L i t e ra r y D e v i c e s
Types & Definitions
Type 1
FIGURES OF SPEECH
Metaphor
A metaphor refers to a meaning or identity ascribed to
one subject by way of another.
– One subject is implied to be another so as to draw a
comparison between their similarities and shared traits.
The first subject, which/who is the focus of the sentences
is usually compared to the second subject, which is used
to convey/carry a degree of meaning that is used to
characterize the first.
– The purpose of using a metaphor is to take an identity or
concept that we understand clearly (second subject) and
use it to better understand the lesser-known element (the
first subject).
– Example: “Henry was a lion on the battlefield”.
• This sentence suggests that Henry fought so valiantly and
bravely that he embodied all the personality traits we attribute to
the ferocious animal.
Simile
• Similes refer to the practice of drawing
parallels or comparisons between two
unrelated and dissimilar things, people,
beings, places and concepts.
– By using similes a greater degree of meaning
and understanding is attached to an otherwise
simple sentence.
– Similes are marked by the use of the words
‘as’ or ‘such as’ or ‘like’.
– Example: He is like a mouse in front of the
teacher.
I would have given anything for the power to soothe her
frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance
like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.
– Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
The helplessness of the soul is being compared
with a bird in a cage beating itself against the
merciless wires of the cage, to be free.
. . . impressions poured in upon her of those two men,
and to follow her thought was like following
a voice which speaks too quickly to be taken down by
one’s pencil . . .
– To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf compares the velocity of her
thoughts about the two men with that of spoken
words.
She says both are difficult to follow and cannot be
copied in words by a pencil.
Personification
It refers to the practice of attaching human
traits and characteristics with inanimate
objects, phenomena and animals.
– Example: “The raging winds”, “Warm &
comforting fire”.
Pearl Button swung on the little gate in front of the
House of Boxes. It was the early afternoon of a
sunshiny day with little winds playing hide-and-seek in
it.
– How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped by Katherine Mansfield
It personifies wind by saying that it is as playful as
little children playing hide-and-seek on a shiny day.
I hied me away to the woods—away back into the sun-
washed alleys carpeted with fallen gold and glades
where the moss is green and vivid yet. The woods are
getting ready to sleep—they are not yet asleep but they
are disrobing and are having all sorts of little bed-time
conferences and whisperings and good-nights.
– The Green Gables Letters by L. M. Montgomery
The lack of activity in the forest has been
beautifully personified as the forest getting ready
to sleep, busy in bed-time chatting and wishing
good-nights, all of which are human customs.
Oxymoron
Oxymoron allows the use of contradictory,
contrasting concepts placed together in a
manner that actually ends up making sense in
a complex manner.
– An oxymoron is an interesting literary device
because it helps to perceive a deeper level of
truth and explore different layers of semantics
while writing.
– Example: Sometimes we cherish things of little
value.
He possessed a cold fire in his eyes. Pretty
ugly.
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
– Romeo and Juliet (1:1) by William Shakespeare
A series of oxymoron are being employed as
Romeo confronts the love of an inaccessible
woman to highlight his mental conflict by the use of
contradictory pairs of words such as “hating love”,
“heavy lightness”, “bright smoke”, “cold fire”, and
“sick health”.
One Word Oxymorons
• Anyone
• Everyone
• Audiovisual Two Word Oxymorons
• Backside • Open secret
• Begone • Tragic comedy
• Bittersweet • Awfully pretty
• Blindsight • Original copies
• Bridegroom • Liquid gas
• Cowboy • Ill health
• Lightweight • Inside out
• Man-child • Play dead
• Speechwriting
• Spendthrift
Synecdoche
Using a part of something to refer to the whole.
– The entire object is represented by way of a
faction of it or a faction of the object is symbolized
by the full.
– Example: “Weary feet in the walk of life”, does not
refer to the feet actually being tired or painful; it is
symbolic of a long, hard struggle through the journey
of life and feeling low, tired, unoptimistic and ‘the walk
of life’ does not represent an actual path or distance
covered, instead refers to the entire sequence of life
events that has made the person tired.
Metonymy
Not using the formal word for an
object/subject and instead referring to it by
using another word that is intricately linked
to the formal name/word.
– It is the practice of substituting the main word
with a word that is closely linked to it.
– Example: “Parliament” for the government.
Type 2
SOUND DEVICES
Alliteration
Alliteration is a literary device where words are
used in quick succession and begin with letters
belonging to the same sound group.
– Whether it is the consonant sound or a specific
vowel group, the alliteration involves creating a
repetition of similar sounds in the sentence.
– Alliterations are also created when the words all
begin with the same letter.
– Example: The Wicked Witch of the West went
her own way.
Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew. While
these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew. Freezy breeze made
these three trees freeze. Freezy trees made these trees’
cheese freeze. That’s what made these three free fleas
sneeze.
– Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Assonance
• Assonance refers to repetition of sounds
produced by vowels within a sentence or
phrase.
– What sets it apart from alliterations is that it is the
repetition of only vowel sounds.
– Assonance is the opposite of consonance, which
implies repetitive usage of consonant sounds.
– Example: “A long song”. (Where the ‘o’ sound is
repeated in the last two words of the sentence).
Consonance
• Consonance refers to repetition of sounds
produced by consonants within a sentence
or phrase.
– They are a kind of alliteration.
– What sets it apart from alliterations is that it is the
repetition of only consonant sounds.
– Consonance is the opposite of assonance, which
implies repetitive usage of vowel sounds.
– Example: Sing sweet songs for Suzy.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of
pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked
a peck of pickled peppers How many pickled peppers
did Peter Piper pick?
Onomatopoeia
It refers to words whose sound is very close
to the sound they are meant to depict.
– In other words, it refers to sound words whose
pronunciation to the actual sound/noise they
represent.
– Example: Words such as grunt, huff, buzz
and snap.
– “Whispering of the forest trees” or “the hum of
a thousand bees” or “the click of the door in
the nighttime” create vivid mental images.
Euphony
The use of phrases and words that are noted
for possessing an extensive degree of notable
loveliness or melody in the sound they create.
– Euphony is the opposite of cacophony, which
refers to the creation of unpleasant and harsh
sounds by using certain words/ phrases together.
– Example: It has been said that the phrase “cellar
door” is reportedly the most pleasant sounding
phrase in the English language. The phrase is
said to depict the highest degree of euphony, and
is said to be especially notable when spoken in
the British accent.
Type 3
MIX
• Apostrophe:
– A rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to
address some absent person or thing.
“Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth
time the reality of experience and to forge in the
smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my
race.”
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce
• Encomium:
– A tribute or eulogy in prose or verse
glorifying people, objects, ideas, or events.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!…
– “O Captain, O Captain” by Walt Whitman
• Invective:
–Denunciatory or abusive language
that casts blame on somebody or
something.
• Syllogism:
–A form of deductive reasoning
consisting of a major premise, a
minor premise, and a conclusion.
• Hyperbole:
–A figure of speech in which
exaggeration is used for emphasis
or effect; an extravagant statement.
• Litotes:
–An understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by negating
its opposite.
Euphemism
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one
considered offensively explicit.
• Abbreviations:
– B.O. (body odor)
– W.C. (toilet)
• Foreign words:
– Faux (fake)
• Abstractions:
– Before I go (before I
die)
• Indirect expression:
– Rear-end
– Unmentionables
• Technical terms:
– Gluteus maximus
• Deliberate mispronunciation:
– Darn
– Shoot
• Politically Correctness
– Flatulence (farting)
– Perspiration (sweat)
– Mentally challenged (stupid)
– Friendly fire
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