Literary devices Flashcards
Allegory
A story or a poem where characters stand for other people. Ex: Lord of the flies
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds. Ex: Delightful duck
Allusion
A reference to something famous or well known from history
Ambiguity
An event that can have two or more meanings or that can be interpreted in more than one way
Analogy
A comparison
Anecdote
A brief story about an individual
Antagonist
The character against the protagonist
Antithesis
A person, thing or idea in direct opposition of each other
Antihero
A main character who lacks the traditional qualities of a hero
Anthropomorphism
Attributing human characteristics to an animal or object
Aphorism
Brief, cleverly worded observation about life
Apostrophe
The calling out to an absent person
Aside
A character who speaks directly to the audience their thoughts, the other characters are incapable of hearing what they are saying
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
Characterization
The process of an author when they reveal the characteristics of a character.
Static character
Character that does not change throughout the story.
Dynamic character
Character that changes throughout the story
Flat character
Character with only one or two personality traits
Round character
Character who is complex with more than two personality traits
Stock Character
Stereotypical character
Cliche
A phrase that is so popular and overused
Colloquialism
Conversational/informal writing
Comedy
A story with a happy resolution
Conflict
The struggle between two characters or a character to the world in a story.
External conflict
Person to person, person to nature or person to technology
Internal conflict
Conflict within a person’s mind
Connotation
The associations attached to a word that aren’t necessarily the dictionary definition of the word.
Couplet
Two consecutive rhyming lines in a poem
Dialect
The way of speaking in a certain geographical area
Diction
The author’s choice of words in a story
Didactic
A story with a specific lesson or moral to provide the “proper” way of behaving or thinking.
Epigraph
A quote at the beginning of a story suggestive of the theme.
Epiphany
Moment of realization
Epithet
An adjective applied to a person many times throughout the story to emphasize the quality.
Fable
A short story with a practical lesson
Farce
A comedy with far fetched situations.
Figurative language
Words that are inaccurate if they are interpreted literally
Flashback
Something that happened in earlier times
Foil
A character who acts in contrast to another character
Foreshadowing
When you can tell what’s going to happen based on hints and clues
Hyperbole
An exaggeration
Imagery
When the author describes a picture of a person place or thing
Irony
When the opposite of what you think is going to happen happens
Verbal irony
When someone says something but means the opposite
Dramatic irony
When the audience or threader knows better
Juxtaposition
When words are placed next to one another
Metaphor
A comparison not using like or as
Conceit metaphor
Elaborate metaphor
Implied metaphor
When the metaphor does not state clearly the terms of the comparison
Extended metaphor
A metaphor that is extended
Dead metaphor
A metaphor that has been used too often
Mixed metaphor
A metaphor that mixes its terms so its visually or imaginatively incompatible.
Mood
The atmosphere that the author creates in the story
Motif
A recurring image or sentence throughout the story
Motivation
The reasons for the behaviour of a character
Onomatoepia
Sounds like “pop” or “zap”
