ENG 3UI Literary Devices Review Sheet
Literary Device:
Alliteration
Allegory
Name: ___________________
Definition:
A Literary Example:
Our Class Examples:
A pattern of sound that includes the
“When to the sessions of sweet silent
“Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.”
repetition of consonant sounds in
thought I summon” (Shakespeare).
nearby words.
“The big brown bear blows bubbles backwards.”
A narrative that serves as an
The are a multitude of allegorical
“The film AVATAR is an allegory for the destruction of
extended metaphor (a story with
references in the entire Harry Potter
earth’s natural resources.”
literal, surface meaning and a
second, deeper, usually moral,
meaning).
series (films and / or novels). For
example, the character of Voldemort can
“Plato’s cave is an allegory for human intelligence.”
be interpreted as a representation of
Adolf Hitler.
Allusion
A direct or indirect reference in one
“The cinnamon rolls were huge and
work to another work or to a
golden brown, reminiscent of the
historical person or event.
twisted buns on the sides of Princess
“He was a real Romeo with the ladies.”
“The software was a Trojan Horse.”
Leia’s head” (Tracy LaVerne).
Anaphora
The deliberate repetition of a word or
“It rained on his lousy tombstone, and
phrase at the beginning of several
it rained on the grass on his stomach.
successive verses, caluses or
It rained all over the place"
(J.D.
“She arrived prepared, she arrived with a vengeance
Salinger).
and she arrived to kill.”
The repetition of vowel sounds in
“We chatted and laughed as we ambled
“Always appreciate how awful apples are.”
words that are close together. Like
along” (Viewpoints 11).
paragraphs.
Assonance
“It began at night, and it continued until morning.”
alliteration, it is the sound rather than
the letter used that is important.
“We see bees and bunnies in the sea.”
Literary Device:
Definition:
A Literary Example:
Our Class Examples:
The emotional feelings inspired by a
On either side, the banks of the
“It’s a sad, sad day when the lights go dim.” -
work.
Medway,covered with cornfields and
depressing
pastures, with here and there a
Atmosphere
windmill, or a distant church, stretched “It was midnight, in a dark forest and all you could hear
away as far as the eye could see…”
is the howling of the wolves.” -eerie
(Dickens)
Tone
The means of creating a relationship
"Life and death appeared to me ideal
or conveying an attitude or mood.
bounds, which I should first break
through, and pour a torrent of light
“By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this
into our dark world." (Shelley)
way comes.”
"Words strain, Crack and sometimes
A style of speaking or writing as
Diction
dependent upon choice of words
“The rose is red and the sugar is sweet.” –romantic
“Romeo, Romeo where for art thou Romeo”
break, under the burden, Under the
tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with
“Oh the places you will go.”
imprecision, will not stay in place, Will
not stay still." (T.S. Eliot)
Figurative
Language
Hyperbole
Language that uses figures of speech
“Like a pinball in an arcade, she
(such as simile, personification and
ricocheted again and again down the
alliteration) to create imagery.
avenue” (Viewpoints 11).
“The sun smiled down on us.”
The device of exaggeration or
“I'll love you till the ocean / Is folded and
“I have a ton of homework”
overstatement. A device often used to
hung up to dry / And the seven stars go
create irony, humour or dramatic
effect.
squawking / Like geese about the sky"
two or more words, especially when
their accented vowels and all
succeeding consonants are identical
“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
(W.H. Auden).
Is a matching similarity of sounds in
Repetition
“Her eyes were as cold as ice.”
“I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Sam I am.”
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee. (Blake)
“If you think you will lose, then you will lose.”
Literary Device:
Rhyme
Definition:
A Literary Example:
Our Class Examples:
Is a matching similarity of sounds in
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I
“The cat sat on a mat inside a hat.”
two or more words, especially when
pondered, weak and weary,
their accented vowels and all
succeeding consonants are identical
Over many a quaint and curious volume
“Don’t commit the crime if you can’t do the time.”
of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly
napping, suddenly there came a
tapping… (Poe)
Imagery
The collected images that exist in a
“A host, of golden daffodils;
/ Beside the
“The wind crept up behind me and tapped on my
text. These images include mental
lake, beneath the trees,
/ Fluttering and
shoulder”
pictures and any sensory perceptions
created in a text through its use of
language.
An implied comparison that does not
Metaphor
dancing in the breeze” (William
Wordsworth).
“A red wheel barrow glazed with rain.”
“All the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare).
“He’s so Canadian, he’s a polar bear.”
use ‘like’ or ‘as,’ thus connecting two
or more usually unlike things that
“You are a jewel.”
have something in common.
Onomatopoeia
A device in which a word imitates the
“He'll crunch all your soldiers, he'll
sound it represents.
munch on your trucks, / He'll chew
your poor puppets to shreds” (Shel
“Smack” “Thud” “Ping” “Moo” “Oink”
“The birds tweeted from the trees.”
Silverstein).
A device that combines contradictory
“O brawling love, O loving hate,
words for dramatic effect.
O any thing of nothing first create!
Oxymoron
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
“They were always alone, together.”
“She looked like the living dead.”
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming
forms!” (Shakespeare)
Parallel
When the writer establishes similar
“And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’
patterns of grammatical structure and
Structure
length
corners.”
“Mary likes biking and she likes hiking”
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”
Literary Device:
Personificatio
n
Simile
Symbolism
Definition:
A Literary Example:
Our Class Examples:
A technique in which inanimate
“the terry slippers gaping / their dark
“Opportunity is knocking at your door.”
objects or concepts are given human
pink mouths at your feet” (Margaret
qualities, forms or actions.
A stated comparison that uses ‘like’
Atwood).
“The stars danced merrily in the moonlight.”
“Your dress is like a kite in the wind”
“She shot me like a paparazzi.”
(Viewpoints 11).
or ‘as.’
“Your cat is as fast a horse.”
Something that represents or stands
“All the world's a stage, And all the
for something else.
men and women merely players; they
have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many
parts,” (Shakespeare)
“Red objects representing death in a film”
“A ray of light at the end of the tunnel represents hope”