Literary techniques

Allegory

Story with a double meaning: one primary (on the surface) and one secondary.

An allegory is a full story in which characters or events represent bigger ideas.

A well-known example of an allegorical text is George Orwell’s Animal Farm. If you are analysing this text, you should read extracts as examples of allegories. Similarly, George Orwell's novel Animal Farm is a story in which the main characters are farmyard animals, an allegory of the Russian Revolution and sees the animals overthrowing the owner of the farm, just as Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by revolutionaries.

Allusion

A subtle or indirect reference to another thing, text, historical period, or religious belief.

For example, in T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” there is an allusion to a celestial rose described by Dante in his Paradiso.

At one point in Eliot’s poem the reader encounters the phrase ‘multifoliate rose,’ but Eliot does not mention Dante or the Paradiso by name.

This is an allusion. Had Eliot quoted Dante’s Paradiso, then we would refer to this as a quotation (see below).

alteration

Alliteration means the repetition of sounds at the start of a word in two or more words in close proximity.

Alliteration is a real technique used in poetry, and, in some traditions, it is a unifying feature of the verse.

Commonly found in poetry, nursery rhymes, and prose, alliteration serves to capture readers' attention and create memorable phrases.

It is used to set the tone and mood of a text, with softer sounds eliciting calmness and harsher sounds conveying intensity.

ambiguity

A statement or aspect of a text that lacks a clear or singular meaning. Ambiguity in literary texts falls into four categories:

• Syntactic ambiguity – Ambiguous statements that may have multiple meanings due to the punctuation of the sentence

• Semantic ambiguity – Ambiguous statements that could have multiple meanings because of the choice of words

• Narrative ambiguity – Ambiguity surrounding the plot or characters and their motives

• Conceptual ambiguity – Ambiguity about the concepts, themes, or ideas in the text.

Narrative ambiguity is when aspects of the plot-line are not clear.

For example, a character may have unclear motives or the relationship between a pair of characters could be ambiguous

Ambiguity lets the audience's imagination off the leash, and that helps them feel more emotionally attached to the story. It also encourages 'different perspectives' because people read the narrative using their own filters of experience.

analogy

A comparison of two things for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

For example, in 2016 a Fox News article repeated a clichéd analogy in a headline: “Is America collapsing like the Roman Empire?”  The journalist is suggesting that we can understand aspects of the United States today by appreciating their similarity with aspects of the Roman Empire.

sing analogies in your writing helps your readers understand characters, ideas, and complex topics.

The comparisons made through analogy help readers connect to your writing and increase reader engagement by ensuring they understand its contents.

anecdote

An interesting or unique personal story or account.

Composers use anecdotes in both fiction and non-fiction texts to develop their ideas, demonstrate elements of a character’s personality, or add to their world.

anomaly

In a text, an anomaly is something which deviates from what is normal or expected.

-depart from an establsihed course

Anthropomorphism

The act of attributing human qualities to a non-human figure.

Napoleon the pig in Animal Farm has been anthropomorphised – he speaks and acts like a person – and this allows Orwell to use him in an allegorical way.

Personification is the use of figurative language to give inanimate objects or natural phenomena humanlike characteristics in a metaphorical and representative way.

Anthropomorphism, on the other hand, involves non-human things displaying literal human traits and being capable of human behavior.

apostrophe

the purpose of an apostrophe in literature is to direct the reader's attention to something other than the person who's speaking.

Apostrophes frequently target an absent person or a third party.

Other times, they focus on an inanimate object, a place, or even an abstract ide

archetypes

a recurring idea, character, or object.

They serve as foundational elements in storytelling, helping authors create relatable characters and compelling narratives. By understanding archetypes, writers can tap into familiar patterns and themes that engage readers, allowing them to connect emotionally with the story.

assonance

Assonance occurs when similar vowel sounds appear close together. This repetition can occur anywhere in the word, not only at the start.

create rhytmn, can make aline more memorable

bricolage

n literature, bricolage is affected by intertextuality, the shaping of a text's meanings by reference to other texts.

cliché

An over-used, common expression.

For example, the statements “brave as a lion” or “opposites attract” are clichés that define personal traits and relationships, respectively.

consonance

Repetition of consonants throughout a sentence or phrase.

establish rhythm, mood, or a musical flow, allowing for a deeper emotional resonance in their compositions.

contrast

Contrast is the deliberate positioning of two or more objects/events/characters who have different characteristics. This is often done to accentuate their unique individual qualities.

antithesis

a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

emphasizing contrast and parallel structure to communicate an idea. These elements create striking, memorable statements that enhance meaning and impact.

dialect

A dialect is a form of English spoken by a particular group, such as a group of people from a particular region.

