University Cheikh Amoud Ben Mokhtar

_ILLIZI
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Department of English

Level: L1
Lecturer: Dr Hamel.F
 A literary device is a tool used by writers to produce
a larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story, a
poem or piece of writing. There are many styles of
literary devices, each serving a different purpose.
 Figurative Speech: a form of expression used to
covey the meaning of a given literary text by
comparing or identifying one thing with another. It
makes the sense of the sentence deeper and leaves the
reader with a sense of wonder.

 Structure: is a literary device that turns words and

sentences into a story. It controls the major elements of
a story.
 Simile Irony
 Metaphor Paradox
 Personification Pun
 Metonymy

 Onomatopoeia

 Refrain

 Apostrophe

 Hyperbole
 A simile is a comparision between two things using
«like » or « as ». In a simile we have Tenor, Vehicle,
Instrument and aspect of similarity.
 E.g.,
 She is beautiful like a rose.
 She walked like a deer in the road.
 You are as brave as a lion
 Metaphor is a comparison between two things that
are otherwise unrelated.

 E.g.,
 “The Stars are dancing”
 “You are my sun”
 “ All the world is a stage and all men and women
merely players” W. Shakespear.
 Personification is a technique of figurative language
that gives non-human subjects with human
characteristics.
 E.g.,

 The story jumped off the page.

 “And this same flower that smiles today. Tomorrow

will be dying”. Robert Herrick
 Is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing
with the name of something else which is closely
associated.

 E.g.,
 Lend me your ears
 The White House declared ….
 We will swear loyalty to the crown
 My dear, you have all of my heart
Is a type of word that sounds like
what it describes.

 E.g.,

 The hiss of a snake

 “ She was alone at home and suddenly heard knock,
knock. who is there?

 In poetry, a refrain is a word, line or phrase that is
repeated within the lines or stanzas of the poem
itself.
 As a literary device, apostrophe refers to a speech or
talk to a person who is not present or to a
personified object.

 E.g.,

 “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

 W. Shakespeare
 “Death be not proud” John Donne
 a way of speaking or writing that makes someone or
something sound much bigger, better, smaller, worse,
more unusual, etc. exaggerated way of describing
something.

 E.g.,
 She cries rivers of tears.
 I’m dying to know the answer.
 Irony is the use of words that mean the opposite of
what you really think.

 E.g.,

 “If it were a cold, rainy gray day, you might say,

What a beautiful day!”
 A pilot has fears of heights.
 The police station get robbed.
 Is a situation or statement that seems impossible or is
difficult to understand because it contains two opposite
facts or characteristics.

 E.g.,
 "Men work together whether they work together or
apart." - Robert Frost.
 If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing.
 This is the beginning of the end.
 An amuse way to use a word or phrase that has several
meanings or that sounds like another word. The author
of a pun uses language in a novel, surprising, and often
humorous way.

 E.g.,
 “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” —Mark Twain
(Instead of The Nile)
 “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave
man” W. Shakespeare