Important Literary Devices

Literary devices

* Literary Devices are the techniques, methods or tools used to adorn or beautify the language.

* They are also known as Figures of Speech. 

* When they are used in poem, they are called Poetic Devices and when used in       dialogues, are called Rhetorical Devices.

Objectives :

To say something more beautifully and more effectively

To deploy the method of comparison, to contrast, exaggerate or mock at

To arouse interest, excitement & emotions

1. SIMILE

* Direct comparison between two unlike things

* Using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’

Examples :

1. The water, like a witch’s oil (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. Like noises in a swound (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

3. Windows shut like catacombs (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

4. Like bottle bits on stones (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

5. Like rootless weeds (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

6. As idle as a painted ship (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

7. Slums as big as doom (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

8. Red as a rose is she (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner )

9. He lifted his head from his drinking, as the cattle do (Snake)

10. Like a forked night on air (Snake)

11. Pale as a late winter’s moon (My Mother at Sixty Six)

12. Her face ashen like that of a corpse (My Mother at Sixty Six)
13. Nor dim nor red, like God's own head (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
14. I wandered lonely as a cloud (Daffodils)

2. METAPHOR

* Indirect comparison between two unlike things

* Without using the word ‘like’ or ‘as’

Examples :

1. All the world’s a stage (As You Like It)

2. Paper seeming boy (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

3. He struck with his overtaking wings (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

4. The earth lipped fissure (Snake)

5. Bright topaz denizens of a world of green (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

6. All their future’s painted with a fog (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

7. Lead sky (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

8. Language is the sun (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

9. Merry children spilling out of their homes (My Mother at Sixty six)

10. Wreathing a flowery band (A Thing of Beauty)

11. Endless fountain of immortal drink (A Thing of Beauty)

12. The field and the clouds are lovers. (Song of the Rain)

13. By war’s long winter starv’d (No Men Are Foreign)

14. Still ringed with ordeals (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

15. From the veils of morning (The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

3. REPETITION

* Repetition of a word/phrase in a line

* To highlight or stress upon some fact/theme/expression

Examples :

1. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. I chatter chatter as I flow (The Brook)

3. Water, water, everywhere (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

4. Far far from gusty waves (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

5. Every night from dusk to dawn He croaked awn and awn and awn (The Frog and the Nightingale)

6. I did was smile and smile and smile (My Mother at Sixty Six)

7. Let’s not speak a word let’s stop (Keeping Quiet)

8. Without rush, without engines (Keeping Quiet)

9. Day after day, day after day (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
10. Break o break (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

4. ONOMATOPOEIA

* Formation of a word from the sound of something, bird or animal it represents

* To create real effect through sound words

Examples :

1. It cracked and growled, and roared and howled (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. I like the pit pit patter of the raindrops, I like the buzz buzz buzzing of bees - hymn

3. He croaked awn and awn and awn (The Frog and the Nightingale)

4. Koo-oh-ah! ko-ash! ko-ash! (The Frog and the Nightingale)

5.  And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter (Snake)

6. As I listen to the patter of the rain upon the roof (Rain on the Roof)

7. Every tinkle on the shingles (Rain on the Roof)

5. IMAGERY

* To create a word picture through vivid description of something

* Appealing to the five senses

Examples :

1. As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. Peace comes dropping slow from the veils of morning (The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

3. Than the unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

4. In the moonlight cold and pale (The Frog and the Nightingale)

5. And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down (Snake)

6. The merry children spilling out of their homes (My Mother at Sixty Six)

7. A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky (An Elementary School Classroom in a slum)

8. Tress old and young sprouting a shady boon (A Thing of Beauty)

9. Endless fountain of immortal drink (A Thing of Beauty)

10. And evening full of linnets’ wings (The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

11. I touch gently at the windows with my soft fingers (Song of the Rain)

12. Make their world run azure on gold sands (An Elementary School Classroom in a slum)

6. IRONY

* Use of words where intended meaning is contrary to actual meaning

* A situation/action that ends up differently and is contrary to how it was         anticipated/hoped/meant to be.

