LITERARY DEVICES

CONTRAST- Two completely opposite images, ideas or both put together to heighten or clarify a scene, theme or episode Eg: A glowing rainbow in a stormy sky Street lamps shining through the gloom Tall candles lighted in a shadowy room In each case, a bright thing is put against the background of something dark so the shine comes through more brilliantly. Thy beauty shall no more be found; Nor, in thy marble vault shall sound My echoing song: then Worms shall try That long preservd Virginity: And your quaint Honour turn to dust; And into ashes all my Lust. The Graves a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace. Contrast- the life-in-death image in the above lines from Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress SIMILE An expression making a comparison between two things using the words like or as. Similes make comparisons between ideas or objects for a particular effect or purpose. They are used to make the ideas clearer or more forcefully presented. The comparison is not between things of the kind but things which are different. Eg: Where are the forests hot as fire Wide as England, tall as the spire The moon appeared crimson like a drop of blood hanging in the sky

Metaphor- A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another without using the words as or like The comparison is usually implicit whereas in simile it is explicit. Eg: She walks the lady of my delightA shepherdess of sheep. Her flocks are thoughts. She keeps them white She is the sun in my life

Imagery- a word picture. Eg: So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky

Personification- the technique of treating inanimate things or ideas as if they were people or have human characteristics Eg Patient, slow moving as shed was created Africa is awake. The little ripples crept and met and matched Along the jeweled lake

a kind breeze caressed her cheek comfortingly

Alliteration

-Repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in words that are close to each other to produce a noticeable effect Eg The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew The furrow followed free

Onomatopoeia- words which imitate sounds Eg Cuckoo, crash, buzz, swish, hum

Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds in words next to or close to each other Eg; So well go no more a-roving

Rhyme - repetition of an identical sound End-rhyme Eg Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall Internal rhyme

This refers to words that rhyme within a line of a poem

Eg The long light shakes across the lakes

Effect; rhymes link words/ideas together to complement or emphasize the meaning, mood or attitude in a poem Rhymes create a harmonious sound so as to make a poem more memorable

Rhythm A particular pattern or beat Eg: Bim! Boom! Out of the room!Pick up your hat and fly! Isnt it grand? The band!The band! The band is marching by!

Repetition- Repetition of a word or an idea

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave once her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of Englands, breathing English air

Run- on lines Lines which do not end with a punctuation mark but continue on Eg We real cool.We Left school.We

Lurk late.We Strike straight.We .

Ellipsis is - the omission of words from a sentence which are necessary for strict grammatical correctness but not for meaning. -things left unsaid: EG: Death has done all (that) death can do. losing your legs?... (things left unsaid)

Allusion is a short, informal reference to a famous person or event or characters from classical works of literature EG:

. Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built he ark --Richard Cushing

. and her sunny locks Hang on her temples like a golden fleece Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos strond And many Jasons come in quest of her

Hyperbole- a deliberate exaggeration Eg Persons often use expressions such as "I nearly died laughing," "I was hopping mad," and "I tried a thousand times." Such statements are not literally true, but people make them to sound impressive or to emphasize something, such as a feeling, effort, or reaction

Euphemism is the use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but that is also less distasteful or less offensive than another

EG: He is at rest is a euphemism for He is dead. He is vertically challenged.

Oxymoron the combination of contradictory words to reveal a truth. Oxymoron is a form of paradox. However, unlike paradox, oxymoron places opposing words side by side. Eg: Parting is such sweet sorrow.Shakespeare. Working in a coal mine is living death. The hurricane turned the lush island retreat into a hellish paradise

Irony refers to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be. There are many types of irony, the three most common being verbal irony, situational and dramatic irony Verbal irony occurs when either the speaker means something totally different than what he is saying or the audience realizes, because of their knowledge of the particular situation to which the speaker is referring, that the opposite of what a character is saying is true. Verbal irony also occurs when a character says something in jest that, in actuality, is true. Or says something but means the opposite In Julius Caesar, Marc Antonys reference to Brutus being an honorable man is an example of verbal irony. Marc Antony notes all of the good deeds Julius Caesar did for his people while, more than once, he asks the rhetorical question, Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? Antony uses this rhetorical question to try to convince his audience that Caesar is not ambitious, presenting Brutus as a dishonorable man because of his claim that Caesar was ambitious.

situatuational irony occurs when the exact opposite of what one plans or anticipate

dramatic irony-in plays eg when the audience knows more about something that has happened than the character on stage

Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definition." For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptilesKhaving a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions." Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings. The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger. Rhetorical questions are questions which are not meant to be answered by the reader, but which the writer answers in the writing. Speakers use this device to obtain greater effect. Eg

Do they matter? Does it matter? from Does it matter, Siedfried Sasson Earning high wages? from Munition Wages, Madeline Ida Bedford