Comprehensive Literary Terms & Devices Study Guide

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that is a direct address to someone or something that isn't present or cannot respond.

Hyperbole

A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement.

Imagery

Descriptive figurative language used in literature to appeal to one or more of the five senses.

Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things not using 'as,' 'like,' 'than,' or 'resembles.'

Extended Metaphor

A form of comparison that extends over multiple lines, stanzas, paragraphs, etc. in prose or poetry.

Personification

Giving human characteristics to a nonhuman subject.

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things that uses 'like,' 'as,' 'than,' or 'resembles.'

Declarative

Makes statements or declarations and ends with a period.

Exclamatory

Expresses strong emotion, ends with an exclamation mark.

Imperative

Gives commands or makes requests, ends with a period or an exclamation mark.

Interrogative

Asks questions, ends with a question mark.

Anaphora

Repetition when it is specifically used at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.

Epistrophe

Repetition at the end of successive lines, clauses, or sentences.

Asyndeton

The omission or absence of an otherwise necessary conjunction between parts of a sentence or items in a series.

Polysyndeton

The use of many conjunctions in close proximity, where otherwise unnecessary.

Ellipses

The deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by the context.

Anastrophe/Inversion

A change in the normal syntax of a sentence, typically out of the (S-V-O) order.

Loose Sentence

Begins with the main clause and follows with the dependent clauses or supporting details.

Periodic Sentence

Begins with the dependent clause(s), follows with the independent clause.

Parallel Structure/Parallelism

The repetition of grammatical structure.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas.

Juxtaposition

A poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory or absurd but that expresses the truth.

Antithesis

Involves a direct contrast of structurally and grammatically parallel word groupings.

Absolutes/Superlatives/Absolute Diction

Words like most, never, always, greatest, the only one, etc.

Dialect

The form of language spoken by people in a particular region's group.

Irony

Literary techniques that involve differences between appearances and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.

Litotes

An understatement usually through a form of negation.

Symbolism

Anything that stands for or represents something else.