Literary Devices Review - KEY
Simile
Motif
Metaphor
Alliteration
Irony Allusion
Foreshadowing
Omen Ritual Epithet Homeric simile
Personification
Flashback
Ibis lies like a broken vase of red flowers. simile
Doodle falls after exerting himself “like an old, worn-out doll.” simile metaphor Pride is a seed that bears two vines, life and death.
Armada of fiddler crabs. metaphor
Symbolism
Knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love.
The heresy of rain. metaphor
Doodle falls like a half empty flour sack. metaphor simile fairy tale: we had left no crumbs behind. allusion
Brother expects a great deal from Doodle, although he gives him a name that suggests people shouldn’t expect much from him. irony
Hope … perched like a cardinal.
Simile/personification historical: names of French towns in WWI allusion
The oriole nest … rocked back and forth like an empty cradle. biblical: the Resurrection, caul – Jesus’ nightgown; allusion
Hope no longer hid in the palmetto bush but perched like a cardinal. simile
The poem, “The Lotos-Eaters” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The breeze “whispered softly the names of our dead.” allusion personification
The ibis is uncoordinated, fragile, and out of its natural habitat, just as Doodle is.
Personification/simile symbolism
These items in the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” are red: ibis, bleeding tree, nightshade bush, Doodle’s blood,
Doodle’s complexion as a baby when he exerts himself, cardinal. The story includes repeated images of this color. motif the sick-sweet smell of bay flowers alliteration
Wherever we looked, ferns unfurled and birds broke into song. alliteration
After explaining that he ignored his men’s request and insisted on staying in Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus narrates,
“No pretty sight, it turns out, for my friends.” foreshadowing

Athena, goddess of wisdom epithet
Circe sends Odysseus “a hardy shipmate” as he and his man sail away from her island.
Dawn, with her fingers of rose, lights the morning sky. personification metaphor
The cow hides crawl and the beef on the spits lows. omen
Homer writes a long description comparing the poker, which Odysseus and his men use to poke Cyclops’ eye, to a blacksmith’s tool taken from the fire and put into a pail of cold water.
Homeric simile
Cyclops believes his ram has stayed behind out of loyalty; the ram is actually carrying Odysseus to safety. irony