Literary Devices

Metaphor Saying one thing through another, without a word of comparison: instead of saying that something is like another thing, one says that it is. The image transfers to the subject the qualities of the thing with which it has been identified. Apostrophe The speaker addresses someone absent or dead, a thing, a place or an idea, as if they could hear. Antithesis Placing opposite ideas or words side by side, so that one lights up the other through contrast. Sensory imagery Description that appeals to the senses (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched) and makes the reader perceive the scene, not only understand it. 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. Comparison Bringing two different things together with an explicit word, such as "like", "just as" or "seems". Unlike metaphor, comparison makes it plain that they are two things. Parallelism Lines or verses set one after another with the same construction, so that the reader compares what changes from one to the next. Paradox A statement that seems to contradict itself or common sense, but which, once thought through, reveals a truth. Metonymy Naming one thing by another that is connected to it: the part for the whole, the object for its owner, the place for its people, the cause for the effect. Personification Giving to a thing, an animal or an abstract idea actions, feelings or speech proper to a person. 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. Story within a story A story told, staged or written within the work itself, which mirrors or comments on the main story. Hyperbole A deliberate exaggeration, which no one takes literally, to give emphasis to a feeling or a situation. Irony Saying one thing while meaning another, often the opposite. The true meaning is left to the reader or listener. Dramatic irony The reader or audience knows something that the character ignores, and therefore the character's words and acts take on a meaning that he himself does not perceive. Situational irony What happens is the opposite of what was expected, or of what someone planned, in a way that reveals something about the characters or about the world of the work. Oxymoron Joining in one short expression two words of opposite meaning, such as "bitter sweetness". Foreshadowing A sign, saying or image that anticipates, sometimes only for those who reread, something that will happen later in the work. Repetition Returning to the same word, the same sentence or the same construction, at the start of successive verses or sentences (anaphora) or throughout the text, to give rhythm, emphasis or insistence. Euphemism Saying in a soft, indirect or veiled way something harsh, ugly or forbidden to name. Leitmotiv A word, phrase or image that returns several times throughout the work, tied to a character or an idea, and gains meaning with each return.