Comprehensive Literary Devices and Character Types for Literature Students

Onomatopoeia

Words that reflect the sound it denotes

Personification

Giving human qualities to objects or animals

Simile

Comparing two things using like or as

Metaphor

Comparing two unrelated things to find a hidden similarity

Alliteration

repeating the same consonant sound

Rhyme

repletion of identical or similar sounds in two or more words at the end of lines

Anti-hero

a protagonists who lacks traditional attributes of a hero

Protagonist

a character who's struggles and conflicts motivate the plot

Connotation

The feeling a word gives you in addition to its literal meaning

Hyperbole

Dramatic Exaggeration

Enjambment

when a sentence or phrase continues past a line break without finishing punctuation

Flashback

transition in a writing or movie where it goes back to an early event

Anaphora

repetition at the beginning each line or stanza with the same word or phrases

Haiku

a short poem, unrhymed, follows the 5-7-5 syllable structure

Tone

the others attitude or mood about a specific subject

Symbol

a person, place, thing, or event that has a deeper meaning and means more then its literal meaning

Theme

central idea, thesis, or message

*Not the subject to topic of the text

Antagonist

character who opposes the protagonist

Dynamic Character

character who changes as a result of the plot, events, and actions

Flat Character

Character marked by one single trait, no dimension

Round Character

Character who has dimension, lifelike, and is complex

Euphony

language that is smooth and musically pleasant to the ear

Cacophony

Language that is difficult to pronounce and discordant

Denotation

the literal dictionary definition to a word

Occasional Poem

type of poem that is written to commemorate a specific event, usually an important public event

Syntax

a set of rules that govern how words, phrases, and symbols are arranged to form structured sentences

Satire

a style of writing that mocks at a person, belief, or group of people in order to challenge them

Metonymy

substitutes something associated with one thing to stand for that thing

Irony

reveals the different between what appears to be true and what is actually true

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Image

specific language and word choices to evoke realistic images in the readers mind

Figurative Language

refers to images, a new way to describe something we already know

Carpe Diem Poem

a poem that encourages one to "seize the day", or live for today

Foil

A character who is in most ways opposite to the main character (protagonist), the purpose is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only

Diction

the word choices made by a writer

Allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Ars Poëtica

a poem examining the role of poets themselves as subjects