Examples :

1. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. She should have known that your song must be your own (The Frog and the Nightingale)

3. My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair (Ozymandias)

4. A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole (Snake)
5. Victory with no survivors (Keeping Quiet)

6. The post office employees are a bunch of crooks. (Letter to God)

7. ASSONANCE

* Repetition of a vowel/diphthong sound within the words in a line or sentence

Examples :

1. And that has made all the difference (The Road Not Taken)

2. But you shall shine more bright in these contents (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

3. Hopped towards her from the bog (The Frog and the Nightingale)

4. The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

5. You still owe me sixty shillings (The Frog and the Nightingale)

6. From an antique land (Ozymandias)

6. Instead of the cross, the Albatross (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

7. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain (My Fair Lady)

8. It will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep (A Thing of Beauty)

8. ALLITERATION

* Repetition of a consonant’s sound in a sentence or line

* Preferably in the beginning of the words

Examples :

1. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

2. Not marble nor the gilded monuments (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

3. You shall shine more bright (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

4. When wasteful wars shall statues overturn (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

5.The massive weight of uncle’s wedding band (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

6. Flowery band to bind us all (A Thing of Beauty)

7. A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

8. The tigers in the panel that she made will go on prancing, proud and unafraid (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

9. Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

10. Toads and teals and tiddlers (The Frog and the Nightingale)

11. Sneer of cold command (Ozymandias)

12. The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed (Ozymandias)

13. Lone and level sands stretch far away (Ozymandias)

14. Next night when the nightingale shook her head and twitched her tale (The Frog and the Nightingale)

9. REFRAIN

* Repetition of a line/a set of lines in a poem at regular intervals, in different stanzas, at the end of poem

* To highlight its theme/central idea

Examples :

1. Men may come and men may go but I go on forever.  (The Brook)

2. I will arise and go now …….. (The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

3.  And miles to go before I sleep (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening)

4.  O Captain! my Captain! Rise up and hear the bells (O Captain! My Captain!)

5. Now we will count to twelve (Keeping Quiet)

6. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood (The Road Not Taken)

7. Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign (No Men are Foreign)

10. PERSONIFICATION

* To give human characteristics to something that is not human/living

* To present or describe inanimate thing as animate

 

  Examples :

1. Monuments of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

2. With sluttish time (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

3. The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

4. Your praise shall still find room (Not Marble Nor the Gilded Monuments)

5. Fluttering and dancing in the breeze (Daffodils)

6. Tossing their heads in sprightly dance (Daffodils)

7. Young trees sprinting backwards (My Mother at Sixty Six)

8. Melancholy darkness gently weeps in rainy tears (Rain on the Roof)

9. When I see a field in need, (Song of the Rain)

10. Map awarding the world its world (An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum)

11. Perhaps the Earth can teach us (Keeping Quiet)
12. When I cry, the hills laugh (Song of the Rain)

11. OXYMORON

* Two opposite words/phrases presenting or explaining one idea

Examples :

1. With a joy both sweet and bitter (The Frog and the Nightingale)

2. Did send a dismal sheen (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

3. When I cry, the hills laugh (Song of the Rain)

4. We have imagined for the mighty dead (A Thing of Beauty)

5. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow (Romeo and Juliet)

12. HYPERBOLE

* Exaggeration of an expression/description

* To create a moment of awe, wonder and excitement

Examples :

1. Ten thousand saw I at a glance (Daffodils)

2. And a thousand dreamy fancies (Rain on the Roof)

3. Nor breath nor motion; as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

4. Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he: We’re two lions littered in one day, and I the elder and more terrible. (Julius Caesar)

5. The things that threaten’d me ne’er look’d but on my back; when they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished. (Julius Caesar)

Video on Literary Devices

13. Paradox

A paradox is a juxtaposition of contrasting ideas that, while seemingly impossible, actually reveals a deeper truth.

