Northfield Academy, Inc.

Lucao District, Dagupan City

Supplementary Note in English 7

3.1

LITERARY DEVICES

Literary Devices are narrative techniques that add texture, energy and excitement to the narrative, grip the reader’s
imagination, and convey information.

I. Allegory
An allegory is a story that has two levels of meaning. First, there’s the surface of the story and this has the
plot, characters, and so on. Then, there is a second deeper or symbolic meaning which hints at a philosophy or
belief system. The objective of its use is to teach some kind of morals. Allegories are like massive metaphors and
personifications that are told through stories.

Examples in Literature:

1. Aesop Fables. These fables were originally part of an oral tradition in ancient Greece, and are credited
to an ancient Greek slave named Aesop. They are a collection of more than 600 fables, often aimed at
children that offer guidance on a wide variety of social, political, and religions topics. Aesop’s
Fables are allegory in the form of instructive lessons—stories that teach children how to behave and
what to value.
2. Animal Farm. In this farm fable, animals run a society that divides into factions and mirrors the rise of
Leon Trotsky and the Russian Revolution. The story can be read as a fable of farm animals running a
society, or it can be interpreted as the author’s criticism of communism.
3. The Little Prince. This story of the little prince and all the odd people he meets on his travels has charmed
the socks off kids for decades. Children love the characters and the story and the drawings. So, generally,
the surface level of this story is what appeals to kids. However, many, many adults have also fallen in love
with The Little Prince over the years, probably because it reminds them to pay attention to tiny, everyday
pleasures and beauty, and to make time for friends, and not to worry too much about ambition and fame
and money. Adult readers, then, have mostly enjoyed it for its deeper, symbolic meaning.

II. Flashback
Flashback is a scene that takes place before a story begins. Flashbacks interrupt the chronological
order of the main narrative to take a reader back in time to the past events in a character’s life. Flashback
devices that are commonly used are past narratives by characters, depictions and references of dreams and
memories wherein the author directly chooses to refer to a past occurrence by bringing it up in a straightforward
manner.

Examples in Literature:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. In the movie, Severus Snape’s life was shown before he was
killed. His life since he was still a student in Hogwarts until he became a professor and a confidante of
Dumbledore were all showed.
2. The Great Gatsby. The story started with the sentence ―In my younger and more vulnerable years my
father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my head ever since,” which depicts flashback.
3. The Little Prince. Just like the previous example, The Little Prince started the novel with ―When I was six
years old, I came across a beautiful picture in a book about the jungle called “True Stories.”
III. Foreshadowing

The literary device foreshadowing refers to the use of words or phrases that set the stage for the story to
unfold. It gives the reader a hint of something that is going to happen without revealing the story or spoiling the
suspense. Foreshadowing is used to suggest an upcoming outcome to the story.
Writers and storytellers utilize recurring symbols, motifs, and other elements as foreshadowing. Readers
and audiences often recognize these elements as hints of what might be to come in a story. Here are some
common examples of elements used as foreshadowing:

1. Dialogue, such as ―I have a bad feeling about this‖

2. Symbols, such as blood, certain colors, types of birds, weapons
3. Weather motifs, such as storm clouds, wind, rain, clearing skies
4. Omens, such as prophecies or broken mirror
5. Character reactions, such as apprehension, curiosity, secrecy
6. Settings, such as graveyard, battlefield, isolated path

IV. Irony

The definition of irony as a literary device is a situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and
reality. For example, the difference between what something appears to mean versus its literal meaning.
There are three kinds of irony in Literature: Verbal Irony, Dramatic Irony and Situational Irony.

Verbal irony occurs when a character says one thing, but means another. In the examples below, the
words that are used to convey verbal irony are marked in bold.
1. "I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
rather than Paris.― – Juliet (Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
2. ―It is so nice to see you here.‖ – Makar (God Sees the Truth but Waits by Leo Tolstoy
3. ―I am going to kill a rat.‖ – Youngest Rebel (The Pardoner’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer)

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more about what's going on than the characters. It can
create suspense as the audience waits to see if the characters will realize what’s happening before it’s too late.
Stories with an omniscient narrator often use dramatic irony as a literary technique.

Examples in Literature:

1. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo thought that Juliet is already dead, that was why he opted
to kill himself, but the readers are all aware that Juliet is just playing dead.
2. Tolstoy’s God Sees the Truth But Waits, the readers know that Ivan wasn’t the murderer but the
characters in the story aren’t aware of it.
3. Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale, the two rebels aren’t aware that the youngest rebel bought a
poison and pour it inside the wine, while the readers know it. The readers are also aware that the
two rebels are plotting to kill the youngest one, but the youngest is oblivious with it.

Situational irony occurs when something happens that is completely different from what was expected.
Usually, these instances incorporate some type of contradiction and a certain level of surprise or shock.

1. A hair stylist having a bad haircut (situational irony)

2. Skydiving instructor who's afraid of heights (situational irony)
3. Police station which has been robbed.
4. Fire station caught in fire.
 Examples in Literature:

1. For example, in O. Henry’s classic tale, The Gift of the Magi, a wife cuts off her long hair to sell it in
order to buy her husband a chain for his prized watch. Meanwhile, the husband has sold his watch
in order to buy his wife a comb for her hair. The situational irony comes from each person not
expecting to have their gift be undercut by the other’s actions.
2. In The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, a woman borrows what she thinks is a costly necklace from a
friend and loses it. She and her husband sacrifice to replace it, only to learn years later that the
necklace was a fake.

V. Symbolism

Symbolism is a literary device that uses symbols, be they words, people, marks, locations, or abstract
ideas to represent something beyond the literal meaning. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is
an object representing another, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant.
Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance,
―smile‖ is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the
feeling of affection which that person has for you.

In our daily life, we can easily identify objects that can be taken as examples of symbolism, such as the
following:

1. The dove is a symbol of peace.

2. A red rose, or the color red, stands for love or romance.
3. Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.
4. Sunrise symbolizes new start or beginning
5. Crown symbolizes wealth and royalty
6. A broken mirror may symbolize separation.