Literary Devices (3rd Period American Lit)

A phrase or entire work that uses irony to critique behaviors, events, people, or vices.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills." -William Wordsworth, Daffodils

Animal Farm by George Orwell: allegory for Russian Revolution, characters represent key figures. 

Alliteration is the repetition of vowel sounds.

Something used to represent a larger concept or idea.

“I have to let you go” is a euphemistic expression for firing someone.

An wrong word intentionally/unintentionally used in place of a similar-sounding one

Hinting at future or subsequent events to come to build tension in a narrative.

A simile is a comparison using like or as

Personification is the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (Buzz, Pow)

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman is an elegy for Abraham Lincoln.

Lending descriptions generally applied to human beings to nonhumans.

Inanimate objects such as Mrs. Potts and Lumiere are anthropomorphized in Beauty and the Beast.

Buzz

Hamlet: “I must be cruel to be kind.” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4

A figure of speech that is indecipherable based on the words alone.

The speaker or narrator’s attitude toward the subject of the piece

A metaphor is the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition

The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in succession.

A pairing of seemingly contradictory terms used to convey emphasis or tension.

An intentional or unintentional error in chronology or a timeline.

A moment of sudden realization by a character.

“I have a million things to do” is an example of

“February made me shiver” allusion to plane crash that killed Buddy Holly (Don McLean "American Pie")

“Ain’t” is used in conversation to make the speech sound authentic.

"What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” —William Shakespeare

Onomatopoeia is the use of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure.

The word choice and speaking style of a writer or character.

When someone refers to looking out at a “sea of faces,” the faces represent whole people.

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep... And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."-Robert Frost

The general feeling the speaker evokes in the reader through the atmosphere, descriptions, and other features.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” —Charles Dickens

A parallel between disparate ideas, people, things, or events that is more elaborate than a metaphor or simile.

“small fowls flew...over the...yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its...sides” —Herman Melville

An instance of language conveying the opposite of its literal meaning