Definitions & Examples of Major Literary Devices
Alliteration
Definition: Repetition of a particular sound (mostly through expressed syllables)
Example: "Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos."
Allusion
Definition: Reference (or representation) to another story, person, or event directly or even indirectly
Example: "I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s"
Figurative Language
Definition: Exaggerated or distorted meaning (usually for a figurative purpose) of a word or phrase that describe or express people, things, or events
Note: "Figurative Language" is a broad term; it has sub-terms in it such as simile, metaphor, personification, etc.
Example: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"
Free Verse
Definition: Having the characteristics of no rhythmic patterns, rhyme structures, etc. (basically just words thrown out there)
Example:(A poem with free verse)
Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Hyperbole
Definition: Use of over-exaggeration in order to express emphasis or humor (not take literally)
Example: "Two winds rose with a cry that rent the air and swept the clouds before them."
Imagery
Definition: Intensifying the words of the narrator/poet in order to show great impact
Example:
Summer Night by Alfred Tennyson
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The firefly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.
Lyrics
Definition: One of the three genres of poetry (lyric, narrative, and dramatic); the mood in lyric poems is musical and emotional
Example:
Sonnet Number 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
Metaphor
Definition: Comparison between two things (usually a word describing another one without having any relations)
Note: Unlike simile, metaphor does not use the words "like" or "as"
Example: “She is all states, and all princes, I.”
Mood
Definition: Attitude of the poem; how the readers or narrator feel like when they read the poem
Examples:
Onomatopoeia
Definition: Words or phrases that represent the sounds of non-humans things (animals, plants, objects, etc.)
Examples:
Oxymoron
Definition: Having the characteristic of expressing powerful impact by describing a word using another word that is completely opposite
Examples:
Paradox
Definition: Way of describing somebody (mostly ironically); not meant literally and not meant to be taken seriously
Examples:
Personification
Definition: Describing objects or animals using human-like characteristics
Example: "The little chair laughed, while the candle became red of embarrassment."
Repetition
Definition: Repeating a word or phrase (usually in order to express a mood or exaggeration)
Example:
Humpty Dumpty by Mother Goose
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Rhyme Scheme
Definition: Specific patterns of a poem that determine which lines or stanzas rhyme (usually connoted with alphabets)
Examples:
Rhythm
Definition: Movement or tempo (usually constant) that follows an uniform beat when reading a poem
Simile
Definition: Analogy between two different things, usually described with "like' or "as"
Example: “as busy as a bee” comparing someone’s level of energy to a fast-flying bee
Stanza
Definition: A section or part of a poem that is differentiated by a different number of spaces
Example:
I Love To Write Poems
(First Stanza)
I love to write
Day and night
What would my heart do
But cry, sigh and be blue
If I could not write
(Second Stanza)
Writing feels good
And I know it should
Who could have knew
That what I do
Is write, write, write
Symbol
Definition: Usage of words or phrase to express or define a really abstract idea
Example: "Life is a roller-coaster": This is symbolic because it indicates that there will be ups and downs in life that you have to weather.
Tone
Definition: Expressing attitude or voice of the narrator himself while writing the poem
Note: Mood is the attitude in the poem or story, while Tone is the characteristic of the narrator's voice
Examples:
Understatement
Definition: Words or phrases (even long sentences) that describe a person, thing, or event too low; opposite of exaggeration or overstatement
Example: "It's not a big deal, my dad just died"
Definition: Repetition of a particular sound (mostly through expressed syllables)
Example: "Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos."
Allusion
Definition: Reference (or representation) to another story, person, or event directly or even indirectly
Example: "I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s"
Figurative Language
Definition: Exaggerated or distorted meaning (usually for a figurative purpose) of a word or phrase that describe or express people, things, or events
Note: "Figurative Language" is a broad term; it has sub-terms in it such as simile, metaphor, personification, etc.
Example: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"
Free Verse
Definition: Having the characteristics of no rhythmic patterns, rhyme structures, etc. (basically just words thrown out there)
Example:(A poem with free verse)
Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Hyperbole
Definition: Use of over-exaggeration in order to express emphasis or humor (not take literally)
Example: "Two winds rose with a cry that rent the air and swept the clouds before them."
Imagery
Definition: Intensifying the words of the narrator/poet in order to show great impact
Example:
Summer Night by Alfred Tennyson
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The firefly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.
Lyrics
Definition: One of the three genres of poetry (lyric, narrative, and dramatic); the mood in lyric poems is musical and emotional
Example:
Sonnet Number 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
Metaphor
Definition: Comparison between two things (usually a word describing another one without having any relations)
Note: Unlike simile, metaphor does not use the words "like" or "as"
Example: “She is all states, and all princes, I.”
Mood
Definition: Attitude of the poem; how the readers or narrator feel like when they read the poem
Examples:
- Aggravated
- Amused
- Angry
- Annoyed
- Anxious
- Apathetic
- Bewildered
- Blissful
Onomatopoeia
Definition: Words or phrases that represent the sounds of non-humans things (animals, plants, objects, etc.)
Examples:
- buzz
- splish-splash
- flitter-twitters
- hushes
- cuckoo
- ring-ring
- achoo
Oxymoron
Definition: Having the characteristic of expressing powerful impact by describing a word using another word that is completely opposite
Examples:
- Jumbo shrimp
- Cruel to be kind
- Pain for pleasure
- Clearly confused
- Act naturally
- Beautifully painful
- Painfully beautiful
Paradox
Definition: Way of describing somebody (mostly ironically); not meant literally and not meant to be taken seriously
Examples:
- I'm a compulsive liar- am I lying when I say that?
- A rich man is no richer than a poor man.
- Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded.
- You shouldn't go in the water until you know how to swim.
- If you didn't get this message, call me.
Personification
Definition: Describing objects or animals using human-like characteristics
Example: "The little chair laughed, while the candle became red of embarrassment."
Repetition
Definition: Repeating a word or phrase (usually in order to express a mood or exaggeration)
Example:
Humpty Dumpty by Mother Goose
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Rhyme Scheme
Definition: Specific patterns of a poem that determine which lines or stanzas rhyme (usually connoted with alphabets)
Examples:
- Alternate Rhyme (ABAB CDCD EFEF...)
- Limerick (AABBA)
- Enclosed Rhyme: (ABBA)
Rhythm
Definition: Movement or tempo (usually constant) that follows an uniform beat when reading a poem
Simile
Definition: Analogy between two different things, usually described with "like' or "as"
Example: “as busy as a bee” comparing someone’s level of energy to a fast-flying bee
Stanza
Definition: A section or part of a poem that is differentiated by a different number of spaces
Example:
I Love To Write Poems
(First Stanza)
I love to write
Day and night
What would my heart do
But cry, sigh and be blue
If I could not write
(Second Stanza)
Writing feels good
And I know it should
Who could have knew
That what I do
Is write, write, write
Symbol
Definition: Usage of words or phrase to express or define a really abstract idea
Example: "Life is a roller-coaster": This is symbolic because it indicates that there will be ups and downs in life that you have to weather.
Tone
Definition: Expressing attitude or voice of the narrator himself while writing the poem
Note: Mood is the attitude in the poem or story, while Tone is the characteristic of the narrator's voice
Examples:
- Scared
- Anxious
- Excited
- Worried
- Foolish
Understatement
Definition: Words or phrases (even long sentences) that describe a person, thing, or event too low; opposite of exaggeration or overstatement
Example: "It's not a big deal, my dad just died"