Literary Devices- English 1

process wherein an author introduces and then describes a character

The main character of a story, novel, or play.

Flopson and Millers had got the children into the house, like a little flock of sheep...

Attaching human traits to inanimate objects, phenomena, and animals

An owl is often used to represent wisdom.

Technique where the author hints at a future event in the story.

External conflict between two more characters - usually protagonist and antagonist

Conflict where character is placed at odds against government or cultural tradition or norms.

Internal conflict where one struggles between right and wrong/must overcome his own nature.

"His mouth was such a post office of a mouth that he had a mechanical way of smiling" (180).

Logical sequence of events that develops a story

A discrepancy between what is expected to happen versus what actually happens

Author's choice of words that help establish tone, mood, imagery, etc.

A subject is compared to another, using a form of "to be," to show similarity/ emphasize trait

The eggs from which young insurers were hatched were incubated in dust and heat

Use of words to mean something different than what is actually said

Character is at odds with a force of nature, such as a natural disaster.

The audience is aware of something the characters are not

My Achilles' heel is shopping, eating out, and watching the Real Housewives franchise.

The resistance the protagonist of the story finds in achieving his/her aims or dreams.

The emotional atmosphere of a work evoked by an author; how we are made to feel about a text...

Time and place in which a story takes place.

Pip struggles between admiration and shame for Joe.

The author's overall attitude towards a subject.

[His] high-backed chair was of deadly black horse-hair with rows of brass nails...like a coffin

An object, person, place, or situation has another meaning than its literal one.

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.

Author makes a passing reference to a significant person, place, historical event, etc.

Comparison between two unrelated/dissimilar things, people, objects, etc using "like" or "as"

Author uses words and phrases to help reader visualize the author's writings.