Lit Devices & Writing Techniques 1
the emotional quality of a passage or the perceived attitude of the author towards a thing or idea in the text.
What is tone?
An indirect or brief reference to a person, place, event, or another work of literature, history, or culture. It is a literary device that relies on the reader's existing knowledge to understand the meaning without explicit explanation, allowing the author to add depth and context to the text.
What is an allusion?
"Death lay on her like a blanket" is an example of this literary device
What is personification or what is a simile?
.The author's choice of words based on their exact or connotative meaning for effect.
What is diction?
This soccer star led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup and continued to headline major brand deals in 2025.
Who is Lionel Messi?
Descriptive language that makes readers feel physical sensations, movements, or actions, creating an immersive experience of bodily motion, effort, or balance.
What is kinesthetic imagery?
A change in speaker, tone, subject or idea
What is a shift?
A reoccuring idea that repeats throughout a literary work relating to the central idea
What is a motif?
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes..." is an example of this literary device
What is alliteration?
This NBA star surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record in 2023.
Who is LeBron James?
The specific details an author choices to include in a text that have a direct connection to your interpretation of a text, often in connection to the tone.
What is selection of detail?
A literary device that highlights differences between characters, ideas, settings, or other elements to emphasize those differences.
What is a contrast?
Descriptive language that appeals to the sense of taste, using words to help readers vividly imagine flavors, textures, and sensations of food and drink, making writing more immersive and emotionally resonant by engaging the reader's palate
What is gustatory imagery?
A character who contrasts and parallels the main protagonist in a play or novel, often to emphasize traits, qualities, or flaws in the main character
What is a foil?
What is the most watched YouTube video of all time?
What is Baby Shark?
A literary device that uses a story within a story where an outer story introduces and concludes one or more embedded stories.
What is a frame narrative?
A sentence that presents multiple ideas using commas without conjunctions to separate a series of words. This syntactical device creates emphasis or reinforces meaning, usually in connection to tone.
What is asyndeton?
A literary device using repeated conjunctions to join phrases. This syntactical device creates emphasis, slows rhythm, builds intensity, or lists items with equal weight.
What is polysyndeton?
The technique of placing two contrasting elements (characters, settings, ideas, images) side-by-side to highlight their differences, create dramatic effect, reveal deeper meaning, and explore themes like good vs. evil.
What is juxtaposition?
The movie that had the highest grossing box office in the US for 2025 to date (as of Dec 12, 2025)
What is "A Minecraft Movie"?
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or sentences. This serves to create a pattern that emphasizes ideas that build to a theme or impression.
What is anaphora?
In works of fiction, when the point of view knows all thoughts and feelings of every character and can dip in and out of the internal life of anyone, as needed.
What is omniscient third person?
A literary term for when there's a contrast between what's said or what happens and what's expected. Writers use this to demonstrate life's unpredictability, reveal deeper truths, or create humor.
What is irony?
A literary device in which a statement seems self-contradictory or absurd but upon closer examination, the device reveals a deeper, underlying truth or meaning.
What is a paradox?
The actor who voiced both Star Wars' Darth Vader and Mufasa from The Lion King
Who is James Earl Jones?