Literary Devices to Know

Extreme exaggeration used to prove a point.

"We know that Juliet is not dead, but Romeo does not!"

"I guess my chair just got up and walked out of the office."

"Why do I get the feeling, you will be the death of me"?

When human traits are given to animals, elements, or objects.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

A metaphor that goes several lines or possible the entire length of a work.

Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of poetry.

A long speech given by one character to other characters onstage.

“It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, too like the lightning that doth cease to be ere"

A direct comparison of two unlike things. For example: Juliet is the sun.

A repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

A reference to something famous.

A fourteen line poem with a specific rhyme scheme.

A statement that seems false but is actually true.

A long speech given by a character while alone on stage to reveal his/her private thoughts.

A play on words involving a word with two or more different meanings.

"Living Dead"

A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.”

When the correct word is replaced by a similar sounding word with a different meaning.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't pacific enough."

The repeated consonant sounds that can be anywhere in the words.

"Hi Karen, what a lovely pair of glasses." To the audience: "Not really, they are ugly!"

The prologue to Romeo and Juliet is an example.

"I've done this a million times."