MUST KNOW LITERARY

DEVICES

THE KEY 17

1. Alliteration

2. Assonance

3. Simile

4. Metaphor

5. Tone

6. Mood

7. Stanza

8. Repetition

9. Rhyme

10. Free verse

11. Consonance

12. Onomatopoeia

13. Imagery

14. Personification

15. Hyperbole

16. Irony

17. Symbolism

ALLITERATION

The repetition of initial consonant

sounds.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.”

ASSONANCE

The repetition of internal vowel

sounds.

“The long song was so wrong.”

Note – “so” isn’t part of the example. Why?

To determine assonance you must remember that vowels have long

and short sounds. For example A makes the sounds ‘a’ as in ‘hay’, but

it also makes the sound ‘ah’ as in ‘paw’. Thus the ‘o’ in ‘song’ is

different from the ‘o’ sound in ‘so’.

Tip: Say the words aloud to ensure that the sounds are the same.

SIMILE

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using

‘like’ or ‘as’.

“She is as beautiful as a butterfly.”

METAPHOR

A comparison of two unlike things NOT using ‘like’ or

‘as’.

“The girl is a butterfly.”

Readers must use their knowledge of the girl and the

butterfly to understand the similarities.

TONE

The author’s attitude toward his or her subject.

For example, if the subject of the poem is violence, and the

author clearly is against violence then the tone of the poem is

that violence is an unnecessary evil.

MOOD

Mood is the way the audience feels about the poem.

Mood is closely related to tone, but it is not the

same thing.

For example, if the poem about violence makes the reader feel upset

and sad, then the poem has a sad mood.

STANZA

A group of lines of poetry is called a stanza. It is similar to a paragraph of prose. Here

are 2 stanzas from the poem “Warren Pryor”

When every pencil meant a sacrifice

his parents boarded him at school in town,

slaving to free him from the stony fields,

the meagre acreage that bore them down.

They blushed with pride when, at his graduation,

they watched him picking up the slender scroll,

his passport from the years of brutal toil

and lonely patience in a barren hole.

REPETITION

Repetition refers to any word that is repeated on the

same line of poetry.

“One, two! One, two! And through and through

his vorpal blade went snicker-snack.”

From “Jabberwocky”

RHYME

Words with similar sounds.

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.”

-- Dr. Seuss

FREE VERSE

A type of poem without rules regarding

rhyme, rhythm, or length.

CONSONANCE

The repetition of consonant sounds in 2 or more

words in a line.

“Vorpal sword”

“He struck some bad luck.”

ONOMATOPOEIA

Words that imitate sounds.

Buzz

Hiss

Boom

Meow

IMAGERY

Descriptive language that creates vivid sensory experiences that can

appeal to any of the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell.

PERSONIFICATION

Attributing human characteristics to non-human

objects.

“The trees danced in the mighty wind.”

HYPERBOLE

An extreme exaggeration.

“I’ve told you a million times to eat your vegetables.”

IRONY

There are 3 types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational.

Irony is the contrast of what was expected with what actually

occurred.

“Last night the fire station burned down.”

Also, see poem, “Richard Cory”

SYMBOLISM

A symbol is an object or idea that signifies more than just itself.

For example, a dove is a common symbol of peace, a rose is a

common symbol of love, etc.