Literary
Devices:
The techniques of the writer
Take careful notes on each
with examples to prepare
for final exam.
Alliteration
 Repetition
of consonant sounds at the
beginning of a group of words.
 Ex: Sally sells sea-shells…
 Ex: Poe’s “The Raven”—see image.
Allusion
 An
indirect reference in a work to a
historical event, place, person, object or
another artistic or literary work.
 Ex. mythological allusion: In Romeo and
Juliet, Romeo says the following of
Rosaline: “She'll not be hit with Cupid's
arrow.”
 Ex. Biblical allusion: Execution of Jefferson
parallels Christ’s crucifixion.
Antagonist/protagonist


Protagonist: the main character of the
narrative with whom the audience is most
sympathetic. (ex: Scout in To Kill a
Mockingbird)
Antagonist: a character who works against
the protagonist. The antagonist doesn’t
necessarily have to be a person. It could be
death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge
that prevents the main character from living
“happily ever after.” (ex: Bob Ewell in To Kill a
Mockingbird)
Apostrophe



When speaker addresses someone absent or
dead or an inanimate object for dramatic
effect.
Ex: Juliet says, "O happy dagger! This is thy
sheath; there rust, and let me die.”
Ex: Antony says, "O, pardon me, thou
bleeding piece of earth, that I am meek and
gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins
of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide
of times.”
Aside
 an
actor’s speech, directed to the
audience, that is not supposed to be
heard by other actors on stage.
 briefly tells us the character’s thoughts
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet: “Shall I hear more,
or shall I speak at this?”
Bildungsroman
a
literary genre that focuses on the
psychological and moral growth of the
protagonist from youth to adulthood
 Also called coming-of-age story
 Examples: First four books of The Odyssey,
To Kill a Mockingbird, Anthem, Obsasan
Blank Verse
 Unrhymed
iambic pentameter.
 closest to the natural rhythms of English
speech and therefore is the most
common pattern found in traditional
English poetry.
 Shakespeare’s plays rely heavily on blank
verse.
Catharsis
A
combination of pity and fear that the
audience experiences as an emotional
response to a tragic character’s reversal
of fortune.
 It has been described as a "purification" or
a "purging" of such emotions.
 Examples: when the protagonist in a
tragedy realizes he caused all his own
problems—Antigone and Oedipus.
Climax



The high point in the action of a narrative to
which the rising action leads. This is the part
which determines the outcome of the
conflict.
Ex: In Girl with the Pearl Earring, it is when Griet
has to run from her master’s home when
Catherina discovers the painting her husband
secretly made of Griet.
Ex: In Oedipus, it is when we learn that
Oedipus has finally confirmed the horrible
truth of his birth.
Characterization






The method a writer uses to reveal the personality
of a character in a literary work. Methods may
include:
character’s appearance or actions
what the character says or thinks about himself or
herself
what others reveal about the character
how he or she interacts with other characters
Ex: In The Odyssey, when Polyphemus says he is
not afraid of Zeus, that the cyclops is more
powerful, we learn that he doesn’t respect the
gods, which is anathema to the Greeks.
Conflict
man vs. man: conflict between individuals
Ex: The Odyssey: Odysseus vs. Polyphemus
 man vs. society, man vs. nature: between the
character and circumstances intervening between
him and a goal he has set himself
Ex: Old Man and the Sea: Santiago vs. nature
Ex: A Raisin in the Sun: Walter vs. society
 man vs. self: conflict of opposing tendencies within a
single individual's mind. Also called internal conflict.
Ex: The Pearl: Kino facing his own greed and obsession.

