Literary Devices (Big List)

the feeling a word expresses / the emotional meaning of a word

• diction

• connotation

• juxtaposition

• alliteration

a reference to people, places, events, or literary works in a text (often biblical)

• irony

• juxtaposition

• allusion

• hyperbole

used step-by-step in literature to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story. It is in the initial stage in which the writer introduces the character with noticeable emergence. After introducing the character, the writer often talks about his behavior; then, as the story progresses, the thought-processes of the character.

• characterization

• assonance

• analogy

• parallelism

the attitude of a writer on a particular subject conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject

• irony

• simile

• personification

• tone

A way of indicating or hinting at what will come later

• hyperbole

• foreshadowing

• dramatic irony

• situational irony

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

• juxtaposition

• metaphor

• hyperbole

• imagery

a literary technique that relies on comparison and contrast for its resonance with an audience

• juxtaposition

• irony

• tone

• analogy

When the audience knows something the characters do not yet know

• juxtaposition

• imagery

• dramatic irony

• verbal irony

giving human qualities to animals or objects

• personification

• metaphor

• onomatopoeia

• analogy

the repetition of the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer

• repetition

• irony

• imagery

• typo