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Literary Devices 2D

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TANISHK AGARWAL
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20 views4 pages

Literary Devices 2D

Uploaded by

TANISHK AGARWAL
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Literary Devices

ALLUSION: A reference in literature to a familiar


person, place, thing, or event.
Example: His love of candy was his Achilles heel.

FORESHADOWING: One way to heighten the


suspense in a story is to use foreshadowing.
Foreshadowing is when words, images, or events are
used that give clues about what is going to happen
(foreshadowing hints at what is to happen later in the
text).
Example: If something bad is about to happen to your
characters, you might describe a cloud suddenly
blocking out the sun, or a sinister movement in the
shadows.

HYPERBOLE: An exaggeration or an overstatement.


Example: He is as fast as lightening.
IMAGERY: Imagery is to create a clear picture in the
mind of the reader using vivid language (that evokes the
senses: touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell). Writers
often use similes and metaphors to create powerful
images.
Example: The following poem creates strong imagery
by using simple, but powerful words.

The Red Wheelbarrow


By William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens

IRONY: Using a word or phrase to mean the exact


opposite of its literal or normal meaning.

There are 3 different forms of irony.


DRAMATIC IRONY-where the reader or audience
sees a character’s mistakes or misunderstandings, but
the character does not. In other words, we have
knowledge the character does not.
EXAMPLE: when the main character (in a scary
movie), is being chased by a killer and we know that the
killer is hiding in the closet, but the character does not.

VERBAL IRONY-where the writer says one thing, but


means another.
EXAMPLE: if someone says, “it is a beautiful day
outside”, and it is really raining and miserable.

SITUATIONAL IRONY- where there is a great


difference between the purpose of a particular action
and the result (the audience expects one thing, and the
opposite occurs).
EXAMPLE: From The Accidental Tourist by Anne
Tyler
"Seated in a stenographer's chair, tapping away at a
typewriter that had served him through four years of
college, he wrote a series of guidebooks for people
forced to travel on business." The writer hated travel.

PERSONIFICATION: when the writer speaks of or


describes an animal, object, or idea as if it were a
person.
EXAMPLE: Time stood in the shadows.
METAPHOR: A direct comparison between two
unlike things.
Example: "But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts
on a lonely hill."
(William Sharp, "The Lonely Hunter")

SIMILE: Compares two things or ideas directly using


like or as.
Example: His eyes gleamed like a pair of bright new
pennies.

SYMBOLISM: The use of tangible object to stand in


for or suggest (symbolize) more complex/abstract ideas.
Example: Thunder and lightening in Shakespeare can
be symbolic of a character’s emotional distress.

Oxymoron-two words that seem to be in opposition


(beside one another), but reveal a truth.
Example: Seriously funny, loud silence, terribly good

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