Couplet
 Consecutive
rhyming lines of iambic
pentameter (ten syllable line of verse with the
beat on every second syllable.)
 Ex: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:
“And after this let Caesar seat him sure,
For we will shake him, or worse days endure.”
(I.ii.317-318)
Denouement
 the
final outcome of the narrative, usually
the resolution of the conflict
 Ex: In A Raisin in the Sun, when the
Younger family is preparing to move into
the new neighborhood in Act III.
 Ex: In A Doll’s House, when Nora tells
Torvald she must leave him.
Dialect/vernacular





the language of a particular district, class, or
group of persons.
It encompasses the sounds, grammar, and
diction employed by a specific people as
distinguished from other persons either
geographically or socially.
It is used by authors for characterization.
Ex: Southern dialect in To Kill a Mockinbird:
“chillun” and “yawl” (Maycomb, Alabama)
Ex: Creole dialect in A Lesson Before Dying:
Tante Lou” and sin box” (Bayonne, Loisiana)
Epiphany



a sudden realization--a flash of recognition in
which someone or something is seen in a new
light.
Ex: In A Separate Peace, when Gene realizes
Finny was never jealous of him at all and he
was too paranoid to realize that and had
tried to hurt him.
Ex: In Antigone, after Tiresias convinces Creon
of the error of his ways and Creon finally
realizes he should let Antigone go—he has
mistreated her, upset his son and angered the
gods.
Epic
 Long
narrative poem recounting heroic
deeds over a long span of time and
space (a literary genre).
 Ex: The Odyssey, The Illiad, Beowulf
Figurative language
 words,
and groups of words, that
exaggerate or alter the usual meanings of
the component words
 Non-literal language that includes figures
of speech such as metaphors, hyperboles,
similes, symbols, idioms, etc.
Flashback




An interruption of the chronological sequence in a
narrative to show or recount an earlier occurrence.
Often used in order to provide background for the
current narration. By giving material that occurred
prior to the present event, the writer provides the
reader with insight into a character's motivation and
or background to a conflict.
Ex: Odyssey: Odysseus tells the story of his journey to
the Phaecians, recounting the details of his
interactions with the Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, etc.
Ex: The Joy Luck Club: the stories of each daughter
growing up in California are interspersed with the
stories of their mothers in China.
Foil
A
foil is a character who serves as a
contrast to another, often more primary
character, in order to point out specific
traits of the primary character.
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet: Mercutio and
Benvolio
 Ex: Things Fall Apart: Unoka and Okonkwo
Free verse


Form of poetry that refrains from meter or rhyme.
Ex: William Carlos Williams :
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Hubris
 (in
Greek tragedy) Excessive pride or
defiance of the gods
 Ex: Antigone: Creon disobeys the gods
and doesn’t heed warning from Tiresias
regarding the burial of Polynices.
 Ex: The Odyssey: Odysseus shouts insults
at the cyclopse.
Hyperbole
a
figure of speech that is an exaggerated
description or statement
 Ex: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet: “thou wilt quarrel
with a man that hath a hair more, or a
hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou
wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts,
having no other reason but because thou
hast hazel eyes.”
Iambic pentameter
a
common meter in poetry consisting
often syllables, each pair containing an
unaccented syllable and an accented
syllable, for a total of five beats per line.
 Usually used in Shakespeare’s plays.
 Ex: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise
him.”
/
- // / /
 I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Iambic pentameter (cont.)

A ten-syllable line consisting of five iambs is
said to be in iambic pentameter ("penta" =
five). Its stress pattern (five pairs of
unstressed/stressed syllables) is conventionally
represented U /U / U /U / U / Example: "The
course of true love never did run true" (MND
I.i.134). As you read this line aloud, listen for
the stress pattern: da DUM da DUM da DUM
da DUM da DUM (i.e. the COURSE of TRUE
love NEver DID run TRUE).
Imagery