If your text is written in a certain dialect, you could explain why the author has chosen to adopt this language.

If a character speaks in a particular dialect, that is part of their characterisation and suggests where they come from and their socio-economic status.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell includes dialogue from a woman speaking in cockney English, a dialect historically associated with East London and the working class.

From this, the reader can infer that the Proles in Orwell’s novel are descendants of Cockney speakers, an inference even the novel’s protagonist would not be able to make.

dialogue

One of the major English techniques. Good to refer to it in connection with other techniques.

For example, you may refer to the diction in a speaker’s dialogue, which will suggest their level of education.

Dialogue can be used to infer a speaker’s intentions, as well as their personality (are they assertive or restrained when speaking to other people?).

diction

The selective choice of words and style of expression by an author. Diction refers to the construction of expressions which allows a text to fulfill its purpose. It can impact the tone and representation of characters and setting.

In the ‘Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock’, T.S Eliot utilises diction to convey the decay of humanity.

His careful choice of language, particularly in “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;/I know the voices dying with a dying fall.”

Through comparing the quantity of life he has remaining to coffee spoons, Eliot is able to emphasise the degradation and fragility of human life.

didactic

Any text that instructs the reader or is obviously delivering a moral message.

For example, Jane Austen’s Emma is considered by some to be a didactic text because it presents examples of how a young woman should and shouldn’t behave.

disjunct

A disjunct is a type of adverb that modifies a whole sentence.

They function in a similar way to introductory clauses and introduce examples or observations by commenting on them.

Jane Austen begins Pride and Prejudice with a disjunct: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The initial clause about acknowledged truth is modified by “universally” to make it hyperbolic and satirise the regency conventions of marriage.

disjunction

Related to Disjuncts, see above, a disjunction is a conjunction (e.g. usually ‘either’ or ‘either….or’, but also ‘but’ or ‘yet’) that dramatically interrupts the rhythm of the sentence to introduce a contrast.

For example, in the Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald Nick Carraway observes that: “Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on.”

In this quotation, ‘but’ is used to dramatically dismiss the religious allusion in the previous clause.

elipsis

a punctuation mark consisting a series of three dots

Real conversations are full of pauses, incomplete thoughts, and trailing sentences.

By using ellipses, writers can make their characters sound like real people rather than formal speakers. Ellipses also create emotional effects.

They can build suspense by leaving readers hanging, wondering what comes next

emotive laungauge

For example, Prince Hamlet’s self-indulgent rant in Scene to of Shakespeare’s Hamlet uses emotive language to describe how depressed he is:

“O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!”

euphenism

Mild expression used to replace a harsh one.

For example, an embarrassed student might tell their parent that they had a “working lunch” rather than admitting to having been given a lunchtime detention for poor behaviour.

exclamation

Exclamatory sentence ending in “!” to convey high emotion.

In Eliot’s ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ the persona’s insecurities about their appearance are conveyed with the exclamation: “(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)

figurative launguage and sound devices

Metaphor, metonymy - a figure of speech where something is reffered to by the name of soemthing clearly associated with it “ we will swear loyalty to the crown”, “the white house issued a statement”

hyperbole, simile, personification, assonance, alliteration, consonance, onomatopoeia, etc.

These devices have a powerful impact as they work on our senses to strengthen the subject matter of the text.

foreshadowing

an allusion to something that will hapen later in teh narrative

flashback

Purpose and features of a text influence its construction and will suggest its structure.

A significant flashback occurs in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, in Part Two, Chapter 7. In this scene, a traumatic dream causes a flashback in the protagonist Winston Smith.

The flashback concerns painful memories involving his family.

The spontaneous nature of this flashback suggests that Winston has gone to lengths to repress the traumatic memory involving his family.

It is also a narrative device. By revealing new details about Winston’s past, Orwell keeps the reader engaged and interested.

fragmented/truncated sentences

ncomplete sentences used to increase tension or urgency, or reflect the way people speak to each other. 

Sentence fragments are sentences that cannot stand on their own.

gaps and silence

What is not said; whose voice isn’t heard and whose voice dominates?

humour

Incongruity- out of place/ inconcsistent dos not fit in the text, parody, satire, exaggeration, irony, puns etc. used to lighten the overall tone

Icons

A single person, object or image that represents complex ideas and feelings.

Imagery

Vivid pictures created by words. Reader visualises character/setting clearly.

Imagery is language that evokes one of the five senses, and you must always refer to the specific kind.

