Literary Devices and Elements ___________________________________________________________________ Literary devices refer to any specific, deliberate constructions of language which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements, literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text. Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. Anaphora (Greek, "carried again," also called epanaphora): The intentional repetition of beginning clauses in order to create an artistic effect. For instance, Churchill declared, "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be." The repetition of "We shall. . ." creates a rhetorical effect of solidarity and determination. Shakespeare also uses anaphora in the above example. Apostrophe : a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present. For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel. Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar) Blank verse: Non-rhyming poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter. Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds. We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will. W. Churchill Character Foil: A character in a play who brings out certain characteristics of the main character or other characters by comparison. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes are young men who behave very differently. While Hamlet delays in carrying out his mission to avenge the death of his father, Laertes is quick and bold in his challenge of the king over the death of his father. (Because Laertes is so quick and bold, Hamlet seems all the more hesitant.) Chiasmus: Two corresponding pairs arranged in a parallel inverse order " Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Macbeth, I, i) Consonance: Consonance is a special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels. As M. H. Abrams illustrates in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, examples include linger, longer, and languor or rider, reader, raider, and ruder. Dramatic irony: Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware. Epistrophe: The opposite of anaphora, in which the poet or rhetorician repeats the concluding phrase over and over for effects. Often the two can be combined effectively as well. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. (III.ii.30-36) Enjambment: The practice of breaking the sense of a line by placing part of the phrase on the second line. The practice of the enjambment causes a slight distress in the audience because the reader wants the phrase break to come in the familiar place for the rhythm of the poem but it doesn’t. Often the sense of the poem can be changed or emphasis given by creating an enjambment. April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried… (Eliot, “The Waste Land” 1-7) Foreshadowing: Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen. Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow; An hundred years should got to praise Thine eyes and on thine forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest. Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" Imagery: Imagery involves a detailed description, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation. Irony (a.k.a. Situational irony): When an event occurs which is unexpected, and which is in absurd or mocking opposition to what is expected or appropriate. See also Dramatic irony; Verbal irony. Metaphor: A comparison or analogy stated in such a way as to imply that one object is another one, figuratively speaking. When we speak of "the ladder of success," we imply that being successful is much like climbing a ladder to a higher and better position. A simile is a comparison using like or as. Metonymy: Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea. The term metonym also applies to the object itself used to suggest that more general idea. Some examples of metonymy are using the metonym crown in reference to royalty or the entire royal family, or stating "the pen is mightier than the sword" to suggest that the power of education and writing is more potent for changing the world than military force. Personification: Personification gives inanimate objects or abstract concepts human qualities. England expects every man to do his duty. Lord Nelson Simile: A comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as." Epic Simile: A lengthy comparison between two highly complex objects, actions, or relations, etc, often comprising several lines of verse. Symbolism: The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. This term is commonly misused, describing any and all representational relationships, which in fact are more often metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal. Synesthesia: One sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience. Emily Dickinson, in "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died," uses a color to describe a sound, the buzz of a fly: with blue, uncertain stumbling buzz. Verbal irony: Where the meaning is intended to be the exact opposite of what the words actually mean. (Sarcasm is a tone of voice that often accompanies verbal irony, but they are not the same thing.) Zeugma: Artfully using a single verb to refer to two different objects grammatically, or artfully using an adjective to refer to two separate nouns, even though the adjective would logically only be appropriate for one of the two. “He held her heart and her hand.” (anonymous) “She exhausted both her audience and her repertoire.” (anonymous) ___________________________________________________________________ Literary elements refer to aspects or characteristics of a whole text. They are not “used,” per se, by authors; we derive what they are from reading the text. Most literary elements can be derived from any and all texts; for example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc. Characterization: Characterization is essentially the way in which the author describes a character, including personality, life history, values, physical attributes, etc. Climax: The climax is considered the “dramatic high point” of a story. Oftentimes, the turning point occurs during the climax. Conflict: The conflict portrays the struggle between opposing forces which is the driving force of a story. The outcome of any story provides a resolution of the conflict(s); this is what keeps the reader reading. Conflicts can exist between individual characters, between groups of characters, between a character and society, etc., and can also be purely abstract (conflicting ideas). Plot: Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative. Protagonist: The protagonist is the main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to identify. The person is not necessarily “good” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is most invested. Setting: The setting describes the time and place where a story occurs. The setting can be specific (e.g., New York City in 1930) or ambiguous (e.g., a large urban city during economic hard times). Mood: The climate of feeling in a literary work. The choice of setting, objects, details, images, and words all contribute towards creating a specific mood. For example, an author may create a mood of mystery around a character or setting but may treat that character or setting in an ironic, serious, or humorous tone Motif: A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence. Narrative: A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem. Point-of-view: The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story. May be third-person (no narrator; omniscient or limited) or first-person (narrated by a character in the story). Point-of-view is a commonly misused term; it does not refer to the author’s (or characters’) feelings, opinions, perspectives, biases, etc. Theme: The main idea or message conveyed by the piece. A theme is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase is a motif. Tone: The author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorous, and joyful. An author’s tone can be revealed through choice of words and details.