all the sensory perceptions referred to in a poem or
narrative.
Imagery is not limited to visual imagery; it also includes
auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and
cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and
kinesthetic sensation (movement).
Ex: Imagery of war in All Quiet on the Western Front:
"We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see
soldiers run with their two feet cut off, they stagger on
their splintered stumps into the next shell-hole; we see
men without mouths, jaws, faces; we find one man
who has held the artery of his arm in his teeth for two
hours in order not to bleed to death. The sun goes
down, night comes, the shells whine, life is at an end"
(158).
Irony
Dramatic irony: the contrast between what the
character(s) and audience are aware of.
Ex: Oedipus: “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse.”
 Verbal irony: When a character or narrator says the
opposite of what he/she means. Verbal irony also
occurs when a character says something in jest that,
in actuality, is true.
Ex: In Julius Caesar, Marc Antony’s reference to Brutus
being an honorable man is an example of verbal irony.
 Situational irony: when actions have an effect that is
opposite from what was intended, so that the
outcome is contrary to what was expected.
Ex: In Romeo and Juliet: When Romeo’s attempt to
make peace by not fighting Tybalt only leads to more
deaths.

Metonymy
 rhetorical
strategy of describing
something indirectly by referring to
things around it or which it is associated, as
in describing someone's clothing to
characterize the individual.
 Ex: Calling royalty the "crown”
 Ex: “The pen is mightier than the sword”—
(pen refers to the written word and sword
refers to violence or physical force.)
Metaphor



A figurative comparison of two seemingly
dissimilar things.
In connecting one object, event, or place, to
another, a metaphor can uncover new and
intriguing qualities of the original thing that we
may not normally notice or even consider
important.
Ex: A Doll’s House: “Our home has been
nothing but a play-room. I've been your dollwife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll—
child.”
Motif
a
recurring object or image in a work of
literature. A motif may also be two
contrasting elements in a work.
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet: references to
light/dark, night/day, sun/moon
 Ex: Of Mice and Men: images of softness,
such as the mouse, the puppy, etc.
Narrator
one who tells a story, the speaker or the “voice” of a
narrative. The narrator is our window into the book. The
narrator may be trusted or may be unreliable in some way.
 First person narrator: The story is told by (a) a participant in the
action that takes place in the story or (b) an observer—a
character indirectly involved in the action of a story
Ex: Lesson Before Dying, A Separate Peace
 Second person narrator: employs the pronoun “you, ”
directing the reader.
Ex: guidebooks, role-playing games, “Choose Your Own
Adventure” series.
 Third person narrator: all-knowing narrator who is not a
character in the story and who can move from place to
place and pass back and forth through time, slipping into
and out of characters. In some cases, the narrator is talking in
the third person, but is only able to know the thoughts of one
character—third person limited.
Ex: Things Fall Apart, The Sound of Waves

Oxymoron
 figure
of speech that combines
contradictory terms.
Ex: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Parable
a
brief and often simple narrative that
illustrates a moral or religious lesson.
 Ex: The Pearl
Paradox
a
statement that initially appears to be
contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns
out to make sense.
 Ex: Julius Caesar:
Caesar says, ” Cowards die many times before their
deaths. The valiant never taste of death but
once.”
Pathetic fallacy
 attributing
human emotion or responses
to nature, inanimate objects, or animals.
Ex: “a cruel wind”
Ex: Romeo and Juliet: “lazy-pacing clouds”
Ex: Samuel Coleridge poem--
Persuasive/rhetorical appeals
Pathos: emotional (sympathy) appeal—
Ex: Julius Caesar “How dearly Caesar loved him! This
was the most unkindest cut of all.”
 Logos: logical appeal
Ex: Lesson Before Dying: “Do you see anyone here
who could plan a murder, a robbery, can plan, can
plan at all?”
 Ethos: ethical (moral) appeal
Ex: To Kill a Mockingbird: The responsibility for the jury
is to make a "pauper is an equal of a Rockefeller"
and an "ignorant man the equal of any president."

