Important Literary Techniques
Alliteration
Repeated initial sounds
“If mercy move you murder me”—“To the Mercy Killers” by Dudley Randall
 Adds/removes energy—depending on repeated sound
 Mood—lightens or darkens—depending on repeated sound
 Draws attention to a line
Allusion
Reference to a famous person, place, literary character, event, etc.
“Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean”—“Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold
 Develops theme
 Concisely adds meaning
 Creates emotion
Cacophony
Loud, harsh, staccato, discordant sounds; “hard” consonants, short, choppy words
“He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”—“Dulce et Decorum Est” by
Wilfred Owen
 Emphasizes loudness, violence, vivacity
 Increases energy and pace (usually)
 Connects sound and meaning
Connotation
The meanings and associations readers have with a word beyond its denotation
(dictionary definition)
“He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.”—“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 Adds meaning
 Enhances description
 Develops theme
Euphony
Soft, smooth, mellow sounds; vowels, “soft” consonants
“In her tomb by the side of the sea”—“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
 Emphasizes quiet, peace, death
 Lowers energy and pace (usually)
 Connects sound and meaning
Foreshadowing
Hints or clues about what is tom come in a piece of literature
“No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end”—The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Provides suspense
 Develops the plot
 Stimulates reader interest
Hyperbole (Overstatement)
Exaggeration in the service of truth
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence”—“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
 Emphasis on greater truth
 Sets mood and tone
Imagery
Description in words of how something looks, sounds, tastes, smells, feels
“A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match”—“Meeting at Night” by Robert Browning
 Provides verisimilitude
 Sets tone and mood
 Develops setting
Irony
Generally, when something the opposite of what you would expect happens
“And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head”—“Richard Cory” by Edwin
Arlington Robinson
 Develops tone and mood
 Develops theme
 Creates emotion
Metaphor (see simile)
An implied comparison of two dissimilar things in order to state a truth about one of them
“Yes! In the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless, watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.”—“To Marguerite” by Matthew Arnold
 Enhances description
 Develops theme
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Paradox
A seeming contradiction
“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love”—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
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Use of contrast to develop meaning
Develops theme
Provokes thought
Personification
Giving human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects
“I got up and went downstairs; every board upon the [staitr]way . . . calling after me “Stop
thief!”—Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
 Develops mood
 Develops characterization
 Creates emotion
Plot Structure
Conflict—person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. society, person vs. nature)
Rising Action—the events of a story that further develop the conflict
Climax—the “high point” of the story where the conflict must be resolved
Resolution— shows the results of the climax and ties up the loose ends
Point of View
The perspective from which a story is told
“Call me Ishmael”—First line of Moby Dick by Herman Melville
 First person (I, me, we, our)
 Third person (he, she, they)—omniscient or limited
 Affects level of reader involvement in narrative
Repetition
Repeated sounds, words, phrases
“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.”—Sacred Emily by Gertrude Stein
 Emphasizes concept
 Provokes deeper analysis
 Creates emotion of monotony
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Simile (see metaphor)
An overt (like/as) comparison of two dissimilar things in order to state a truth about one of them.
“What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?”—“Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes
 States “truth” through unusual comparison
 Develops theme
Symbol
An object that is itself but stands for something else, something more
Hamlet is contemplating a skull:
“Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio. . . . Now get you to my lady’s chamber,
and tell her . . . it’s this favour she must come.”—Hamlet by William
Shakespeare
 Develops theme
 Develops meaning
Theme
The meaning of a story—the subject, lesson, or idea that the author wants you to
take away from the reading.
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