Disarming Literary Devices

The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work by an author's use of description.

A device in literature where an object represents an idea.

A play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time.

The result of an action is the reverse of what the actor expected.

The audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not.

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text.

The contrast is between the literal meaning of what is said and what is meant.

Characters that have many traits or aspects to their personality.

Characters with only one dominant trait or aspect, such as greed or anger.

Characters that change during the course of a story.

Expresses the author's attitude toward his or her subject.

A purification of emotions in literature or art.

A phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation, rather than in formal speech.

A reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work.

Characters that do not change during the course of a story.