(ENG 1D9) Literary Terms and Devices

IMAGERY

E.g. The giant tree was ablaze with the orange, red, and yellow leaves that were beginning to make their descent to the ground.

METAPHOR

E.g. My Love for you is a red, red, rose.

PERSONIFICATION

E.g. The ivy wove its fingers around the fence.

EXTENDED METAPHOR

E.g. My love is a red, red rose. I give my red rose to you.

SIMILE

E.g. She looks as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

IRONY

(Broad Term)

VERBAL IRONY

E.g “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” (William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar")

DRAMATIC IRONY

E.g. Hank Schrader in "Breaking Bad" is a DEA agent looking for crystal-meth producer 'Heisenberg'. The audience knows that 'Heisenberg' is Schrader’s brother-in-law, Walter White.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

E.g. Discovered in the 9th century by the Chinese, gunpowder was found by alchemists attempting to find an “elixir of immortality.”

SOCRATIC IRONY

E.g. Calling a stupid plan “clever” without giving away that fact that you are aware of the stupidity of the plan.

COSMIC IRONY

E.g. The Titanic was promoted as being 100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship sank on its maiden voyage.

PATHETIC FALLACY

E.g. The wind howled in the angry storm during the couples final fight to the death.

ALLUSION

E.g. I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.

FLASHBACK

E.g. Sarah was nervous about her performance. She had a dream about her performance last year when she fell in front of everyone.

FORESHADOWING

E.g. He had no idea of the disastrous chain of events to follow

ALLITERATION

E.g. Walter walked wearily while wondering where Wally was.

HYPERBATON (SYNTACTIC INVERSION)

E.g. "And gone are all my Summer days." (William Soutar's "The Tryst") Vs. All my summer days are gone.

TONE

E.g. "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" (William Yeats' "The Second Coming")

ATMOSPHERE (MOOD)

E.g. "The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on." (Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers")

CLICHÉ (CLICHE)

E.g. "All's Well That Ends Well" (William Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well")

ANECDOTE

E.g. Before giving a presentation on the dangers of drug abuse, the speaker tells the audience how he himself used to abuse drugs and explains the negative effects it brought about in his life.

PROVERBS

E.g. Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.

SYMBOLISM

E.g. "The works of women are symbolical. We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight, Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir, To put on when you're weary." (Elizabeth Barret Browning’s "Aurora Leigh")