Ben Bethers

IB English
Moosman Period 2
September 27, 2022

Literary Devices and Definitions

Periodic Sentence: When you get the main clause of the sentence at the end
Ex: “I couldn’t wait any longer, I went to sleep”

Cumulative Sentence: An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions,

phrases or clauses, that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea
Ex: “He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them--a quick shake,
fingers down, like the fingers of a pianist above the keys”

Coloquelism: The way people speak, where ever they are from

Conceit: A comparison between two very unlikely things

Ex: “Catching a fish is like riding a bicycle”

Allegory: An extended metaphor, in which everything stands for something else

Ex: Animal Farm and the rise of the Soviet Union

Invectives: The use of harsh or strong language

Ex: Swearing

Verisimilitude: When an author tries to have their work mirror real life, links to realism

Denotation: The standard definition of a word that you might find in a dictionary
Ex: Dictionary definitions

Connotation: The implications that come with a word

Ex: Calling a woman a girl would have a very negative connotation, immature and
irresponsible connotation

Ellipsis: The sign “...” that indicates that there is a continuation

Euphemism: Using less potent words in order to be less blunt

Ex: Using the restroom instead of defecation
Litotes: Going so far in the other direction of meaning that it is obvious that it is not true and it is
telling the truth
Ex: “It’s not exactly chilly outside” when it is blazing hot outside

Tautology: Being redundant and repetitions in relatively close succession, used by authors for
emphasis
Ex: “I died, I ceased to be, its over”

Metonymy: When you use a think that is related to something in order to represent the thing
itself
Ex: “Word came from the White House” to say “Word came from the presidential
administration”

Synecdoche: A form of metonymy where you use the part to represent the whole
Ex: “Take your hand in marriage” to represent marrying the whole person

Non Sequitur: When you respond in a way that does not connect with the thing that came before,
does not follow
Ex: “Let’s go to lunch” followed by “I don’t know what to do with my hair”

Epiphany: A eureka moment, a great surprise where everything becomes clear

Ex: The detective in a mystery novel has a revelation about who the murder is

Epitaph: Something written on a tombstone

Eulogy: A speech given at a funeral

Elegy: A poem written about someone that has died

Syllepsis (Zeugma): When you have a sentence in which one part of speech is connected to a
part of speech in a sentence that have divergent meetings
Ex: “She closed the door and her mind”

Deductive Reasoning: Using general and blanket statements to get to a specific case
Ex: “All cats purrs when they are pet, therefore my cat purrs when she is pet”

Inductive Reasoning: Using a specific case to get a blanket statement, usually faulty
Ex: “My cat purrs when she is pet and therefore all cats purr when they are pet

Parallelism: When there are repeated grammatical structure, also known as parallel structure
 Ex: “The Pool Players” poem
Motif: A recurring theme in a story
Ex: Lying is a recurring theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Pedantic: A boring form of giving lectures