In other words, never use simply ‘imagery,’ but always ‘olfactory (smell) imagery,’ ‘tactile imagery,’ ‘visual imagery,’ ‘auditory imagery’ or ‘gustatory (taste) imagery.’

Imperative voice or mood

Forceful use of the verb at the start of sentence or phrase. The imperative mood is one of the grammatical moods in English.

Other moods include the indicative (as in ‘That cat is suspicious’) and the interrogative (‘Is that cat suspicious?’).

The imperative mood is useful to refer to since it’s the mood for commands (e.g. ‘Go to bed!’ ‘Shut the door!). If a speaker uses the imperative, then he or she may be an authority figure.

Before the third section of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston and Julia are caught. A man named Mr. Charrington, whom Winston had believed was a gentle shopkeeper, turns out to be a member of the secret police. Mr. Charrington’s authority in the secret police is indicated by his use of the imperative to command another officer when he first enters the room.

incantation

A poetic form that uses repetition, rhythm, and/or rhyme to convey a sense of magic or magical power.

The song of the Weird Sisters, or Three Witches, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606) is a good example of an incantation:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good. (4.1.36-40)

intertextuality

When a text makes a reference to other texts. This reference can be an explicit quotation or implied and inferred by allusion.

In media res

This means ‘in the middle of things,’ and it refers to narratives that begin in the middle of action, as opposed to slowly building up to this action.

This is an ancient technique, and it has a number of meanings.

Most obviously, it’s a hook to draw the reader in. It can also be used to disorientate.

The Tempest begins in medias res, many years after Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded on Caliban’s Isle after Antonio’s treachery.

irony

gap between what is said and what is meant

For example In Fitzgerald’sThe Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway’s assertion that, “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores,” is ironic because he is not, in fact, reserving judgement on those he calls “veteran bores.”

juxtaposition

Contrast: a difference between two or more people or things that you can see clearly when they are compared or put close together. For example, a character might seem even braver if contrasted to a cowardly character.

Juxtaposition: placing two things side by side so as to highlight their differences.

level of laungauge (also known as register)

This refers to the level of sophistication of a piece of language. We expect a high register in formal contexts, while we might expect lower registers in more familiar contexts.

High register is signalled by conceptual, ‘bigger’ vocabulary and complex, lengthy syntax.

The common registers we refer to are: slang, colloquial, informal or formal. Consider the following greetings:

• Slang: Hey, how youse goin, cuz’?

• Colloquial: G’day, how ya going, mate?

• Informal: How’re you doing?

• Formal: Hello, how are you today, Ms?

metaphor

Comparison of 2 objects where one becomes another – adds further layers of meaning about the object being compared.

metonymy

A word or name that is used in the place of something it is closely related to.

The Kremlin, for example, has long been conventionally used as a metonym for the Russian government.

A student might say, “I’m going to Matrix.” But they really mean that they are going to the Matrix Hurstville Campus. In this usage, the proper noun, “Matrix,”  is metonymic with all of the Matrix campuses.

modality

The certainty which a speaker employs in their language.

• High modality = Certainty. “It will hail today.”

• Medial modality (also called Semi-modality) = doubt that something that should occur will occur. “It ought to rain today.”

• Low modality = Uncertainty. “It may rain today.”

motif

A motif is an image, sound, figure, character archetype or object which has a symbolic reference to a particular theme or idea. A motif is a recurring symbol with a figurative meaning and is quite easy to spot due to its prominence.

In Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald utilises the recurring motif of weather to reflect the emotions experienced by the characters. When Daisy and Gatsy reunite it is pouring however when there love reignites the sun is just coming out.

non linear

Non-sequential narrative, events do not occur in chronological order. See, Linear narrative above.

paradox

A statement that is self-contradictory or logically unacceptable but has valid reasoning based on a true premise. It is a juxtaposition of contradictory-yet-interrelated ideas which have a hidden truth.

In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Party’s slogan “War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength,” is a clear example of a paradox whereby each idea contradicts the other. Thus, Orwell clearly utilises contradictory statements throughout his novel to place emphasis on a society controlled by a totalitarian government.

parody

Conscious imitation for a satiric purpose. Parody is a style that mocks the serious manner and characteristic features of literary works through imitation. Parodies work by exaggerating certain traits common to the work.

pathetic fallacy

person

periphrasis

personification

perspective

plosive consonants

pun

reference

register

rejet

repetition

representation

rhyme

satire

setting

sibilance

simile

symbolism

syntax -sentence stucture

tense

textual intergrity

theme

tone