LITERARY DEVICES

Literary Devices are the techniques used in all forms of writing such as novels, plays and poetry.
Example: Foreshadowing, Flashback, Irony, symbolism.
Poetic Devices are a subset of literary devices specially used in poetry to create rhythm, enhance
meaning and evoke emotions. Examples: Alliteration, Rhyme Scheme, Enjambment.
Figures of speech are expressions used to create expressive or imaginative meaning. It
includes making comparisons, contrasts, associations, exaggerations and constructions. It also
gives a much clearer picture of what you are trying to convey. They appear in both prose and
poetry. Examples: Simile, Metaphor, personification,

1. Simile - a simile is a figure of speech mainly used to compare two or more things with a
similar quality. It uses words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’ to make comparison.
Example - He is brave as a warrior. She is slow like a sloth. Alexander the Great was like a lion
in the battleground.
2. Metaphor—It refers to a direct comparison between two unlikely things. It is used to establish a
resemblance between them.
Example - The mind is an ocean of imaginations. Alexander the Great was a lion in the
battleground.
3. Personification - a figure of speech in which a thing or an idea is given human attributes. It is
impactful and interesting. Example - The floorboards groaned under the weight of each step.
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers
as they buzzed from one to another.
4. Alliteration - the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or
closely connected words, which creates a memorable or melodic effect.
Example - Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. She sells see shells by the sea-shore.
5. Repetition - repetition of a word or phrase in a sentence or stanza to create an effect or to
emphasise an idea or thought.
Example - smile, smile, smile at your mind as often as possible
6. Assonance - repetition of vowel sounds in words that are closely related in a sentence or a
word. This is used to focus on the mind of the reader on a particular area of the text.
Example - His tender heir might bear his memory. The crumbling thunder of the sea. Goodnight,
sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.
7. Consonance - repetition of a consonant sound in words that are close together in a sentence
or word. This is used to focus on the mind of the reader on a particular area of the text.
Example - I will crawl away with the new ball. He struck a streak of bad luck.
8. Anaphora - repetition of the word in the beginning of successive clauses, phrases or
sentences. It is used to convey, empjasize, and reinforce meaning. Its is technique which is
remarkably effective in speeches, lyrics, poetry and prose.
Example - I wish I may
I wish I might
You better watch out,
You better not cry
You better not pout I am telling you.
9. Enjambment – In poetry, when a line carries its idea or thought over to the next line without
a grammatical pause or punctuation.
 Example - April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of
the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.
10. Hyperbole - a figure of speech that creates heightened effect through deliberate
exaggeration. It is often used for serious, comic, or ironic effects.
Example - He feels buried under a mountain of work.
11. Euphemism - is a polite and mild phrase or expression which replaces unpleasant, harsh and
impolite terms.
Example - Instead of saying ‘He is dead’ it can be said ‘He has passed away’.
12. Apostrophe - a literary device in which the speaker directly addresses someone or
something which is not present or cannot respond in reality.
Example - “O Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” in which he addresses deceased Abraham Lincoln.
13. Antithesis - a literary device that positions opposite ideas parallel to each other.
Example - To err is human; to forgive divine. Some say the world will end in fire, some
say in ice.
14. Epigram - a short, interesting and witty thought or idea on a particular subject, usually
presented in a funny manner.
Example - “It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
15. Oxymoron - it combines contradictory words with opposing meanings.
Example - cruel kindness, deafening silence, quiet laughter, labored ease.
16. Irony - a literary device in a situation where there is a contrast between reality and
expectation, used typically for humorous or emphatic effect. It is used to make difference
between reality and appearance.
Types of irony
1. Verbal Irony is when a speaker says one thing but means something entirely different.
The literal meaning is at odds with the intended meaning.
Example - A character who is about to experience a hurricane steps out and says, “What
wonderful weather we have now!”, Water, water everywhere, Not any drop to drink.
2. Dramatic Irony is when the audience knows something that the characters don’t.
Example - In Macbeth, Macbeth was pretending to be loyal to Duncan but he was
planning his murder. In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows Juliet is alive, but Romeo
does not, leading to tragic consequences.
