Literary Devices:

Using Your Imagination

Feature Menu

Making Us Feel
Imagery
Simile and Metaphor
Personification
Symbolism
Practice
 Making Us Feel

Charlie has to take the

bus to an important job
interview. The weather
is miserable.

Even worse, Charlie

can tell that he’s
coming down with a
cold.

Which version of the story lets you feel

Charlie’s misery? 1 2
 Making Us Feel

Good fiction awakens our feelings as well as our

imaginations.
Good writers achieve “special effects” in their
writing by using literary devices such as

[End of Section]
 Imagery

Imagery is language that creates pictures. It

can also help you smell, taste, hear, and feel
what a writer is describing.
The first stroke of the young
violinist’s bow produced a
piercing whine. The boy rolled
his eyes, sympathizing with his
audience.

This imagery helps you

• hear the sound the violin makes
• feel what the violinist feels
 Imagery

What do you still want to know after you’ve read

the following sentence?

Her shoes made a

noise as she went
across the room.

• Was she wearing sneakers? high heels? hiking

boots? flip-flops?
• What kind of noise did the shoes make? Did they
click? or slap? or squeak?
• How did she move across the room? Did she walk
or run? Did she skip?
 Imagery

Try seeing the shoes first:

Her soggy, unlaced sneakers
made a noise as she went across the
room.

Now, hear the sound those shoes would make:

Her soggy, unlaced sneakers squelched loudly as
she went across the room.
How did she move across the room?
Her soggy, unlaced sneakers squelched loudly as she
limped across the room.
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 Simile and Metaphor

Talented writers often describe something by

comparing it to another, very different thing.
In a simile, the comparison
is made using words such
as like, as, than, and
resembles.
By the time we took the
meatloaf out of the oven, it
looked like a chunk of coal.
It was as dry and tough as
an old shoe.
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 Simile and Metaphor

In a metaphor, the comparison is made directly,

without words such as like, as, than, or resembles.
metaphor
The sea was a sheet of glass.

simile
The sea was as smooth as a
sheet of glass.
[End of Section]
 Personification

In personification, something nonhuman is

spoken of as if it were human.
The snow whispered a secret
song of peace.

Personification
also occurs
when something
The broken window that is not living
gazed back at me is spoken of as if
sadly. it were alive.
[End of Section]
 Symbolism

What’s this? A rose, of course.

And what’s this?

It’s a statue of a
lady holding a
sword and a set
of scales.

For many people, this is And this is a

also a symbol of love. symbol of justice.
 Symbolism

In literature, a symbol is a person, place, or thing

that stands for itself and also for something beyond
itself.
The same object can stand for different things in
different works of literature.

In one story, an apple

might stand for the
abundance of nature
or the harvest.
 Symbolism

In a different story, the apple

might mean something completely
different.
temptation flattery respect
tradition betrayal

Often, people will agree that

something is a symbol, but
they may disagree about
what that symbol means.

