Literary + Rhetorical Devices ALL

Active Voice

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action. This is a more direct and preferred style of writing in most cases.

Passive Voice

When the subject of the sentence receives the action. Often overused, resulting in lifeless writing.

Connotation Diction

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning. Blue is a color, but can be used as "She was feeling blue" as implied.

Denotation Diction

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Jargon Diction

The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.

Allusion

An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text, although it can be other things commonly known, such as plays, songs, historical events) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

Alter-ego

A character that is used by the author to speak the author's own thoughts; when an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode. Often inserted into fictional or non fictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Classicism

Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types of words have significant effects on meaning.

Colloquial Diction

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

Vernacular Diction

1. Language or dialect of a particular country. 2. Language or dialect of a regional clan or group. 3. Plain everyday speech

Didactic

A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Adage

A folk saying with a lesson.

Allegory

A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these characters, things, and events is meant to reveal an abstraction or a truth.

Aphorism

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle. Can be a memorable summation of the author's point.

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author. (...)

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. Sometimes they are used for political correctness. Sometimes used to exaggerate correctness to add humor.

Literal Language

writing that makes complete sense when you take it at face value.

Figurative Language

writing that is not meant to be taken literally.

Analogy

A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables. When a writer uses one, he or she argues that the relationship between the first pair of variables is the same as the relationship between the second pair of variables.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration.

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Metaphor

Making an implied comparison, not using "like," as," or other such words.

Extended metaphor

when the metaphor is continued later in the written work. If I continued to call my feet "my popsicles" in later paragraphs, that would be one

Conceit

particularly elaborate extended metaphor

Metonymy

Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept. "Relations between London and Washington have been strained", meaning the relations between the leaders

Synecdoche

A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.

Simile

Using words such as "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

Synesthesia

a description involving a “crossing of the senses”

Personification

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

Foreshadowing

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama.

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death. Also refers to an architectural style of the middle ages, often seen in cathedrals of this period.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind. Usually this involves the five senses. Authors often use in conjunction with metaphors, similes, or figures of speech.

Invective

A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Verbal irony

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different. If your voice tone is bitter, it's called sarcasm.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn't and would be surprised to find out.

Situational Irony

Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

Motif

a recurring idea in a piece of literature.

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together- "wise fool"

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author's writing.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Chiasmus

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed. "Fair is foul and foul is fair." Also called antimetabole.

Antithesis

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

Zuegma (Syllepsis)

When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies. "The butler killed the lights, and then the mistress."

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true. "You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without getting a job".

Parallelism

(Also known as parallel structure or balanced sentences) Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns. Used to add emphasis, organization, or sometimes pacing to writing.

Parenthetical Idea

Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence. It is almost considered an aside...a whisper, and should be used sparingly for effect, rather than repeatedly. Parentheses \n can also be used to set off dates and numbers. "In a short time (and the time is getting shorter by the \n gallon) America will be out of oil."

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. It borrows words or phrases \n from an original, and pokes fun at it. This is also a form of allusion, since it is referencing a previous text, \n event, etc.

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.

Poetic Device

Device used in poetry to manipulate the sounds of words, sentences or lines.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words. \n "Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore"

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. \n "From the molten-golden notes"

Consonance

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words. "Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door"

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes. \n Snap, rustle, boom, murmur

Internal Rhyme

When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line. "To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!"

Slant Rhyme

When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly - they are merely similar. \n "I sat upon a stone, / And found my life has gone."

End rhyme

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme. "Roses are red, violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, and so are you."

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of a poem's end rhymes. For example, a b a b c d c d.

Stressed and unstressed syllables

In every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed, or said with more force than the other syllable(s). In the name "Nathan," the first syllable is stressed. In the word "unhappiness," the second of the four syllables is stressed.

Meter

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Free verse

Poetry that doesn't have much meter or rhyme.

Iambic pentameter

Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. \n "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Sonnet

A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Polysyndeton

When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions. Normally, a conjunction is used only before the last item in a list. Often used to slow down the pace of the writing and/or add an authoritative tone.

Pun

When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way. "I was stirred by his cooking lesson."

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle

The relationships, in any piece of writing, between the writer, the audience, and the subject. All analysis of writing is essentially an analysis of the relationships between the points on the triangle.

Rhetorical Question

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Romanticism

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature. Does not rely on traditional themes and structures (see classicism).

Sarcasm

A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded. However, not all satire and \n irony are sarcastic. It is the bitter, mocking tone that separates sarcasm from mere verbal irony or satire.

Satire

A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Usually has three layers: serious on the surface; humorous when you discover that it is satire instead of reality; and serious when you discern \n the underlying point of the author.

Sentence

A group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.

Appositive

A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning. "Bob, the lumber yard worker, spoke with Judy, an accountant from the city."

Clause

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

Independent Clause

expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

Dependent/ Subordinate Clause

Cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent one.

Compound Sentence

Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

Complex Sentence

Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent \n clause.

Cumulative Sentence

(also called a loose sentence) When the writer begins with an \n independent clause, then adds subordinate elements. "He doubted whether he could ever \n again appear before an audience, his confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration." The opposite construction is called a periodic sentence.

Periodic Sentence

When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence. The writer begins with subordinate elements and postpones the main clause. "His \n confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration, he doubted whether he could ever again appear before an audience." The opposite construction is called a cumulative sentence.

Simple Sentence

contains one independent clause

Declarative Sentence

States an idea. It does not give a command or request, nor does it ask a question. "The ball is round."

Imperative Sentence

Issues a command. "Kick the ball".

Interrogative Sentence

Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, whom, and whose). "To whom did you kick the ball?"

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. May be conscious or unconscious.

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else. Usually something concrete such as an object, actions, character...that represents something more abstract.

Syntax/ Sentence Variety

Grammatical arrangement of words. This is perhaps one of the most difficult concepts to master. First, a reader should examine the length of sentences (short or long). How does \n sentence length and structure relate to tone and meaning. Are they simple, compound, compound-complex \n sentences? How do they relate to one another?

Theme

The central idea or message of a work. May be directly stated in nonfiction works, \n although not necessarily. It is rarely stated directly in fiction.

Thesis

The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, \n or proposition. It should be short and clear. (also see argument)

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language and organization. To identify it, consider how the piece would sound if read aloud (or how the author wanted \n it to sound aloud). Can be: playful, serious, businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal, somber, etc.

Understatement

The ironic minimizing of fact, this presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous. "Our defense played valiantly, and held the other team to merely eight touchdowns in the first quarter."

Litotes

a particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, this either retains the effect of understatement (Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car any good) or becomes an intensifying expression (The flavors of the mushrooms, herbs, and spices combine to make the dish not at all disagreeable).

Argument

a piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion.

Premises

Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion