Literary Techniques

1. Literary Techniques

2. Point of View • 1st, 2nd, 3rd limited, 3rd omniscient • Use this technique: • Changes in point of view • Significant impact on the work • Unique

3. Diction • Choice of words • Use this technique: • It always applies • Write about specific words, NOT entire sentences • Choose words with an obvious impact • Connotation/Denotation

4. Imagery • Invoking of the senses • Use this technique: • Multiple senses are addressed • Use correct terminology • Visual Imagery • Auditory Imagery • Olfactory Imagery • Gustatory Imagery • Tactile Imagery

5. Structure • Arrangement of materials • Use this technique: • Rhyme Scheme • External Form of Poem • Organizational Pattern of Prose

6. Use of Details • Items that make up the larger picture • Use this technique: • Specific visual detail given

7. Sound Devices • Deploying the sound of words • Used especially in poetry • Use this technique: • Alliteration • Assonance • Consonance • Onomatopoeia • Euphony/Cacophony

8. Allusion • Reference to something outside the work • Use this technique: • Confidence in identifying the allusion • Obvious impact on the work

9. Figurative Language • Use of figures of speech • Use this technique: • Simile • Metaphor • Personification • Apostrophe • Metonymy/Synecdoche • Symbol • Allegory • Paradox • Overstatement • Understatement • Irony • Hyperbole

10. Syntax • Arrangement of words • Use this technique: • Sentence type • Sentence structure • Sentence patterns • Punctuation • Terms: • Anaphora • Asyndeton • Polysyndeton • Parallelism

11. Most Importantly . . . • This is NOT a scavenger hunt • You can’t just identify it • You MUST explain its IMPACT • Only use the term, if you are sure it is accurate