Examples :

1. The more we get; the more we want.

2. To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.” – Importance of Being Earnest

3. I give back life to my own origin. - The Voice of the Rain

4. Vaguely form’d, altogether changed, yet the same - The Voice of the rain

5. Less is more.

6. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

7. The more you give, the more you receive.

8. The only constant is change.

9. Courage is the absence of fear but triumph over it. - A Long Walk to Freedom

10. Pen is mightier than the sword. 

14. Anaphora

Anaphora is the repetition of words or phrases in two or more consecutive lines.

Examples - 

1. Far too nervous, far too tense.
Far too prone to influence. –  The Frog and the nightingale

2. And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling - The Brook

3. Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues

Run naked into books the white and green leaves open – An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

4. Let’s not speak in any language,

Let’s stop for one second, – Keeping Quiet

5. Of noble natures, of the gloomy days 

Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways - A Thing of Beauty 

15. Antithesis 

It is the use of opposite phrases or statements in close placement. It reveals an interesting fact using two contrasting terms, phrases or sentences.

Examples - 

1. Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon - A Thing of Beauty

2. The voice of thunder declares my arrival;
The rainbow announces my departure.” – The Voice of the Rain

3. When I cry, the hills laugh – Song of Rain

4. Every day may not be good; there is something in every day.

5. Live in the present to make your future.

16. Enjambment

An enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or line beyond a break, going to next line or stanza without an expected pause.

1. And for once could perhaps a huge silence       

might interrupt this sadness

of never understanding ourselves

and of threatening ourselves with death.” – Keeping Quiet

2. A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Its loveliness increases, it will never

Pass into nothingness; but will keep

A bower quiet for us,  – A Thing of Beauty

3. Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form’d, altogether

changed, and yet the same – The Voice of the rain

17. Sarcasm

Sarcasm is about saying opposite of what it is in reality in order to mock or make fun of oneself or others. It is an ironic remark tempered by humour. It is beautiful combination of wit, humour and irony.

As a real-life example, if someone is having lots of struggle doing something, he remark in frustration that he is having ‘great fun’ clearly implying that he is actually having difficult time.

Example –

1. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault. – Julius Caesar

2. I might lose my job as an interplanetary voyeur? I guess I'd have to use my master's degree for something else. – The Martian

3. Yeah, of course, waiting in line is my hobby.

4. Oh, wonderful! The weather is perfect for a picnic… in this rain.

5. You’re really fast… for a turtle.

18. Symbolism

Symbolism combines two or more ideas, a symbol is the use of an object to represent a concept such as ‘Peace’ is represented by a white dove or white cloth, ‘Love’ by a red rose and an ‘Idea’ by a lit bulb

1. The tigers in the panel that she made – Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

2. The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band – Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

3. In the afternoon yellow September sunlight – A Laburnum Top

4. Those who prepare green wars – Keeping Quiet

5. Without rush, without engines – Keeping Quiet

19. Transferred Epithet

When one thing’s attribute / characteristic is transferred to some other thing, it is transferred Epithet. It is a type of metaphor.

Examples –

1. The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead – A Roadside Stand

2. The thousand selfish cars that pass - A Roadside Stand

3. Of noble natures, of the gloomy days – A Thing of beauty

4. The ship was cheered – The Rime of Ancient Mariner

5. I was happy to be alone high up above the sleeping countryside. – Black Aeroplane

20. Allusion

Allusion is making a literary reference. When a writer alludes to something, it can be either directly or indirectly referring to a commonly known piece of literature / mythology / Scriptures / history. Such as Referring to a kind stranger as a Good Samaritan or describing an ideal place as the Garden of Eden

Examples -

1. I am Rapunzel; I have not a care - Amanda 

2. A mermaid, drifting blissfully – Amanda

3. I am Lazarus, come from the dead, - Love Song of J. A. Prufrock

4. She’ll not be hit With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit – Romeo and Juliet

5. They rudely called him Percival, - Tale of Custard the Dragon

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