Literary devices

What are literary devices?

• Techniques used by the author to express ideas

• Techniques used by the author to communicate deeper meaning

• Techniques used to make the writing more engaging and impactful

• Techniques used create an emotional response in the readers

What are some literary devices you know?

My love is like a red, red rose.

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

Brian was a wall, bouncing every tennis ball back over the net

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

Snow speaks to the people; it’s falling above in the glooming sunlight. Its white, sparkling voice echoes as it falls through the air.

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

The baby was as snug as a bug in a rug.

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Joe’s boots broke the forest’s silence. A full moon peeked out from behind two clouds. Tree shadows illuminated the snow drifts in its shimmering light. Joe shivered as a cold gust of wind blew through his jacket.

• Simile
• Metaphor
• Imagery
• Irony

“But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.”
  -William Sharp

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Irony

Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

• Allusion
• Simile
• Personifcation
• Foreshadowing

I smelled the warm, sweet, all-pervasive smell of silage, as well as the sour dirty laundry spilling over the basket in the hall. I could pick out the acrid smell of Claire’s drenched diaper, her sweaty feet, and her hair crusted with sand.

• Imagery
• Allusion
• Personification
• Irony