Literary Devices and Their Definitions

ALLITERATION

repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).

AMBIGUITY

deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

ANALOGY

Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike.

ANECDOTE

Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual.

ANTAGONIST

Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.

ANTITHESIS

Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure.

ANTIHERO

Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. May lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.

APHORISM

brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.

ASSONANCE

the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together.

CHARACTERIZATION

the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character's private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the character's effect on other people, or by showing the character in action.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on.

STATIC CHARACTER

is one who does not change much in the course of a story.

DYNAMIC CHARACTER

is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action.

FLAT CHARACTER

has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard.

ROUND CHARACTER

has more dimensions to their personalities---they are complex, just as real people are.

CHIASMUS

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed.

CLICHE

is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.

COLLOQUIALISM

a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations.

COMEDY

in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT

conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and a whole society.

INTERNAL CONFLICT

a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person's mind.

CONNOTATION

the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase.

COUPLET

two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.

DENOTATION

the literal (dictionary) or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

DIALECT

a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

DICTION

a speaker or writer's choice of words.

DIDACTIC

form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

ELEGY

a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died.

EXPOSITION

one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something is explained or 'set forth.'

NARRATIVE

the form of discourse that tells about a series of events.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character.

FORESHADOWING

the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.

FREE VERSE

poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

BLANK VERSE

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

IMAGERY

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience.

INVERSION

the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

IRONY

a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

DRAMATIC IRONY

a character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.

JUXTAPOSITION

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit.

LOCAL COLOR

a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape.

LYRIC POEM

a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker.

METAPHOR

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.

IMPLIED METAPHOR

does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison.

EXTENDED METAPHOR

a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it.

MOOD

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected.

MOTIF

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme.

MOTIVATION

the reasons for a character's behavior.

ONOMATOPOEIA

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense.

OXYMORON

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

PARADOX

a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.

KOAN

a paradox used in Zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge.

PARODY

a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style.

PERSONIFICATION

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

PLOT

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.

EXPOSITION

introduces characters, situation, and setting.

RISING ACTION

complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well).

CLIMAX

that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest.

RESOLUTION

the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the denouement.

POINT OF VIEW

the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

one of the characters tells the story.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

an unknown narrator tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns.

OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.

PROTAGONIST

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action.

PUN

a "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things.

QUATRAIN

a poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit.

REFRAIN

a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem (like in a song).

RHYTHM

a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.

ROMANCE

in general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful.

SATIRE

a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change.

SIMILE

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as, than, or resembles.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind.

STYLE

the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax.

SYMBOL

a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.

THEME

the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

TONE

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.

TRAGEDY

in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end.