Literary Devices and Elements

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Literary devices refer to any specific, deliberate constructions of language which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements, literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text.

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound.

Anaphora (Greek, "carried again," also called epanaphora): The intentional repetition of beginning clauses in order to create an artistic effect. For instance, Churchill declared, "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be." The repetition of "We shall. . ." creates a rhetorical effect of solidarity and determination. Shakespeare also uses anaphora in the above example.

Apostrophe : a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present.

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)

Blank verse: Non-rhyming poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter.

Cacophony: harsh joining of sounds.

We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will. W. Churchill

Character Foil: A character in a play who brings out certain characteristics of the main character or other characters by comparison. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes are young men who behave very differently. While Hamlet delays in carrying out his mission to avenge the death of his father, Laertes is quick and bold in his challenge of the king over the death of his father. (Because Laertes is so quick and bold, Hamlet seems all the more hesitant.)

Chiasmus: Two corresponding pairs arranged in a parallel inverse order "

Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Macbeth, I, i)

Consonance: Consonance is a special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels. As M. H. Abrams illustrates in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, examples include linger, longer, and languor or rider, reader, raider, and ruder.

Dramatic irony: Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware.

Epistrophe: The opposite of anaphora, in which the poet or rhetorician repeats the concluding phrase over and over for effects. Often the two can be combined effectively as well.

Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. (III.ii.30-36)

Enjambment: The practice of breaking the sense of a line by placing part of the phrase on the second line. The practice of the enjambment causes a slight distress in the audience because the reader wants the phrase break to come in the familiar place for the rhythm of the poem but it doesn’t. Often the sense of the poem can be changed or emphasis given by creating an enjambment.

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried… (Eliot, “The Waste Land” 1-7)

Foreshadowing: Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen.

Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.

My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should got to praise
Thine eyes and on thine forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest. Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"

Imagery: Imagery involves a detailed description, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation.

Irony (a.k.a. Situational irony): When an event occurs which is unexpected, and which is in absurd or mocking opposition to what is expected or appropriate. See also Dramatic irony; Verbal irony.

Metaphor: A comparison or analogy stated in such a way as to imply that one object is another one, figuratively speaking. When we speak of "the ladder of success," we imply that being successful is much like climbing a ladder to a higher and better position. A simile is a comparison using like or as.

Metonymy: Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea. The term metonym also applies to the object itself used to suggest that more general idea. Some examples of metonymy are using the metonym crown in reference to royalty or the entire royal family, or stating "the pen is mightier than the sword" to suggest that the power of education and writing is more potent for changing the world than military force.

Personification: Personification gives inanimate objects or abstract concepts human qualities.

England expects every man to do his duty. Lord Nelson

Simile: A comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as."

Epic Simile: A lengthy comparison between two highly complex objects, actions, or relations, etc, often comprising several lines of verse.

Symbolism: The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. This term is commonly misused, describing any and all representational relationships, which in fact are more often metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal.

Synesthesia: One sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience.

Emily Dickinson, in "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died," uses a color to describe a sound, the buzz of a fly: with blue, uncertain stumbling buzz.

Verbal irony: Where the meaning is intended to be the exact opposite of what the words actually mean. (Sarcasm is a tone of voice that often accompanies verbal irony, but they are not the same thing.)

Zeugma: Artfully using a single verb to refer to two different objects grammatically, or artfully using an adjective to refer to two separate nouns, even though the adjective would logically only be appropriate for one of the two.

“He held her heart and her hand.” (anonymous)

“She exhausted both her audience and her repertoire.” (anonymous)

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Literary elements refer to aspects or characteristics of a whole text. They are not “used,” per se, by authors; we derive what they are from reading the text. Most literary elements can be derived from any and all texts; for example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc.

Characterization: Characterization is essentially the way in which the author describes a character, including personality, life history, values, physical attributes, etc.

Climax: The climax is considered the “dramatic high point” of a story. Oftentimes, the turning point occurs during the climax.

Conflict: The conflict portrays the struggle between opposing forces which is the driving force of a story. The outcome of any story provides a resolution of the conflict(s); this is what keeps the reader reading. Conflicts can exist between individual characters, between groups of characters, between a character and society, etc., and can also be purely abstract (conflicting ideas).

Plot: Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative.

Protagonist: The protagonist is the main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to identify. The person is not necessarily “good” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is most invested.

Setting: The setting describes the time and place where a story occurs. The setting can be specific (e.g., New York City in 1930) or ambiguous (e.g., a large urban city during economic hard times).

Mood: The climate of feeling in a literary work. The choice of setting, objects, details, images, and words all contribute towards creating a specific mood. For example, an author may create a mood of mystery around a character or setting but may treat that character or setting in an ironic, serious, or humorous tone

Motif: A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.

Narrative: A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem.

Point-of-view: The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story. May be third-person (no narrator; omniscient or limited) or first-person (narrated by a character in the story). Point-of-view is a commonly misused term; it does not refer to the author’s (or characters’) feelings, opinions, perspectives, biases, etc.

Theme: The main idea or message conveyed by the piece. A theme is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase is a motif.

Tone: The author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorous, and joyful. An author’s tone can be revealed through choice of words and details.