Literary Devices

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Literary Devices
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Figurative Language

• Figurative language is language that is not meant
  to be taken literally, or word for word.
• It stirs up your imagination, and
• makes you see things more clearly.

Like what?
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Simile

• Similes are comparisons between two dissimilar
  things that use the words like or as
• For example
• Her angry eyes burned like a nuclear explosion.
• My tummy growled like an angry lion.
• My tummy growled as if a lion was inside of me.

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Metaphor

• Metaphors are comparisons between two dissimilar
  things that do not use the words like or as
• For example
• The moon was a lantern
• lighting the night sky.
• I am peanut butter and my best friend is jelly.

Can you think of one??
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Hyperbole

• Hyperbole uses extravagant exaggeration to make a
  point.
• For example
• Im so hungry I could eat a horse!
• I tried the math problem a thousand times.

Your turn.
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Personification

• Personification gives human qualities to nonhuman
  things, such as nature, animals, objects, or
  feelings.
• For example
• The leaves danced in the wind.
• The smell of the coffee called my
• name.

One more time
Mrs. Terry
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Idioms

• For example

One more time
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Other Literary Devices
Like what?
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Oxymoron

• An Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which
  opposites are paired for effect.
• For example
• I ordered jumbo shrimp at
• Joes Crab Shack.
• Bittersweet chocolate is the best kind to
  use when youre baking.
• High school graduation is
• bittersweet.

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Allusion

• An allusion is a reference to a person, place,
  event, or literary work that a writer expects the
  reader to recognize and understand. It may come
  from history, geography, literature, art, music,
  or religion.
• For example
• How could you be so Dr. Evil?
• Kanye West, Heartless

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Symbol

• A symbol is an object, person, place, or action
  that has a meaning in itself, and that also
  stands for something larger than itself.
• For example
• A dove symbolizes peace.
• A black crow or raven symbolizes death.
• A wedding ring symbolizes...???

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Sound Devices

• Some literary devices focus on the sound of words
  rather than their meaning.

Literary Device
Figurative Language
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Repetition

• Repetition is when an author repeats a word,
  phrase, sentence, or stanza for effect or
  emphasis.
• Examples
• Secrets by One Republic
• The chorus or refrain of any song

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Rhyme

• Rhyme is the repetition of end sounds in two or
  more words or phrases that appear close to each
  other in a poem.
• For example
• All day the gusty north wind bore
• The loosening drift its breath before
• Low circling round its southern zone,
• The sun through dazzling snow-mist shone.

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Alliteration

• Alliteration is the repetition of a sound at the
  beginning of words.
• For example
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• Other common examples
• Coca-cola, Tiny Tim, Mickey Mouse

Can you think of any youve heard?
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Onomatopoeia

• Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the sound
  it makes.
• For example, words like
• pop
• crackle
• screech
• zip
• fizz

Screech!
Pop!
Zip
Can you name one?
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Assonance

• Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds (not
  a rhyme).
• For example
• Then came the drone of a boat
• in the cove.

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Consonance

• Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds
  at the end or middle of words (not rhyme).
• For example
• The little bitty ant crawled across the field.

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Other Important Poetry Vocabulary

• tone
• theme
• imagery
• stanza

Tone
Theme
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Tone

• Tone is the writers attitude toward a subject,
  character, or audience and is conveyed through
  the authors choice of diction, imagery,
  figurative language, details, and syntax.
• (In otherwords, tone is how the author feels
  about his subject, character, or audience, and he
  shows it through the words he chooses, and how he
  puts them together.)

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Story Elements
Tone
Some words that can describe tone are
Sad
Nervous
happy excited angry
sad fearful threatening
thoughtful nervous agitated
ecstatic worried depressed
Belligerent
Ecstatic
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Tone

• For example
• I cannot go to school today,
• Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
• I have the measles and the mumps,
• A gash, a rash, and purple bumps
• My tonsils are as big as rocks,
• Ive counted sixteen chickenpox
• And theres one more thats seventeen,
• And dont you think my face looks green?
• I have a hangnail, and my heart iswhat?
• Whats that? Whats that you say?
• You say today isSaturday?
• Gbye, Im going out to play!
• --from Sick by Shel Silverstein

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Theme

• Theme is the central message of a literary work,
  or the idea the author wishes to convey about
  that subject. It is not the same as the subject,
  which can be expressed in one or two words.
  (This is a lot like a truism.)
• Possible themes for The Outsiders
• Not all kids who are in gangs are bad.
• People may come from different backgrounds, but
  were all the same people.
• If something bad happens to someone, dont blame
  it on yourself if its not really your fault.

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Imagery

• Imagery consists of words or phrases that the
  writer uses to represent persons, objects,
  actions, feelings, and ideas descriptively by
  appealing to the senses. It is important to note
  that the word touch, taste, etc. is not
  necessarily used to create the image.
• Example
• We walked into the pitch black room that reeked
  of death, and as we flicked on the light we heard
  a blood-curdling scream.
• Non-example
• The room smelled bad.

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Stanza

• A stanza is a group of related words in a poem,
  similar to a paragraph of prose but does not have
  to have complete sentences.
• Its like a poetry paragraph!
• When the Teachers Back is Turned by Ken
  Nesbitt
• When the teachers back is turned
• We never scream and shout
• Never do we drop our books
• and try to freak her out.
• No one throws a pencil
• At the ceiling of the class.
• No one tries to hit the fire alarm
• And break the glass.

Stanza 1
Stanza 2
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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 1) The wind whistled through the leaves.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 2) I love eating chocolate chip cookies.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 3) Her eyes were burning coals glistening in the
  dark night.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 4) The precocious girl popped her gum loudly.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 5) The smell of the pasta called my name.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 6) I called you a million times last night!

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 7) Her hair was as soft as silk.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 8) My head hurts so bad that it might explode!

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 9) After the boy threw it, the rock tap danced
  its way across the lake.

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Practice

• Identify the figurative language in each
  sentence
• 10) The children were angels when they were
  signing.