Literary Devices
Refers to the language and word choice an author uses with their subject matter. This term refers to individual aspects and details, while mood refers to the emotional attitude of the entire piece of work.
Example: Told in the first person, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is angsty and sardonic of its teenage protagonist to depict the character’s mindset, including slang and curse words.
Tone
The literary technique of using a sequence of words that begin with the same letter or sound for a poetic or whimsical effect.
Examples: Peter Parker, Matthew Murdock, Reed Richards, and Bruce Banner.
Alliteration
An indirect reference to another figure, event, place, or work of art that exists outside the story.
Example: The title of Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84 is itself a reference to George Orwell’s novel 1984. The Japanese word for the number nine is pronounced the same as the English letter Q.
Allusion
The technique of hinting at future events in a story using subtle parallels, usually to generate more suspense or engage the reader’s curiosity.
Example: In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker’s vision of himself wearing Darth Vader’s mask signals the later revelation that Vader is in fact Luke’s father.
Foreshadowing
Compares two different things to point out their similarities; however, it uses the words “like” or “as” to soften the connection and explicitly show it’s just a comparison.
Example: “Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.” —Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Simile
The emotional response the author is targeting. A writer establishes this not just with the plot and characters, but also with tone and the aspects they choose to describe.
Example: In the horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, vampires are scary and ominous, but in the comedic film What We Do In Shadows, vampires are friendly and light-hearted.
Mood
Refers to words that represent sounds, with pronunciations similar to those sounds.
Example: The word “buzz” as in “a buzzing bee” is actually pronounced like the noise a bee makes.
Onomatopoeia
A type of comedic wordplay that involve homophones (different words that are pronounced the same) or two separate meanings of the same word.
Example: “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” —Groucho Marx
Puns
A style of writing that uses parody and exaggeration to criticize the faults of society or human nature.
Example: The TV show South Park often makes fun of society by addressing current events.
Satire
When objects, characters, actions, or other recurring elements in a story take on another, more profound meaning and/or represent an abstract concept.
Example: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (and The Hobbit), it is said the ring of Sauron represents evil, corruption, and greed, which everyday people, symbolized by Frodo, must strive to resist.
Symbolism
A figure of speech that compares two different things to show their similarities by insisting that they’re the same.
Example: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.”—William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Metaphor
Refers to writing that invokes the reader’s senses with descriptive word choice to create a more vivid and realistic recreation of the scene in their mind.
Example: “The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world.” —E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Imagery
Using exaggeration to add more power to what you’re saying, often to an unrealistic or unlikely degree.
Example: “I had to wait in the station for ten days—an eternity.” —Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Hyperbole
When non-human things like animals or objects act human, exhibiting traits such as speech, thoughts, complex emotions, and sometimes even wearing clothes and standing upright.
Example: While most fairy tales feature animals that act like humans, the Beauty and the Beast films have talking clocks, singing teapots, and more.
Anthropomorphism
Narratives that represent something else entirely, like a historical event or significant ideology, to illustrate a deeper meaning. Sometimes the stories are entirely fabricated and only loosely tied to their source, but sometimes the individual characters act as fictional stand-ins for real-life historical figures.
Examples: George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a story about the Russian Revolution of 1917; a more modern example is the animated film Zootopia, a story about the prejudices of modern society.
Allegory
When an author attributes human characteristics metaphorically to nonhuman things like the weather or inanimate objects (It is strictly figurative).
Example: “The heart wants what it wants—or else it does not care . . .” —Emily Dickinson
Personification
Combines two contradictory ideas in a way that, although illogical, still seems to make sense.
Example: “I know only one thing, and that is I know nothing.” —Socrates in Plato’s Apology
Paradox
A recurring element in a story that holds some symbolic or conceptual meaning. It’s closely related to theme, but is specific objects or events, while themes are abstract ideas.
Example: In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s obsession with washing her hands symbolizes her guilt.
Motif
A soft and inoffensive word or phrase that replaces a harsh, unpleasant, or hurtful one for the sake of sympathy or civility.
Example: “passed away” and “downsizing” are quite common in everyday speech, but a good example in literature comes from Harry Potter, where the wizarding community refers to the villain Voldemort as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” in fear of invoking him.
Euphemism
Combines two contradictory words to give them a deeper and more poetic meaning.
Example: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” —William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Oxymoron
The literary device of joining two words together to form a new word with a hybrid meaning.
Example: Words like “blog” (web + log), “paratrooper” (parachute + trooper), “motel” (motor + hotel), and “telethon” (telephone + marathon).
Portmanteau
An independent, pre-existing quotation that introduces a piece of work, typically with some thematic or symbolic relevance.
Example: “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man,” a quote by Samuel Johnson, opens Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a novel that deals largely with substance abuse and escapism.
Epigraph
Using casual and informal speech, including slang, in formal writing to make dialogue seem more realistic and authentic. It often incorporates respelling words and adding apostrophes to communicate the pronunciation.
Example: “How you doin’?” asked Friends character Joey Tribbiani.
Colloquialism
When the writer deliberately uses excessive words and overcomplicated sentence structures to intentionally convolute their meaning. In other words, it means to write lengthily and confusingly on purpose.
Example: In Shrek the Third, Pinocchio uses this literary device to avoid giving an honest answer to the Prince’s question.
Circumlocution
The technique of embellishing a simple sentence with more details to increase its significance.
Example: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” —Roald Dahl, The Twits
Amplification