Literary devices

From A+ Club Lesson Planner & Study Guide

Literary devices or literary techniques

  • similar to Rhetorical devices but about literature whereas rhetorical devices regard persuasion

Figurative language[edit | edit source]

  • figures of speech

Literary approaches[edit | edit source]

  • narration
  • narrator
  • person
  • point of view

Literary techniques[edit | edit source]

point of view[edit | edit source]

detail[edit | edit source]

diction[edit | edit source]

sequence[edit | edit source]

structure[edit | edit source]

syntax[edit | edit source]

tone[edit | edit source]

vignette[edit | edit source]

Narrative modes[edit | edit source]

action[edit | edit source]

dialogue[edit | edit source]

description[edit | edit source]

exposition[edit | edit source]

interiority[edit | edit source]

List of literary devices[edit | edit source]

  • allegory
  • alliteration
  • allusion
  • analogy
  • anaphora
  • anthropomorphism-
  • antithesis
  • archetype
  • colloquialism
  • ellision
  • euphemism
  • figurative
  • flashback
  • foreshadowing
  • hyperbole
  • imagery
  • irony
  • juxtaposition
  • malapropism
  • metaphor
  • meter
  • mood
  • motif
  • onomatopoeia
  • oxymoron
  • paradox
  • parallelism
  • personification
  • point of view
  • repetition
  • rhetorical
  • simile
  • symbolism
  • tone
  • tragedy
  • tragicomedy

the difference between...[edit | edit source]

metaphor and simile[edit | edit source]

  • both are figures of speech
  • metaphor

analogy and metaphor[edit | edit source]

  • analogy is a subset of metaphor
  • whereas
    • analogy makes a literal (actual) comparison via the words as, like
    • metaphor makes a non-literal direct comparison or parallel connection
  • analogy
    • makes a direct point
    • analogy is literal
  • metaphor creates emphasis and imagery
    • metaphor is abstract
  • both can be emotional (feelings) or rational (conceptual)

See: