Literary Devices
• Refers to structures used by writers to
convey his or her messages in a simple
manner
Character
A character is a person or
an animal that takes part
in the action of a literary
work.
Antagonist
•The Antagonist is a
character or force in conflict
with a main character, or
protagonist.
Protagonist
• The Protagonist is the main
character in a literary work
• Can you name some famous
Protagonists that are found in
literature?
Aphorism
• A terse statement of known authorship
that expresses a general truth or moral
principle
• An aphorism is a short clever saying
parting truth. Example: “waste not, want
not.”
Connotation
The connotation of a word is the set of
ideas associated with it in addition to
its explicit meaning. The connotation
of a word can be personal, based on
individual experiences. More often,
cultural connotations – those
recognizable by most people in a
group – determine a writer’s word
choices.
Denotation
The denotation of a word
is its dictionary meaning,
independent of other
associations that the
word may have.
Denotation versus Connotation
Some examples –
Cheap is “low in cost” (denotation) but
“stingy” or “poorly made” are the
connotations of cheap
Let’s use the word HOT
The denotation (or dictionary definition – remember d in denotation =
dictionary) of HOT is: having a temperature higher
than that of a human body.
However, when you say “Man! He/She is hot!”,
are you saying “Man! He is having a
temperature higher than that of a human
body!”? No!!
You are saying the CONNOTATION of HOT – which
could mean a variety of things – man he/she is
cute, attractive, beautiful, and many other
meanings – those come from personal
experiences and cultural meanings, etc.
Diction
• Diction is the manner in which
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we express words; the wording
used.
Diction = enunciation
Some easy examples are:
Don’t say ‘goin’ – say ‘going’, Don’t say ‘wanna’ – say ‘want
to’
epigraph
• A quotation or aphorism at the beginning
of a literary work suggestive of the theme
of the fiction or nonfiction text.
Imagery
Imagery is words or phrases
that appeal to one or more of
the five senses. Writers use
imagery to describe how their
subjects look, sound, feel,
taste, and smell.
MOOD
Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling
created in the reader by a literary
work or passage. Writer’s use many
devices to create mood, including
images, dialogue, setting, and plot.
Often, a writer creates a mood at the
beginning of a work and then
sustains the mood throughout.
Sometimes, however, the mood of
the work changes dramatically.
symbol
• An object, place, setting, prop, event or
person that represents or stands for some
idea or event.
• Never hidden, but interwoven throughout
the text.
• It may also retain its own literal meaning
while taking on the symbolic qualities.
Point of View
Point of View is the perspective, or vantage
point, from which a story is told. It is the
relationship of the narrator to the story.
First-person is told by a character who uses
the first-person pronoun “I”.
Third-person limited point of view is the
point of view where the narrator uses
third-person pronouns such as “he” and
“she” to refer to the characters.
Setting
The setting of a literary work is the time and
place of the action.
The setting includes all the details of a place and
time – the year, the time of day, even the
weather. The place may be a specific country,
state, region, community, neighborhood,
building, institution, or home.
Details such as dialect, clothing, customs, and
modes of transportation are often used to
establish setting.
In most stories, the setting serves as a backdrop
– a context in which the characters interact.
The setting of a story often helps to create a
particular mood, or feeling.
Style
Style is the distinctive way in which
an author uses language.
Word choice, phrasing, sentence
length, tone, dialogue, purpose,
and attitude toward the audience
and subject can all contribute to
an author’s writing style.
Theme
The theme of a literary work is its central
message, concern, or purpose. A theme can
usually be expressed as a generalization, or
general statement, about people or life. The
theme may be stated directly by the writer
although it is more often presented indirectly.
When the theme is stated indirectly, the reader
must figure out the theme by looking carefully at
what the work reveals about the people or about
life.
Tone
Tone is a reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s
attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or
other literary work. Tone may be communicated
through words and details that express
particular emotions and that evoke and
emotional response from the reader.
For example, word choice or phrasing may seem
to convey respect, anger, lightheartedness, or
sarcasm.
Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a specific device or kind of
figurative language, such as hyperbole,
metaphor, personification, simile, or
understatement.
Figurative language is used for descriptive effect,
often to imply ideas indirectly. It is not meant
to be taken literally. Figurative language is used
to state ideas in vivid and imaginative ways.
Metaphor
A Metaphor is a type of speech that
compares or equates two or more things
that have something in common. A
metaphor does NOT use like or as.
Example: Life is a bowl
of cherries.
