Literary Devices!
Fun to be had by all.
Idiom: A phrase that can be
traced to a specific area.
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Examples:
“I have a bone to pick with her!”
“High five!”
“He woke up on the wrong side of the
bed.”
• “The early bird gets the worm.”
Idiom Pop Quiz
• See if you can determine what these
idioms are really saying.
• On your paper, replace the bolded words
with the actual meaning and see if they
make more sense!
• 1) He was all ears when his boss called.
• 2) She was just a chip off the old block.
• 3) His comments threw a wet blanket on
the discussion.
• 4) They were beat after a hard day’s work.
• 5) After the manager quit, they were all in
the same boat.
Point of View
• First person POV: a character is telling the
story as they see it. Clue: uses the
pronouns “I” and “we”
• Second person POV: the narrator tells the
story to another character using “you.”
This is the least common POV in fiction
• Third person POV: narrator tells the story.
Clue: uses pronouns “he”and “she”
Mood vs. Tone
What’s the difference?
• Tone: The author’s attitude towards
what he is writing about.
• Mood: The emotions the reader feels.
Usually a result of the author’s tone,
however not always the same.
– One piece of literature can evoke several
moods among readers based on the
reader’s own experience.
For Example…
• Imagine you are
a normal
teenager like
Cary Ramos:
and to win the love of fair
Alexandra you decide to
write a love note…
Tone = Depends on the Author
• The TONE of his
letter is romantic
because that is his
attitude toward this
subject.
However, the letter could evoke
several different moods based
on Alexandra’s experiences:
Allusion
• Indirect of casual reference to another’s
work.
• The author assumes that the reader is
familiar with the movie, book, song, or
event he is referring to.
• Most times the author wants to apply
elements the reader knows of the original
piece to his own literary work.
For example…
• "The girl's love of sweets was her
Achilles heel," referencing the warrior in
Greek mythology, Achilles, who could only
be harmed if something hit his heel
because he was dipped in magic water as
baby when his mother held him by a heel.
Achilles' only weakness is his heel, so an
Achilles heel reference means a downfall
or weakness, in this example a weakness
for sweets.
Works based on Literary
Allusions:
• Wicked,
the novel
and
musical
based on
The
Wizard
of Oz
The True Story of the 3 Little
Pigs, based on The Three Little
Pigs fable.
Connotation
vs. Denotation
• Connotation: the implied
or emotional meaning.
– This may mean different things to different
people.
• Denotation: The
Dictionary definition.
– Although a word can have more than one
definition in a dictionary, the meaning does
not vary from person to person.
Understanding Connotation
• Mother in the dictionary is defined as “a
female parent,” thus making it the
denotation.
• However, the feelings evoked by the word
mother may be different for every person
in the class. This is the connotation.
“Isn’t it ironic…don’t ya think?”
• There are three different types of
literary irony.
• The term “ironic” is often misused in
everyday language. Read on and
violate no longer!
The Three Types of Irony
• Situational Irony: An event of outcome of
events opposite to what was or might
naturally have been expected.
• For example:When John Hinckley attempted to
assassinate President Ronald Reagan, all of his
shots initially missed the President; however a
bullet ricocheted off the bullet-proof windows of
the Presidential limousine and struck Reagan in
the chest. Thus, the windows made to protect
the President from gunfire were partially
responsible for his being shot.
Dramatic Irony
This is when one of the characters is
unaware of important information that the
audience is made aware of.
For example: In Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet Romeo believes Juliet to be dead
when she is merely asleep. This turns into
tragic irony when he decides to end his
life to be with her.
Verbal Irony
• The speaker or writer of verbal irony says
one thing while INTENDING the reader to
get a different meaning.
• For example, when using Sarcasm, the
speaker says one thing but his tone
implies another meaning.
How is this ironic?
And this?
ONOMATOPOEIA
is a word that imitates the sound
it represents.
Examples:crunch
zap
tick-tock
whoosh
PERSONIFICATION
is when a writer gives human
qualities to animals or objects.
Examples:My car drank the
gasoline in one gulp.
The cat laughed.
The newspaper headline glared at me.
ALLITERATION
is the repetition of the same
consonant sound in words occurring
near one another.
Examples:Peter Piper picked
a peck of pickled peppers.
Sally sells seashells by the
seashore.
SYMBOLISM
is using an object or action that
means something more than its
literal meaning.
Examples:Pink symbolizes the
fight against breast cancer.
The Statue of Liberty symbolizes
freedom.
HYPERBOLE
is an obvious exaggeration or
overstatement.
Examples:I’m so hungry I could
eat the entire buffet at Golden Corral
right now!
IMAGERY
is when a writer invokes the five
senses.
Examples:The smell reminded
him of rotting tomatoes.
The fence was uneven, like baby
teeth growing awkwardly in. (also a
simile!)
OXYMORON
is the combination of two opposite
terms.
Examples:a
peaceful war
a generous tightwad
dark sunshine
PUN
is a humorous play on words, often
involving double meanings
Examples:There was a shootout
in the Gap. There were many casualtees.
A man stole a case of soap from the
corner store. He made a clean
getaway.