Literary Devices

Simile To bring two different things together with an explicit word, such as "like", "just as" or "seems". Unlike metaphor, comparison leaves visible that they are two things. Metaphor Saying one thing through another, without a word of comparison: instead of saying that something is like something else, one says that it is. The image transfers to the subject the qualities of the thing it is identified with. Dramatic Irony The reader or audience knows something the character ignores, and so the character's words and actions take on a meaning he does not perceive himself. Hyperbole A deliberate exaggeration, which no one takes literally, to give emphasis to a feeling or a situation. Situational Irony What happens is the opposite of what was expected, or of what someone had planned, in a way that reveals something about the characters or about the world of the work. Antithesis Placing opposite ideas or words side by side, so that one illuminates the other through contrast. Intrusive Narrator The narrator interrupts the story to comment, judge, give an opinion or speak directly to the reader. Parallelism Sentences or verses following the same construction, so that the reader compares what changes from one to the next. Personification Giving a thing, an animal or an abstract idea actions, feelings or speech proper to a person. Irony Saying one thing while wanting another to be understood, often the opposite. The true meaning is left to the one who reads or listens. Foreshadowing A sign, saying or image that foreshadows, sometimes only for those who reread, something that will happen later in the work. Free Indirect Discourse The narrator speaks in the third person, but with the words, tone and way of thinking of a character, without quotation marks or "he thought": the voice of the narrator and that of the character blend together. Repetition Returning to the same word, the same sentence or the same construction, at the beginning of verses or consecutive sentences (anaphora) or throughout the text, to give rhythm, emphasis or insistence. Sensory Imagery A description that appeals to the senses (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched) and makes the reader perceive the scene, not just understand it. Euphemism Saying something harsh, ugly or forbidden to name in a soft, indirect or disguised way. Leitmotif Word, sentence or image that returns several times throughout the work, tied to a character or an idea, and gains meaning with each return. Flashback The narration interrupts the order of time and goes back to events prior to the point the story has reached. Allusion A brief reference, without explanation, to a person, a text, a myth or a fact known outside the work, which carries with it the meaning of that other story. Rhetorical Question A question asked without expecting an answer, either because the answer is already implied, or because what matters is the doubt it exposes.