Literary Devices

English literary devices (Grade 9 Review)!

Tone

How the writer feels about the characters and the plot (how the author feels).

Mood

The general emotion exhibited by the characters and consequently felt by the reader (how the reader feels).

Atmosphere

The environmental and circumstantial features surrounding the characters which affects their mood (how the characters feels).

Foreshadowing

A hint given by the author about something that will happen later in the story.

Symbolism

Any image, object, character, or action that stands for an idea beyond its literal meaning.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things, often linked by words such as ‘like, as, or than.’

Metaphor

A direct comparison in which the literal meaning of one action or quality is applied to another to suggest the likeness between the two.

Imagery

Words and phrases the writer selects to create a certain picture in the mind of the reader. Usually based on the five senses.

Verbal Irony

When the meaning they wish to communicate is different from, or opposite to, what their actual words seem to say.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows information that the characters within the story do not.

Situational Irony

The reader expects one thing to happen but the opposite occurs.

Personification

Representing inanimate objects as having human personalities, feelings, or emotions. Inanimate objects are endowed with human characteristics.

Pathetic Fallacy

The practice of attributing human emotion or responses to nature, inanimate objects, or animals. A form of personification.

Alliteration

The repeated use of words that begin with the same letter or similar sounds. Repetition of the initial consonant.

Assonance

The repetition of a vowel in any part of the word (usually in the middle of the words).

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that places opposites together to create an effect. A contradiction in terms.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate a sound.

Hyperbole

A description which exaggerates. A bold overstatement, not intended to be taken literally.

Paradox

Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist because different elements of it cancel each other out.

Allusion

A figure of speech that makes a brief reference to a literary character, event, or object. Always indirect.