Literary Devices

Question 1

What is dramatic irony?

Answer 1

Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience (of a movie, play, etc.) understands something about a character’s actions or an event but the characters do not.

Question 2

What is pathetic fallacy?

Answer 2

the attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature.
e.g A cruel, lonesome wind is howling through the trees.

Question 3

What is foreshadowing?

Answer 3

be a warning or indication of (a future event).

Question 4

What is an oxymoron?

Answer 4

a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as cruel kindness) broadly: something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements.
Act naturally.
Alone together.
Amazingly awful.
Bittersweet.
Clearly confused.
Dark light.
Deafening silence.
Definitely maybe.

Question 5

What is personification?

Answer 5

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human or representing an abstract quality in human form.
e.g. Lightning danced across the sky. The wind howled in the night. The car complained as the key was roughly turned in its ignition. Rita heard the last piece of pie calling her name.

Question 6

Hyperbole

Answer 6

Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement that emphasizes the significance of the statement’s actual meaning. When a friend says, “Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in a million years,” that’s hyperbole.

Question 7

Aphorism

Answer 7

a pithy observation that contains a general truth.

“the old aphorism ‘the child is father to the man’” (sayings)