Life on the Mississippi
"Life on the Mississippi" was written by this author who revolutionized American literature.
Mark Twain
The character Jim Smiley was well known for this, an impulsive tendency that would get him in trouble towards the story's end.
Gambling
In Jewett's story, an ornithologist visits young Sylvia and her grandmother searching for this.
The White Heron
"There is a wolf in me"
"There is a fox in me"
"There is a hog in me"
Repetition
[or Parallelism, or Anaphora]
While we've looked at colloquial diction in the past, this is a regional way of speaking specific to a particular group of people.
Dialect
In the small town the author grew up in, the one "permanent ambition" of all the children was to be this.
Steamboatman
Despite training the titular notorious jumping frog for apparent months, Jim loses his bet after his frog is deceitfully filled with this.
Quailshot
As the story comes to its end, its theme (or central message) hinges on this important question.
Who would have been the better friend?
In the poem "Chicago," the great city is given the primary qualities of a young man through a literary device known as this.
Personification
This is when a line of poetry stops in an unusual place while its sentence continues without a pause.
Enjambment
Twain's small town comes to life when the steamboat visits, and he relays this information to the reader through a series of these, meaning brief and amusing stories.
Anecdotes
The story is told as a story within a story, otherwise known as this.
Frame Narrative
Details and language that appeals to the senses to create word pictures in the mind are known as this.
Imagery
...
Ellipsis
This occurs when two or more opposing or contradictory terms are connected.
Incongruity
Like many others, Twain uses his work to give us a discerning examination and critique of humanity and society known as this.
Social Commentary
Exaggeration is strewn throughout the story, a literary technique for effect that we also refer to as this.
Hyperbole
Sentences come in four types; this type of sentence serves the function of expressing a strong feeling... It makes an impact!
Exclamatory
"Wilderness" primarily uses this literary device to describe humans as animals.
Metaphor
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, AKA Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, W. Epaminodas Adrastus Blab, or simply Josh...
Mark Twain
Phrases like drayman, wharf, pilothouse, paddleboxes, jackstaff, and boiler deck are known as this type of term related to craft.
Technical
This is a figure of speech not meant to be taken literally, such as "blame my cats" or "break a leg."
Idiom
Sentences come in four types; this type of sentence serves the function of asking a question, like a detective getting answers from a witness.
Interrogative
Carl Sandburg closes his poem "Wilderness" by claiming, "I got a zoo, I got this inside my ribs"
A Menagerie
Sentences come in four types; this type of sentence serves the vital function of giving a command or request.
Imperative