Literarary Elements And Devices - Final

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Stanza

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a division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme through the poem.

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Imagery

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the use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong unified sensory impression

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Details

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facts that are included and those omitted

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Rhyme

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Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything falling it are said to rhyme. This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public.

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Paradox

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A seemingly contradictory statment or situation which is actually true. This rhetorical device is often used for emphasis or simply to attract attention.

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Metonymy

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Designation of one thing with something closely associated with it. e.g., Call the head of the committee care, the king the crown

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Assonance

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Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity. e.g. lake and fake denote rhyme

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of a word whose pronunciation suggests its meaning. Buzz, hiss, slam and pop are frequently used examples.

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Hyperbole

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conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect. Not intended literally, hyperbole is often humorous

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Allusion

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an indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the read is supposed be familiar.

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Consonance

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repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close probity

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Repetition

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word or phase used two or more times in close proximity

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Irony

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When a reader is are of a reality that differs from a character’s perception of reality (dramatic irony) The literal meaning of a writer’s words may be verbal irony.

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Alliteration

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The repetition at close intervals of initial identical consonant sounds.

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Sonnet

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a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; its subject was traditionally love.

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Rhyme Scheme

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The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines.

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Synecdoche

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Part of something is used to stand for the whole e.g. threads for clothes, wheels for cars

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Anaphora

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Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent.

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Flashback

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a flash into the past in which author interrupts story to present events that happened before

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Oxymoron

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a rhetorical antithesis. Juxtaposing two contradictory terms like wise fool or eloquent silence.

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Couplet

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a pair of lines, usually rhymed; this is the shortest stanza

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Enjambment

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The continuation of the local sense and, therefore the grammatical construction, beyond the end of a line of poetry.

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Connotation

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Rather than the dictionary def., the associations suggested by the word.

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Dramatic Irony

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When the reader is aware of an inconsistency between a fictional or nonfictional character's perception of a situation and the truth of a situation.

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Euphemism

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- The use of a word or phrase that is less direct but is also distasteful or less offensive than another

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Foil

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A character who's traits are the opposite of another and who thus points up the strengths and weaknesses of the other character

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Metaphor

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Compares 2 things that are often not related

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Mood

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an atmosphere created by a writer's word choice

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Motif

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A frequently recurrent character, incident, or concept in lit.

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Personification

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Inanimate objects excising human functions

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Simile

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Comparison of 2 things often dissimilar– used with than, like, and as

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Symbol (Symbolism)

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A thing, event or person that represents an idea or event

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Tone

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A writer's attitude towards subject matter revealed

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Verbal Irony

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When the reader is aware of a discrepancy between the real meaning of the situation and the literal of the writers words

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foreshadowing

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hints to what is to come later in the story

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flashback

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- a flash into the past in which the author interrupts story to present events that happened before

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direct characterization

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author tells reader direct character traits

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indirect characterization

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1 speech\2 actions\3 appearance \4 thoughts or feelings\5 reactions of others

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Genre

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French, a literary form or type; classification


ie. tragedy, comedy, novel, essay, poetry

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Parallelism

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Sentence construction which places in close proxmity two or more equal grammatical constructions

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Author's purpose

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What the writer hopes to achieve by crafting a particular work –to inform or explain –to persuade –to express thoughts or feelings
–to entertain