simile

• hyperbole

Multiple Choice

Putting two words together that contradict or seem opposite to each other.

Examples-jumbo shrimp, icy hot, working vacation, exact estimate

• oxymoron

• simile

• imagery

• paradox

Poll

Read this example. Is it hyperbole?

"Jessi! I've told you a million times to get your dirty socks out of the fridge!"

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

A statement that seems to be saying two opposite things.

Examples-less is more, save money by spending it, or this is the beginning of the end.

• paradox

• metaphor

• imagery

• simile

Poll

Read this example. Is it allusion or alliteration?

"The horses chomped the grasses on the forest's ferny floor..."

• allusion

• alliteration

Multiple Choice

Giving human (a persons) characteristics to something that is not human .

Examples-The wind howled last night., The sun smiled down on us., or "The flowers nodded in the wind."

• personification

• extended metaphor

• imagery

• denotation

Poll

Read this allusion in Amanda Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb." What real-life event is she talking about?

"We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one..."

• Presidential inauguration

• Her dream of being a famous poet