Literary Devices
This literary device compares two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
What is a simile?
An author's deliberate choice of words, particularly to establish meaning, tone, and characterization.
What is diction?
The process through which an author reveals a character's personality through actions, dialogue, thoughts, and appearance.
What is characterization?
The sequence of events that make up a literary work.
What is plot?
A defensible interpretation of a literary work that establishes the central argument of an analytical essay.
What is a thesis?
This device attributes human characteristics, emotions, or actions to nonhuman objects or abstract ideas.
What is personification?
This comparison describes one thing as another without using “like” or “as.”
What is a metaphor?
This type of characterization occurs when an author directly describes a character's traits rather than allowing readers to infer them.
What is direct characterization?
The atmosphere or emotional feeling that an author creates for the reader through setting, imagery, and language.
What is mood?
This analytical approach examines how an author's specific language choices contribute to meaning, tone, and characterization.
What is close reading?
When an author uses an object, character, or event to represent an abstract idea beyond its literal meaning, this device is employed.
What is symbolism?
This literary device uses exaggeration for emphasis or effect, such as describing a wait as lasting an eternity.
What is hyperbole?
This narrative perspective uses a narrator who is also a character in the story and refers to themselves using “I.”
What is first-person narration?
The author's or narrator's attitude toward a subject, character, or audience, conveyed through language and style.
What is tone?
When an author places a character in circumstances that expose a contradiction between what the character expects and what actually occurs, this type of irony may emerge.
What is situational irony?
This literary device occurs when the literal meaning of a statement contrasts with its intended meaning, often to convey criticism or humor.
What is verbal irony?
The emotional associations or implications of a word, as opposed to its literal dictionary definition.
What is connotation?
A narrator whose credibility is compromised by limited knowledge, personal bias, misunderstanding, or distorted perceptions.
What is an unreliable narrator?
A reference to another literary work, historical event, mythological figure, or cultural idea that enriches a text's meaning.
What is an allusion?
This quality of sophisticated literary analysis recognizes that a character, symbol, or situation can possess multiple, sometimes conflicting, meanings rather than a single straightforward interpretation.
What is complexity?
When a seemingly contradictory statement reveals an underlying truth, this literary device is used. For example, an individual may gain freedom by accepting certain limitations.
What is a paradox?
Get comfortable writing about paradox! Great way to earn that sophistication point on the exam!
When an author places contrasting words, images, or ideas close together to emphasize their differences, this technique is employed.
What is juxtaposition?
This narrative technique occurs when readers recognize the significance of a situation while a character remains unaware of it, creating a discrepancy between the character's understanding and the reader's.
What is dramatic irony?
This structural technique begins a narrative in the middle of the action rather than at the chronological beginning of events.
What is in medias res?
This component of a literary argument moves beyond identifying a device or providing evidence to explain how an author's choices develop a deeper interpretation of the text.
What is commentary?