LITERARY TERMS AND DEVICES
DRAMA
Genre meant to be performed by actors
in front of an audience.
Ex: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet,
The Crucible
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TRAGEDY
Sub-genre of drama in which events turn out disastrously
for the main characters, often in death, caused by fate or
a character’s tragic flaw.
Ex: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
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IMAGERY
• Language that appeals to the five senses of
sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
• Ex: The hot pizza burned his mouth but tasted great as
it filled his growling stomach.
PARADOX
An apparently
self-contradictory statement,
that upon closer inspection,
contains some element of
truth.
Ex: In the famous play
Hamlet, the protagonist
Hamlet says, “I must be cruel
to be kind.”
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• Words spoken that other characters on stage do
not supposedly hear.
• Ex: Juliet speaking about Romeo, but her mother not
hearing.
FORESHADOWING
FORESHADOWING
• Clues in the text to suggest what is
going to happen later.
• Example:
METONYMY
• Example from Macbeth:
"That, trusted home, / Might
yet enkindle you unto the
crown, / Besides the Thane of
Cawdor” (I.iii.123-4)
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SYNECDOCHE
• A figure of speech in which a part is used
to represent the whole.
Example: Macbeth says, “Take thy face hence.”
Meaning: The speaker wants the whole person
to leave, not just his face.
SOLILOQUY
A long speech in which a
character, usually alone on stage,
reveals thoughts and/or feelings.
No other characters are meant to
overhear a soliloquy.
Ex: Romeo talking about how
beautiful Juliet is while hiding
beneath her balcony. She is not
aware that he is present at the
time. . . Creeper.
DRAMATIC IRONY
• Occurs when the audience
understands what's going on in a
situation while the characters are
unaware of the truth.
Example: An example of dramatic irony is the last scene in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet commits suicide because she thinks Romeo
has committed suicide.
APOSTROPHE
• A figure of speech in which a character
directly addresses an inanimate object or
someone who is either dead or simply not
there as if it were alive and present and
could reply. Apostrophes can be used to
heighten our understanding of a character's
emotions, whether positive or negative.
Ex: Juliet addressing the dagger she uses to kill herself in Romeo and
Juliet: “O happy dagger, /This is thy sheath. / There rust and let me die.”
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ALLUSION
• A reference to a person, place, or thing in literature or
culture that the writer expects the reader to understand.
• Ex: She is as mysterious as the Mona Lisa’s smile.
METAPHOR
• A figure of speech which makes
an implicit, implied, or hidden
comparison between two ideas or
objects that are different from
each other but have some
characteristic(s) in common.
• Example from Macbeth:
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor
player / That struts and frets his
hour upon the stage." (V.v.25-6)
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