Personification
 figure
of speech (generally considered a
type of metaphor) in which an inanimate
object or abstraction is given human
qualities or abilities.
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet: “The night before
thy wedding day. Hath death lain with thy
wife. There she lies, flower as she was,
deflowered by him.”
Proverb
a
short often memorable saying
embodying that comments on a general
truth or lesson to be learned.
 Ex: "Absence makes the heart grow
fonder” or “all that glitters isn’t gold.”
 Ex: Things Fall Apart: “If one finger brought
oil it soiled the others."
Pun
A
play on words that relies on a word’s
having more than one meaning or
sounding like another word.
 Ex: Romeo and Juliet (III.i.101), the dying
Mercutio puns, "Ask for me tomorrow and
you shall find me a grave man."
Rhyme scheme
Rhyme is the repeated end sounds of words for an echo
effect. When it is regularly repeated over the course of a
poem or stanza and obeys a precise and predictable formal
pattern, it is called a rhyme scheme. It is indicated by letters
for each sound.
Two households, both alike in dignity, a
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, b
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, a
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. b
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes c
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; d
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows c
Do with their death bury their parents' strife. d
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, e
And the continuance of their parents' rage, f
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, e
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; f
The which if you with patient ears attend, g
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. g

Rite of passage
 An
incident which creates tremendous
growth signifying a transition from
adolescence to adulthood.
 Ex: A Separate Peace– Gene and Finny’s
first jump off the tree
 Ex: Things Fall Apart– Okonkwo’s first yam
planting
Setting
 Time
and place of a literary work
 Ex: A Raisin in the Sun—early 50s, South
Side of Chicago.
 Ex: All Quiet on the Western Front–
German-French front of World War I in
1917-1918.
Soliloquy




device often used in drama in which a character
speaks to himself or herself, relating his or her
thoughts and feelings, thus sharing them with the
audience.
Other characters however are not aware of what
is being said.
Ex: Antony's soliloquy over Caesar's body: "Oh
pardon me, though bleeding piece of earth, that I
am meek and gentle with these butchers!”
Ex: Romeo’s soliloquy as he attempts to get
another glimpse of Juliet: “But soft! What light
through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and
Juliet is the sun.”
Sonnet
 Fourteen
line poem of rhyming iambic
pentameter. Sonnets end with a couplet.
 Ex: prologues to Act I and II of Romeo and
Juliet
Stanza
 an
arrangement of a certain number of lines,
usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed
length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division
of a poem.
Symbol
 an
object, sign, or image that is used to
stand for something else, as a flag may
be used to symbolize a nation.
 Ex: Anthem: the light bulb is a symbol for
the illumination of knowledge and
science which can benefit humanity
 Ex: Old Man and the Sea: the sharks are a
symbol of antagonistic forces in life which
we must boldly fight
Synecdoche
 Figure
of speech in which a term in which
part of something is used to refer to the
whole thing.
 A type of metonymy.
 Ex: Calling your car “my wheels.”
 Ex: Macbeth: to servant--"Take thy face
hence."
Tone
 Narrator’s
attitude toward the people,
places, and events in a work as revealed
by the elements of the author’s style.
 Tone may be characterized as serious or
ironic, sad or happy, private or public,
angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic,
or any other attitudes and feelings that
human beings experience.
 Ex:
 Ex: Inherit the Wind: Hornbeck’s sarcastic
tone: “Hello, Devil. Welcome to Hell.”
Theme
 Author’s
central concept, idea or
message in a literary work.
 Ex: Anthem: individualism and importance
of asserting one’s identity as unique and
distinct from others.
 Ex: Oedipus: even the greatest among us
are capable of tragic errors and may fall
prey to fate.
Tragedy




A drama or literary work in which the main character is
brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a
consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or
inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
Aristotle said that tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble
hero or heroine, usually through some combination of
hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's
powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably
encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in
reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles,
prophets, fate), or nature.
Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw
which causes him or her to make a tragic error
(hamartia).
Ex: Romeo and Juliet, The Pearl, Julius Caesar, Inherit the
Wind, Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, Antigone