Literary Devices

Literary Devices Oregon City High School English

Mood • Emotional quality or atmosphere of a story—the feeling.

Voice • An author’s distinctive use of language to convey the speaker’s personality to the reader.

Theme • The central message of a work of literature. The lesson about life.

Tone • A reflection of the speaker’s attitude toward the subject.

Alliteration • The repeating of beginning consonant sounds. • Ex: creamy and crunchy

A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as. Ex: The clouds are cotton. Metaphor

Extended Metaphor: • Continues the comparison of two or more things throughout a paragraph, stanza, or an entire work.

Simile • A comparison of two unlike things using like or as. • Ex: The clouds are like cotton.

Hyperbole • An extreme exaggeration or overstatement. • Ex: My brother exploded when he saw the damage to the car.

Irony • using a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its normal meaning. • Ex: My favorite pastime is cleaning my room.

Dramatic Irony • When the reader (or viewer) knows something the character doesn’t. • Ex: When Romeo kills himself because he thinks Juliet is dead, but we know that she is alive!

Situational Irony • A lifeguard drowning in a bathtub.

Verbal Irony • Saying “You’re so graceful!” to someone who has just tripped.

The use of praise to ridicule or “put down” someone or something. (Verbal irony with a mean edge.) • Ex: Calling a turtle like person a real go-getter.

Symbolism • A concrete or real object used to represent an idea.

Onomatopoeia • A word whose sound makes you think of the meaning.

Personification • When a non-human thing (idea, object, or animal) is given human characteristics. • Ex. The flowers sang with joy when the sun came out.

Allusion • A reference to a well-known person, place, thing, or event. • Ex: Sir Lancelot fought with Herculean strength.

Oxymoron • Two contradictory words put together for special effect.

Paradox • Contradictory statement that may actually be true. Paradox does not place opposing words side by side, like oxymoron does. • Ex. They called him a lion, but in the boxing ring, the lion was a lamb. • Ex2. For slaves, life was death, and death was life.

Motif • A recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. • Ex. Images of light, or mention of the sun repeatedly. • Ex2. Money is the root of all evil.

Foreshadowing • To hint at a future course of action. • Ex. Prologue of Romeo and Juliet.

Flashback • To present past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current story—dreams, memories, and stories told by the narrator or a character.

Literary Devices