BHS Literary Devices -- Writer's Craft

character

a person or animal in a narrative work of art (such as a novel, play, or film)

characterization

How a writer reveals what a character is like and how the character changes throughout the story

indirect characterization

writer shows what a character is like by describing what the character looks like, by telling what the character says and does, and by what other characters say about and do in response to the character.

direct characterization

writer tells what the character is like

point of view

the perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work

2nd person

The narrator speaks to the reader as you

1st person

The narrator is someone who is present or involved in the action of the story.
The narrator uses the personal pronoun "I" to indicate personal involvement.

persona

The "voice" that speaks or tells a story; Narrator

antagonist

the character or force opposing the main character.

omniscient

The narrator is separate from the action of the story. The narrator knows all the
action including what is going on in all of the character's minds.

3rd person limited

narrator reveals only 1 character's thoughts & feelings.

protagonist

the main character

round

complex and many-sided character

stock

a type of flat, stereotypical figure who has occurred so often in fiction that his/her nature is immediately known (i.e. sinister villain, good sheriff,
mad scientist, etc.)

flat

A character that is characterized by one or two traits, summed up in a few
sentences

dynamic

A character that undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his/her character, personality, or outlook. Change should be plausible, meaning that the change is believable, given the details in the story

static

unchanging character from the beginning to the end of the story.

archetype

An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made

stereotype

haracter who is so ordinary or unoriginal that the character seems like an
oversimplified representation of a type, gender, class, religious group, or
occupation; widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a
particular type of person or thing

inference

a reasonable conclusion gathered from the information presented

irony

the incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs
or is said

verbal irony

means what is said is different from or the opposite of what is meant

dramatic irony

occurs when the meaning of a situation is understood by the audience but not
by the other characters in the scene.

situational irony

a situation where the outcome is different from what is expected to happen

allusion

indirect reference in literature or in art \-- to previous literature, history, mythology, pop culture/events, or the Bible

parallelism

The repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence or a series of sentences

foreshadowing

hints at what is to come; sometimes noticeable only in hindsight, but usually is obvious enough to set the reader wondering

suspense

That quality of a literary work that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events; makes the reader ask "What will happen next?"

symbolism

a technique in which a person, place, thing, or idea represents not only its
literal self but also something beyond itself such as a quality, attitude, belief or value

theme

Author's message or central idea throughout a work

Roman a Clef

a novel in which actual persons and events are disguised as fictional Characters; a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction; fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the
relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction

Socratic Seminar

Engaged pupils in dialogues by responding to their questions with questions, instead of answers; this process encourages divergent thinking rather than
convergent

Freytag's Pyramid

plot diagram

Basic situation

exposition

Conflicts & crises

rising action

Turning point

climax

Action after the climax

falling action

Resolution

denouement

Parable

Succinct story with a moral or religious lesson

proverb

Common wisdom

Symbol

Stands for or represents something else

Allegory

Symbolic message

Motif

Recurring element

imagery

Appeals to the five senses

Flashback

Memory

Setting

Help sets the mood

Censored

banned book

novela

Little novel

poetry

Written imaginative awareness evoking emotions

free verse

Open form of poetry

blank verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

iambic pentameter

Commonly used metrical line

Apostrophe

Addressing someone absent or something nonhuman

Vernacular

Everyday language

Paradox

Statement that's absurd but really contains a truth

Mood

Created feeling

Metonymy

Use of name of an object for that of another

Pathos

Appeal to audience's emotions

Ethos

Appeal to audience's ethics

Logos

Appeal to audience's logic

Zeugma

1 part of speech governs 2 or more sentence parts

Tone

Author's attitude

Repetition

Return of a word, phrase, stanza, or effect

Varied sentence structure

Prose variety (5-10-20)

vivid verb choice

Engages the reader; paints a picture in reader's mind

STEAL

indirect characterization

Sarcasm

irony

Suspense

Keeps you on edge of seat

Revenge

motivation

"Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself"(Lee 6).

allusion

"There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County" (Lee 6).

parallelism

"When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident" (Lee 3).

foreshadowing

"I asked Dill where his father was: 'You ain't said anything about him.' 'I ain't got one.' 'Is he dead?' 'No...' 'Then if he's not dead you've got one, haven't you? 'Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush . . ." (Lee 9).

dramatic irony

Mockingbird (Lee 119)

symbol

Compassion & understanding; courage; prejudice & bigotry

theme

Roman a clef novel

To Kill a Mockingbird

man vs. self

conflict

hero; villain; father-figure

archetype

She sells sea shells.

alliteration

Sweet & sour

juxtaposition

Mysteries; sci-fi

genre

We need to read, write, speak, and think.

parallelism

The crown

metonymy

melting, dripping ice cream cone

imagery

Talked → whispered

diction (word choice)

He lost his coat and his temper.

zeugma example

Romeo and Juliet; The Crucible; A Raisin in the Sun; Macbeth

dramas

The Little Prince; Animal Farm

allegories

Tuesdays with Morrie; Night

memoirs

While captured, Odysseus gets the cyclops drunk and tells him that his name is Nobody. Later, he attacks the cyclops, who screams to the neighbors that "Nobody is killing him."

paradox

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

assonance

From The Lion King, "Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared."

zeugma

From Romeo and Juliet, "Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy I will bear the light."

pun (play on words)

From The Catcher in the Rye, "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain."

litotes

From Night, "We went off to work as usual, our bodies frozen."

hyperbole

From Julius Caesar, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

metonymy

hyperbole

exaggeration

litotes

understatement

alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

asonance

Repetition of vowel sounds