Grade 12 Literary Devices

Front 1

SIMILE

Back 1

COMPARISON THAT USES LIKE OR AS

Front 2

METAPHOR

Back 2

DIRECT COMPARISON THAT DOES NOT USE LIKE OR AS

Front 3

HYPERBOLE

Back 3

EXTREME EXAGGERATION OR OVERSTATEMENT

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CONNOTATION

Back 4

THE IMPLIED MEANING OF A WORD

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METONYMY

Back 5

SUBSTITUTING ONE WORD FOR ANOTHER WORD CLOSELY ASSOCIATED TO IT

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ONOMATOPOEIA

Back 6

A WORD THAT IMITATES THE SOUND IT REPRESENTS

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SOLILOQUY

Back 7

A SPEECH MADE BY A CHARACTER IN A PLAY WHO IS TALKING TO THEMSELVES ALONE ONSTAGE IN ORDER TO LET THE AUDIENCE IN ON WHAT THEY ARE FEELING. IT IS GENERALLY MORE THAN 20 LINES

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PARONOMASIA

Back 8

A PLAY ON WORDS, A PUN

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ALLITERATION

Back 9

THE SAME SOUND STARTS A SERIES OR WORDS (USUALLY 3 OF 5 WORDS HAVE THE SAME SOUND AT THE BEGINNING OF IT)

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CLIMAX

Back 10

THE TURNING POINT OR THE HIGH POINT IN A STORY

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FORESHADOWING

Back 11

THE USE OF HINTS OR CLUES TO SUGGEST WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN LATER

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DENOTATION

Back 12

THE LITERAL MEANING OF A WORD

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EUPHEMISM

Back 13

USING A MORE PLEASANT EXPRESSION IN PLACE OF AN UNPLEASANT OR OFFENSIVE EXPRESSION

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PERSONIFICATION

Back 14

GIVING HUMAN QUALITIES TO ANIMALS OR OBJECTS

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SYNECDOCHE

Back 15

USING A PART TO REPRESENT A WHOLE

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OXYMORON

Back 16

PUTTING TWO CONTRADICTORY WORDS TOGETHER

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IRONY

Back 17

AN IMPLIED DISCREPANCY BETWEEN WHAT IS SAID AND WHAT IS MEANT

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DEUS EX MACHINAE

Back 18

THE RESOLUTION OF A PLOT THROUGH HIGHLY IMPROBABLY CHANCE OR COINCIDENCE

Front 19

CLICHÉ

Back 19

A WORD OR PHRASE THAT HAS LOST ITS FRESHNESS DUE TO OVERUSE

Front 20

CONSONANCE

Back 20

THE REPETITION OF CONSONANT SOUNDS, BUT NOT VOWEL SOUNDS (NOT AT THE BEGINNING OF WORDS)

Front 21

ASSONANCE

Back 21

THE REPETITION OF VOWEL SOUNDS, BUT NOT CONSONANT SOUNDS (NOT AT THE START OF WORDS)

Front 22

ARCHAISM

Back 22

USING AN OUTDATED WORD OR PHRASE INTENTIONALLY

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APOSTROPHE

Back 23

when an absent person,an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed, usuallypreceded by an exclamatory O… but the O is not always REQUIRED

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ADAGE

Back 24

An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb

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VICTORIAN

Back 25

OF OR DURIING THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA

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JACOBEAN

Back 26

OF OR DURING THE REIGN OF KING JAMES

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ELIZABETHAN

Back 27

OF OR DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH

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ALLEGORY

Back 28

a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in anarrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative. Characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed,or envy

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SYMBOLISM

Back 29

using an object or action that means something more than its literalmeaning

Front 30

SATIRE

Back 30

a kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purposeof bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar follyor vice

Front 31

PARADOX

Back 31

a self-contradictory phrase or sentence revealing a kind of truth whichat first seems contradictory

Front 32

MOTIF

Back 32

a recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work. A dominanttheme or central idea

Front 33

JUXTAPOSITION

Back 33

a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters andtheir actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purposeof developing comparisons and contrasts

Front 34

IMAGERY

Back 34

language that evokes one or all of the five senses:seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.

Front 35

HAMARTIA

Back 35

the error, frailty, mistaken judgement, or misstep through which thefortunes of a tragic hero are reversed (from good to bad) ; this error is notnecessarily a flaw in character but causes the problems for the protagonist.

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CACOPHONY

Back 36

harsh, discordant sounds

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ANAPHORA

Back 37

deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs

Front 38

CATACHRESIS

Back 38

an extravagant, impliedmetaphor using words in an alien or unusual way

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ANTISTROPHE

Back 39

the repetition of the sameword or phrase at the end of successive lines or clauses.

Front 40

ANTITHESIS

Back 40

contrasting or combining twoterms, phrases, or clauses with opposed or antithetical meanings.

Front 41

CHIASMUS

Back 41

repetition of any group ofverse elements in reverse order

Front 42

SYLLEPSIS/ZEUGMA

Back 42

the use of a single word in such a way that it is syntactically related to two or more words elsewhere in the sentence, but has a different meaning in relation to each of the other words.

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PLEONASM/TAUTOLOGY

Back 43

the use of more words than areneeded to express an idea; redundancy

Front 44

PARALIPSIS

Back 44

a figure of thought where lessinformation is supplied than appears to be called for by the circumstances

Front 45

LITOTES

Back 45

understatement, especially oneexpressed by a negation of an affirmative

Front 46

PERSONA

Back 46

the speaker of a poem, adramatic character distinguished from the poet

Front 47

ELEGY

Back 47

sorrowful ormournful poem or musical composition, especially a lament for the dead.