Literary Devices and Their Definitions with Examples

Imagery

Vivid language designed to appeal to the senses. The sun, a blazing ball of fire, sank below the horizon

Foreshadowing

When the writer gives a reader information that the characters do not have. The opening of Romeo and Juliet talks about star-crossed lovers who are going to die

Alliteration

Occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Onomatopoeia

Creating a word that sounds or resembles a sound. Boom

Personification

Applies human features to inanimate objects. The sun was smiling down at us

Rhetorical Question

Questions asked to create dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Preterition

Bringing attention to something by seeming to disregard it. "I will not discuss the fact that my opponent is a drunk."

Transferred Epithet

A figure of speech where a modifier that normally describes a noun is applied to another. "He had a sleepless night."

Simile

A comparison comparing two things using like or as. He is as big as a mountain.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares an object or action to another that is not likely related, without using 'like' or 'as.' "Roller coaster of emotions."

Hyperbole

Exaggerated claim that is not meant to be taken seriously. It's raining cats and dogs.

Litotes

An ironic understatement, where something is affirmed by denying its opposite. "You did not do bad on your test..."

Oxymoron

Combination of contradictory words. Deafening silence

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered too harsh or blunt. "Passed away" instead of "died"

Irony

The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. A fire station burns down

Chiasmus

Repetition or contrast of words or ideas in order and then reverse order using ABBA structure. "Twist facts to suit theories, not theories to suit facts."

Synchysis

When words are intentionally scattered in an ABAB pattern. Quickly, slowly, surrender, die.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. "I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul..."

Apostrophe

Addressing an object or person, which is either not present, abstract, or inanimate. "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?"

Enjambment

Continuation of a sentence or phrase without a pause, especially between lines of poetry. "To be, or not to be, that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune..."

Ellipsis

The omission of a word that is obviously understood and/or a pause or unfinished thought. "Did he... peacefully?"

Zeugma

One word which modifies two other concepts in two different ways. "Caught a train and a bad cold."

Synecdoche

Figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole. "Nice wheels" (wheels = car)

Metonymy

Figure of speech where a concept is replaced by a word associated with it. "Suits" referring to business people

Asyndeton

Leaving out expected conjunctions between words to emphasize the pace or accumulated amount. "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Polysyndeton

Repeated use of extra conjunctions in close succession. We have ships and men and money and stores.

Hysteron Proteron

Rhetorical device where the natural or logical order of events or ideas is reversed. I die! I faint! I fail!"

Antithesis

Contrasting opposite ideas, using parallel grammatical structure. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."