Literary Devices
Lexicon, Part 5? 6?
Episode 1: The Super
League of Frighteningly
Happy and Odd Looking
Animals’ Adventure!
Point of View


The vantage point or
perspective from
which a story is told
Includes an
awareness of
speaker’s tone or
attitude.
Head of
the
Terrible
Belligerent
Robot
Band
First Person Point of View
Definition
 Tells the story with the
first person pronoun, “I,”
and is a character in the
story.

This narrator can be the
protagonist, a secondary
character, or an observing
character.
I knew that the leader
of the Terrible BRB
hated the Super LoL, so
I thought, if I could just
destroy the Super LoL,
I might get promoted
to Terribot!
Third Person Point of View
Definition



Relates the events with the third
person pronouns, “he,” “she,” and
“it.”
third person omniscient - the
narrator, with godlike knowledge,
presents the thoughts and actions
of any or all characters
third person limited omniscient, in
which the narrator presents the
feelings and thoughts of only one
character, presenting only the
actions of all the remaining
characters.
And so, though they
were unaware, the
Super LoL were at great
risk, for Hover, and that
strange worm droid
thing of his, and some
other belligerent robots
were planning a
horrible attack…
Hmmm… Maybe I
SHOULD get ice
cream…
Aphorism
Definition
 A terse statement of
known authorship which
expresses a general truth
or a moral principle.
Examples
 “To be great is to be
misunderstood.”
 Ralph Waldo Emerson


Can be a memorable
summation of the author’s
point.
“A penny saved is a penny
earned.” - Benjamin
Franklin
Hey Hart, “Dost thou love
life? Then do not squander
time, for that's the stuff life
is made of.”
Epigram
Definition
 Brief, pointed
statement, with
elevated style that
often uses rhetorical
devices, such as
parallelism.

Distinction: aphorism
is closer to a proverb
(moral); epigram is a
brief jewel of words
Examples
Some cause
 What
is an
epigram? A
happiness
wherever
they go; whole;
others
dwarfish
whenever they go.
Its body brevity, and wit
its soul.
“Always forgive your
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
enemies: nothing
annoys them so much.”
Epigraph
Definition
 The use of a quotation at
the beginning of a work
that hints at its theme.
Example
 Peter uses an epigraph at
the beginning of his
article: “

Hmmm… I want ice
cream
We pressed a thought into
the wayside,
planted an impression along
the verge.

- from "Marginalia" by Billy
Collins
Anecdote
Definition


A short, simple
narrative of an
incident
Often used for
humorous effect or
to make a point

Appeals to Pathos
Example
This one time, when I was a
young
 In “On
themember
Decayofofthe
the Art
Terrible BRB, I destroyed the
of Lying,”
Twain uses an
ROFL League real good. I
anecdote
the
just left about
the room.
They
thoughtwho
it wassilently
for a second,
woman
lies
but it wasn’t… Mwahaha
about her nurse by not
filling in negative
information.
Parable
Definition
 A short tale that teaches a
moral
I know you want ice cream
now. But remember the story
about the impatient gazelle…
You know what the belligerent
robotic lion did to it…
Example
 The prodigal son and
other parables in the
Bible!
And so all the Super LoL members
go to Yogurtland…
Only to find…
Noooooo!
Hehehe…
Apostrophe
Definition
 A figure of speech that
directly addresses an
absent or imaginary
person or a personified
abstraction, such as liberty
or love.
 It is an address to
someone or something
that cannot answer.
 May add familiarity or
emotional intensity.
Examples
 “Arise, fair sun, and kill the
envious moon…” – Romeo
Ice cream!
Where are you
when I need you?
Flashback
Definition
 Interrupts chronological
work to tell of earlier time.

Breaks from chronology
for plot, theme, or stylistic
reasons.
Wait a
second…
Example
Theme
Definition
 The central idea or
message of a work, the
insight it offers into life.
 Usually theme is unstated
in fictional works, but in
nonfiction, the theme may
be directly stated,
especially in expository or
argumentative writing.
Ice cream makes
everything better.