Literary Devices and Terms: Definitions and Examples

Alliteration

The repetition of the same beginning consonant sound in nearby words

Allusion

A brief reference to a well-known person, place, event, text, myth, or cultural idea

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines, clauses, or

sentences.

Caesura

A deliberate pause within a line of poetry, often created by punctuation or a natural break

in the syntax.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually work together as a unit and often rhyme.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or thought from one line of poetry into the next without a major pause

or punctuation at the line break

Epigraph

A short quotation, saying, or passage placed at the beginning of a work or section to introduce a

theme or idea.

Free Verse

poetry that does not follow a regular pattern of rhyme or meter

Hyperbole

A deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or effect; it is not meant to be

understood literally

Imagery

Descriptive language that creates sensory experiences or mental pictures by appealing to sight,

sound, smell, taste, touch, or other senses.

Metaphor

A comparison between unlike things that states or implies that one thing is another in order to highlight

a shared quality

Meter

The patterned rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Onomatopoeia

word whose sound imitates or suggests the sound it describes, such as "buzz" or "clang

Personification

A figure of speech that gives human qualities, actions, or emotions to nonhuman things.

Rhyme

The repetition of identical or similar sounds, especially at the ends of lines in poetry.

Simile

A comparison between unlike things using words such as "like" or "as."

Symbol

A person, object, place, action, or image that represents or suggests a larger idea beyond its

literal meaning.

Theme

A central idea, message, or insight about life or human experience that a literary

work develops.

Tone

The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, characters, audience, or situation, conveyed

through language and style.