Literary Devices

Allusion Def: literary, historical, religious, or mythological REFERENCE to something well-known by many. Ex: “…yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them and as Job proposed to his friends, ‘put yourself in their souls stead,’…” Job- who suffers a great deal but remains faithful; from an OT character whose faith in God was tested by Satan; though he lost his family and belongings, he remained patient and faithful

Connotation Denotation Def: IMPLIED, underlying meaning of a word Def: DICTIONARY DEFINITION of a word Denotation

Hyperbole Def: EXTREME EXAGGERATION Look, there’s an allusion too!

Irony AN IMPLIED DIFFERENCE. VERBAL: Difference between what is said and what is meant SITUATIONAL: Difference between what you are led to expect and what actually happens DRAMATIC: Difference between what one character knows and what the audience knows (We know something the character does not know.) Clarification: If I say, “Gee, I really wish it would snow,” and it starts snowing immediately, that is apropos (too perfect). It is NOT ironic. (There is no DIFFERENCE between what I wanted and what happened.)

Metaphor Def: comparison between two unlike things

Simile Def: comparison between two unlike things using like or as. OR AS

ALLITERATION Def: the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Pun Def: A play on words, usually a joke

Personification: Def: Giving a thing, idea, or animal human characteristics. Example: The tigers were singing a Taylor Swift song into the night.

Oxymoron and Paradox A paradox may consist of a sentence or even a group of sentences. An oxymoron, on the other hand, is a combination of two contradictory or opposite words. A paradox seems contradictory to the general truth but it does contain an implied truth. An oxymoron, however, may produce a dramatic effect but does not make sense.

Onomatopoeia Def: Use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the object or actions.