Simile
A Simile is another figure of speech that
compares seemingly unlike things.
Simile’s DO use the words like or as.
Example: Her voice was like nails on a
chalkboard.
Oxymoron
An Oxymoron is a figure of speech that is a
combination of seemingly contradictory
words.
Examples:
Same difference
Pretty ugly
Roaring silence
Personification
Personification is a
figure of speech in
which an animal,
object, force of
nature, or idea is
given human qualities
or characteristics.
Example: Tears began
to fall from the dark
clouds.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds, most
often consonant sounds, at the beginning
of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to
words.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers
hyperbole
• Originally in Greek meant “overshooting.”
• A bold overstatement or extravagant expression of fact,
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used for serious or comic effect.
Easily recognized as exaggeration for effect.
Example: There must have been ten million people at
our Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving.
Or, Shakespeare’s, Othello, Act III, Scene III, Lines
330-33 reads:
Not poppy nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow ‘dst yesterday.
Onomatopoeia
• The use of words whose sound copies the
sound of the thing or process that they
describe
• On a simple level, words like “bang”,
“hiss”, and “splash” are onomatopoeic,
but it also has more subtle uses
satire
• Text that reveals a critical attitude toward some element
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of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way.
Satire is meant to improve society through humor, not to
tear it down through vicious ridicule.
Doesn’t simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal
(as in sarcasm).
Targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.
As opposed to sarcasm, which is meant to abuse and
ridicule an individual.
Very creative and takes audience knowledge and
perception to appreciate.
What is Rhetorical Fallacy?
• Rhetorical fallacy
– Is a failure of discussion or argument
– Distracts the audience with various appeals
instead of using sound reasoning
– Doesn’t allow for the open, two-way
exchange of ideas upon which meaningful
conversations depend.
• Are rhetorical fallacies good or bad? Do
they have a use in persuasive arguments?
One kind of Fallacy
is called Red Herring
Definition: Red Herring is a stinky fish that could
distract even the best of blood hounds from what
they are searching for. Red Herring means that
you are distracting your audience from the main
point by bringing up something else unconnected
with the logic of the argument.
Example:
You should take my side on this weight issue
because I played basketball in the Olympics
and trained with Hungary’s national
champion
Loaded Words
• Refers to words, phrases, and overall
verbal and written communication
intended to inspire emotion in the reader
or the listener.
• Gain Support
• Sway Opinions
• Degrade others
• Push Agenda
Plot
Plot is the sequence of events. The first event
causes the second, the second causes the third,
and so forth.
In most novels, dramas, short stories, and narrative
poems, the plot involves both characters and a
central conflict.
The plot usually begins with an exposition that
introduces the setting, the characters, and the
basic situation. This is introduced and developed.
The conflict then increases until it reaches a high
point of interest or suspense, the climax. The
climax is followed by the falling action, or end, of
the central conflict. Any events that occur during
the falling action make up the resolution.
PLOTLINE
Climax
Resolution
Exposition
Conflict Introduced
Exposition
The Exposition is the
introduction. It is the part
of the work that introduces
the characters, setting, and
basic situation.
Rising Action
Rising Action is the part of the
plot that begins to occur as
soon as the conflict is
introduced. The rising action
adds complications to the
conflict and increases reader
interest.
Climax
The Climax is the point of
greatest emotional intensity,
interest, or suspense in the
plot of a narrative. The climax
typically comes at the turning
point in a story or drama.
Falling Action
Falling Action is the action that
typically follows the climax and
reveals its results.
Resolution
The Resolution is the part of
the plot that concludes the
falling action by revealing or
suggesting the outcome of
the conflict.
Conflict
Conflict is the struggle
between opposing forces in
a story or play. There are
two types of conflict that
exist in literature.
External Conflict
External conflict exists when a character
struggles against some outside force, such
as another character, nature, society, or
fate.
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
Internal Conflict
Internal conflict exists within the mind of a
character who is torn between different
courses of action.
Man vs. Himself
Flashback
A flashback is a literary device in
which an earlier episode,
conversation, or event is inserted
into the sequence of events.
Often flashbacks are presented as
a memory of the narrator or of
another character.
Flashback continued…
The movie Titanic is told almost entirely in a
flashback.
What are some other films that contain
flashback to help tell stories?
Holes
Willy Wonka
Think of some more…
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues
to hint at what might happen later in the
story. Writers use foreshadowing to build
their readers’ expectations and to create
suspense. This is used to help readers
prepare for what is to come.