[End of Section]
 Practice

Let’s Try It
1. What is being
Flattening herself against the compared in the
damp brick wall of the house, underlined sentence?
Stella inched toward the open
window. After each careful step,
she held her breath and listened.
Whenever her foot crushed a 2. What figure of
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt speech is the
into her throat. She was sure the comparison?
crack and snap must be as loud
as a firecracker. She was sure
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
1. What is being
Flattening herself against the compared in the
damp brick wall of the house, underlined sentence?
Stella inched toward the open
window. After each careful step, The sound of the
she held her breath and listened. crushed leaf or twig
Whenever her foot crushed a is compared to the
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt sound of a
into her throat. She was sure the firecracker.
crack and snap must be as loud
as a firecracker. She was sure
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
2. What figure of
Flattening herself against the speech is the
damp brick wall of the house, comparison?
Stella inched toward the open
window. After each careful step, This is a simile. The
she held her breath and listened. words as…as are
Whenever her foot crushed a used.
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt
into her throat. She was sure the
crack and snap must be as loud
as a firecracker. She was sure
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
3. What figure of
Flattening herself against the speech is being used
damp brick wall of the house, in the underlined
Stella inched toward the open clause?
window. After each careful step,
she held her breath and listened.
Whenever her foot crushed a 4. How do you know
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt that Stella is afraid?
into her throat. She was sure the Be prepared to
crack and snap must be as loud explain your answer.
as a firecracker. She was sure
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
3. What figure of
Flattening herself against the speech is being used
damp brick wall of the house, in the underlined
Stella inched toward the open clause?
window. After each careful step,
she held her breath and listened. This is an example
Whenever her foot crushed a of personification. A
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt heart cannot really
into her throat. She was sure the leap.
crack and snap must be as loud
as a firecracker. She was sure
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
4. How do you know
Flattening herself against the that Stella is afraid?
damp brick wall of the house, Be prepared to explain
Stella inched toward the open your answer.
window. After each careful step,
she held her breath and listened. Stella is being very
Whenever her foot crushed a cautious. She
twig or fallen leaf, her heart leapt thinks she is
into her throat. She was sure the making a lot of
crack and snap must be as loud noise. Her heart is
as a firecracker. She was sure beating hard.
that, at any minute, the screen
door would fly open and she’d be
caught.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 5. What figure of
above her head. Its light split the speech is being used in
velvet curtain of the night. She the underlined words?
could hear the low, faint buzzing
of voices—two, or maybe three
people were talking. The buzzing 6. What is being
grew louder, like a swarm of compared in the
angry bees approaching. Then underlined words?
the voices stopped. Somewhere,
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint, 7. Is this a simile or
but she knew the time was now a metaphor? How do
or never. She had to see if Sam you know?
was in that room.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 5. What figure of
above her head. Its light split the speech is being used in
velvet curtain of the night. She the underlined words?
could hear the low, faint buzzing
of voices—two, or maybe three
people were talking. The buzzing This is another
grew louder, like a swarm of personification. A
angry bees approaching. Then window is not able
the voices stopped. Somewhere, to yawn.
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint,
but she knew the time was now
or never. She had to see if Sam
was in that room.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 6. What is being
above her head. Its light split the compared in the
velvet curtain of the night. She underlined words?
could hear the low, faint buzzing
The dark night is
of voices—two, or maybe three
being compared to
people were talking. The buzzing
a heavy velvet
grew louder, like a swarm of
curtain.
angry bees approaching. Then
the voices stopped. Somewhere,
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint,
but she knew the time was now
or never. She had to see if Sam
was in that room.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 7. Is this a simile or
above her head. Its light split the a metaphor? How do
velvet curtain of the night. She you know?
could hear the low, faint buzzing
This is a metaphor. The
of voices—two, or maybe three
comparison is made
people were talking. The buzzing
directly, without using
grew louder, like a swarm of
words such as
angry bees approaching. Then
resemble, like, or as.
the voices stopped. Somewhere,
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint,
but she knew the time was now
or never. She had to see if Sam
was in that room.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 8. What figure of
above her head. Its light split the speech is being used
velvet curtain of the night. She in the underlined
could hear the low, faint buzzing phrase?
of voices—two, or maybe three
people were talking. The buzzing
grew louder, like a swarm of
angry bees approaching. Then
the voices stopped. Somewhere,
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint,
but she knew the time was now
or never. She had to see if Sam
was in that room.
 Practice

Let’s Try It
Now the window yawned just 8. What figure of
above her head. Its light split the speech is being used
velvet curtain of the night. She in the underlined
could hear the low, faint buzzing phrase?
of voices—two, or maybe three This is a simile. The
people were talking. The buzzing comparison is made
grew louder, like a swarm of using the word like.
angry bees approaching. Then
the voices stopped. Somewhere,
a screen door slapped shut.
Stella thought she would faint,
but she knew the time was now
or never. She had to see if Sam
was in that room.
 Practice

On Your Own

1. Images.
Choose an object in the room, and
describe it in a way that makes it
seem appealing.

Now, describe the same object in a

way that makes us want to get out
of the room. Use words that help us
see the object—or perhaps smell it,
hear it, taste it, or feel it.
 Practice

On Your Own

2. Figurative language.
The general term for similes, metaphors,
personification, and symbols is figurative
language or figures of speech.
Use these starters to create your
own figures of speech:
Love is… The world is…
Happiness is… Ice is…
Security is… Fire is…
 Practice

On Your Own

3. Symbol.
Draw an animal that could symbolize a human
quality (courage, greed, laziness). Underneath
your drawing, identify the quality your creature
represents.
 Literary Devices:
Using Your Imagination

The End