Literary Devices Flashcards
What are literary devices?
Literary devices can entail general elements that come back again and again in a work of literature. “Literary devices” is a broad term for all the techniques, styles, and strategies an author uses to enhance their writing.
What are literary elements and literary techniques?
Literary elements and literary techniques are both types of literary devices.
What are literary elements?
Literary elements are “big-picture” literary devices that extend throughout the entire work, such as setting, theme, mood, and allegory.
What are literary techniques?
Literary techniques are the literary devices that deal with individual words and sentences, such as euphemisms and alliteration.
What is an Allegory? Include an example.
Allegories are narratives that represent something else entirely, like a historical event or significant ideology, to illustrate a deeper meaning. A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. (Modern example : The animated film Zootopia, an allegory about the prejudices of modern society).
What is an alliteration?
Alliteration is the literary technique of using a sequence of words that begin with the same letter or sound for a poetic or whimsical effect. The conspicuous repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words, even those spelled differently. (E.g., alliterative names : Peter Parker, Matthew Murdock, Reed Richards). (Alliterative sentence : Peter Parker picked a peck of pickled peppers).
What literary device is being used in this text, “Peter Parker.”
Alliteration, alliterative name.
What is an allusion?
An allusion is an indirect reference to another figure, event, place, or work of art that exists outside the story. Allusions are made to famous subjects so that they don’t need explanation - the reader should already understand the reference. (E.g., The title of Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84is itself an allusion to George Orwell’s novel 1984. The Japanese word for the number nine is pronounced the same as the English letter Q).
What is an amplification?
Amplification is the technique of embellishing a simple sentence with more details to increase its significance. Enlarging upon or adding detail to a story or statement.
What is an anagram?
An anagram is a word puzzle where the author rearranges the letters in a word or phrase. (E.g., Louis Friend is an anagram for ‘iron sulfide’.
What’s an analogy?
An analogy compares one thing to something else to help explain a similarity that might not be easy to see. (E.g., Time is money, so spend it wisely).
What type of literary device is being used in this text? “Life is like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get.”
An analogy.
What is anthropomorphism?
Anthropomorphism is when non-human things like animals or objects act human, exhibiting. traits such as speech, thoughts, complex emotions, and sometimes even wearing clothes and standing upright. (E.g., Beauty and the Beast films anthropomorphize household objects : talking clocks, singing teapots, and more).
What is an antithesis?
Antithesis places two contrasting and polarized sentiments next to each other in order to accent both. E.g., “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” —Neil Armstrong
What is a chiasmus?
The literary technique of chiasmus takes two parallel clauses and inverts the word order of one to create a greater meaning. E.g., Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
What is colloquialism?
Colloquialism is using casual and informal speech, including slang, informal writing to make dialogue seem more realistic and authentic. It often incorporates respelling words and adding apostrophes to communicate the pronunciation.
What literary device is being used in this text? “How you doin’?”
Colloquialism.
What is circumlocution?
Circumlocution is when the writer deliberately uses excessive words and overcomplicated sentence structures to intentionally convolute their meaning. In other words, it means to write lengthily and confusingly on purpose. E.g., Pinocchio uses circumlocution to avoid giving an honest answer to the Prince’s question.
