Literary Devices
Definitions
• Tenor – Idea, what am I trying to
describe
• Vehicle – Means of Comparison
illuminates the tenor
• Connotations - Associations
Metaphors
• Comparison
• Her eyes were pools of blue diamonds
• Tenor – her eyes
• Vehicle – pools of blue diamonds
• Connotations?
Metaphors con’t
• A mighty fortress is our God.
• Tenor – Our God
• Vehicle – mighty fortress
• Connotations?
Simile
• Comparison using like or as
• My love is like a red, red rose.
• Tenor – love
• Vehicle – red, red rose
• Connotations?
Simile con’t
• I love you like a fat kid loves cake.
• Tenor – love
• Vehicle – fat kid loves cake
• Connotations?
Synesthesia
• Comparing things with senses
• Loud shirt
• Tenor – shirt
• Vehicle – loud
• Connotations?
Synesthesia con’t
• He’s hot
• Tenor – he
• Vehicle – hot
• Connotations?
Synechdoche
• Part is the vehicle for an implied whole
• All eyes up here
• Tenor – implied person
• Vehicle – eyes
• Connotations?
Implied Metaphor
• Look at verb, tenor and vehicle not
obvious
• You got me twisted
• Tenor – me
• Vehicle – something twisted
• Connotations?
Implied Metaphor con’t
• She flew into the room
• Tenor – she
• Vehicle – a bird
• Connotations?
Metonymy
• Something used to represent an idea
• The White House issued the order last
night.
• Tenor – American Government, power,
Bush
• Vehicle – White House
Metonymy con’t
• You’ve gotta have heart.
• Tenor – you
• Vehicle – emotion, live, love, laugh,
soul, passion
Personification
• Way to describe something inanimate by giving
living characteristics, form of implied metaphor
• The wind whispered
• Tenor – sound
• Vehicle – whispered
• Connotations?
Onomatopoeia
• When something is named for the sound
it makes, tenor usually implied
• He banged his head on the desk.
• Tenor – sound and action of banging
• Vehicle – banged
Symbol
• Word or object that stands for
another word or object
• White dove – peace
Irony
• Opposition or disagreement between
what a writer says and what
actually happens
Situational Irony
• Disagreement between expected
results and what is actually going
to happen.
• A man dies on the way to the airport
who is afraid of flying.
Verbal Irony
• Author says one thing and really
means something else.
• It is raining out and it says lovely
weather.
Tragic/Dramatic Irony
• The audience knows something that
the characters do not.
Paradox
• Opposites that contradict each other
but still make sense, to think deeper
• If God is omnipotent can he create a rock
so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?
• He can make anything, but he can also lift
anything.
• Lonely in a crowd.
• Deep down he is deeply shallow.