3. Situational Irony is when what happens is the opposite of what you expect.
Example - A fire station burnt down, Police Station being robbed, a baker being
allergic to flour.
17. Pun – It is also known as Play on words. It is a joke based on the interplay of homophones
(break-brake, see-sea, deer-dear,genes-jeans) or a clever and humorous play with words that
have more than one meaning.
Example - Santa Claus’ helpers are called subordinate clauses.
18. Satire - it is the art of making someone or something look ridiculous, raising laughter in order
to embarrass, humble, or discredit its target. Its purpose is not just to entertain but also to
inform or make people think.
Example - George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ is a dark satire of Soviet Communism and the
Russian Revolution. Vikram Seth’s poem ‘The Tale of a Melon City’ is a political satire.
19. Metonymy – Referring to something by one of its attributes or characteristics or by using a
related word.
Example - Referring to the members of the British royal family as “the crown”, business people as
“suits”, “Pen is mightier than sword”, implying that the written word is more powerful than physical
force, “Lend me your ears”, represents someone’s attention.
20. Allusion - is a figure of speech in which an author or poet makes an indirect reference to some
idea, figure, other text, place, or event that originates from outside the text. It could also refer to
something that happened earlier in the text that is often called an internal allusion.
Example - Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
In these lines Robert Frost makes an allusion to the Biblical Garden of Eden to strengthen the
idea that nothing - not even Paradise - can last forever.
21. Transferred Epithet – The shifting of an epithet or adjective from its proper subject to
another associated with it.
Example - She had a sleepless night. Here the night is not sleepless but the person is. I had a
wonderful day. The experiences made the day wonderful.
22. Symbolism - it is the use of words or images to symbolise specific concepts, abstract
ideas, people, objects, or events. They are not literal representations but figurative or
implied ones.
Example - He turned green when found a wallet. (Green colour is associated with greed,
jealousy, and monetary affairs.)
23. Paradox - a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality
expresses a possible truth.
Example - The more you give, the more you get.
24. Imagery - it uses vivid description that appeals to
readers’ senses to create an image or idea in their head.
It not only paints the picture but also aims to portray the
sensational experience within text.
Types of Imagery-
1. Visual Imagery - it is more likely what people think of something by reading a
description in a text. Like describing the setting of the stage in a play.
2. Auditory Imagery- appeals to the readers’ sense of hearing, in describing
gunfire, screams etc.
3. Gustatory Imagery- appeals to the readers’ sense of taste.
4. Olfactory Imagery- appeals to the readers’ sense of smell like the smell of fresh air.
5. Tactile Imagery- creates the sensory experience of touch through text.(Texture,
temperature, wetness etc.)
6. Kinesthetic Imagery- describe the sensory experience of motion like speed etc.
7. Organic Imagery- appeals to the most primitive sensations in the human
experience such as hunger, fatigue, fear etc.
25. Onomatopoeia - a figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates its sense.
Example - hiss, buzz, clang, roar etc.
26. Sarcasm - is the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say,
especially in order to insult someone, or to show irritation, or just to be funny.
Example - When something bad happens and you remark, “That’s what I really needed today”
27. Analogy - a comparison of two things to show their similarities. It explains one thing in terms
of another to highlight the ways in which they are alike.
 Example - Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies
in the process.
28. Synecdoche - A specific type of metonymy that occurs when a whole object or idea is
referred to by the name of its smaller part.
Example - Referring to a car as “my wheels” is a synecdoche, because the wheels are just one
part that represents the entire car.
29. Poetic Licence - is a licence or liberty taken by a poet, author to change facts or rules to
make a poem or story more interesting or effective.
Example - And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.
30. Inversion - A change in the usual word order of speech to maintain a rhythm or to find a
rhyme. The words are reversed, therefore leading to a different kind of effect.
Example: ‘Yesterday, a ship I saw’ instead of ‘Yesterday, I saw a ship.’