Literary What is it?
Examples/ Where is it Effect
Device
Alliteration Same sound repeats in
groups of words -
repeating sounds occur
either in the first letter of
each word or in the
stressed syllables of those
words.
Allusion Unexplained reference to
someone/something
outside the text that is
commonly literary
works/famous
individuals/historical events
etc...
Anadiplosis When a word/phrase
located at the end of a
clause is repeated near the
beginning of the following
clause
Anapests Three-syllable metrical
pattern in poetry where two
unstressed syllable is
followed by a stressed
syllable
Anaphora Words repeat at the
beginning of successive
clauses, phrases or
sentences
commonly found?
Poetry/Prose/Marketing ● Emphasise particular phrases/feelings
● Mirror the ideas or events or feelings being
Bob brought box of described (e.g. ‘s’ is hissing - menacing but ‘l’ is
bricks to the basement liquidity and relaxing)
● Make writing feel merry, musical and
memorable
● Tends to ‘speed up’ the reading of poetry/prose
“Chocolate was her ● Create a sense of cultural kinship between
Achilles heel” reader and narrator as those who understand
the allusion can feel that they share the same
mind with narrator - shared experience
● Efficiently convey bigger ideas
● Deepen and enrich the meaning
● Humour
“When you love, love ● Persuasive effect
with all your heart” ● Creates a sense of urgency
● Give the prose a more natural sound, closer to
the way we speak
Used in poetry ● Galloping rhythm gives a natural jaunty and
buoyant feeling that helps the words flow freely
Un-der-stand (great for lighthearted/playful atmosphere)
“I have a dream” speech ● Emphasise the repeated words → more
memorable for the reader
● Express strong feelings
● Creates a rhythm
Anthropomorp Attribution of human
hism characteristics of human
characteristics, emotions
and behaviours to animals
or other non-human beings
NOT the same as
personification because in
anthropomorphism objects
literally do human things
like talking, falling in love
etc...]
Assonance Same vowel sound repeats
within a group of words
Asyndeton Words such as ‘and’, ‘or’,
‘but’ are omitted
“Who are you” said the ● Creates vivid/imaginative characters that
Caterpillar readers can relate to because they are more
human (we are less able to relate to inanimate
objects)
“I might like to take a ● Draw out the sonic quality of words and makes
flight to an island in the it more memorable
sky” ● Encourages continued attention and slows
down the reading process
● Repeated sound can resonate the meaning of
the line or evoke a particular emotion (e.g. ‘o’
sound seems low and unnerving)
“I expect my dog to chew ● Speed up the rhythm to make it more
my pillows, my cat to memorable/urgent
claw my furniture’ ● May convey excitement/distress
→ omits ‘and’ ● Lists that do not include conjunctions leave
open possibility that there is more elements →
activates the reader’s imagination and make
the series seem exhausting or infinite
● When conjunction is omitted, it makes all the
elements seem they exist on the same level →
create interesting comparisons
● Disrupt or maintain established rhythms to
capture the reader’s attention
● Give the text a musical quality to make it
memorable
● Eliminating a conjunction may add ambiguity to
 the text and establish a mysterious tone.

Cacophony Combination of words that “He grunted and in a ● Create feeling of distortion/disorientation →
sound harsh or unpleasant gruff voice said…” almost like reader entered another world
together ● Bring the situation to life and mirror the
ideas/events
● It makes use of connotative sounds to create
disgust, frustration, or interest in the reader

Caesura Pause that occurs within a To be, or not to be-- that ● Create dramatic pause
line of poetry is the question ● Emphasise previous, next line

Consonance Same consonant sound ‘Zach sneezed when he ● Increase sonic quality of words = more
repeats within a group of heard jazz music’ memorable
words ● Slowing down reading process because it
catches reader’s attention
● Resonate the meaning of the lines
● Create humour and can be ridiculous

Dactyl Three syllable metrical Po-e-try ● Suited to emphasis intense subject matters
pattern where one stressed
syllable is followed by two
unstressed syllables

Dramatic Irony The audience has The audience may shout ● Create tension and suspense
knowledge of some critical ‘don't go in there’ but ● Comedic effect
piece of information while character doesn't suspect ● Make the audience feel as though they are in a
the characters are in the anything privilege position of knowledge or
dark. understanding
● Make the audience feel helpless as they watch
the inevitable events roll out

Dynamic Character undergoes Walter in ‘A Raisin in the ● Make the story feel realistic as people change
Character substantial internal Sun’ a lot over the course of their loves → more
changes as a result of one sympathetic and relatable than static
or more plot developments characters
 ● Reveal more about the character

End Rhyme Rhymes that occur in the ‘And having none, yet I ● Emphasises the words
final words of lines of will keep ● Heightens rhythmic sense to make the poetry
poetry A heart to weep for thee’ more pleasing to listen to/more memorable

End Stopped Poetry that ends with some When he shall die, ● Give the line more weight
line form of punctuation ● Add a feeling of finality or certainty to the
language
● All pauses are doubly-accentuated through
punctuation and line breaks so it makes the
poem feel slower and heavier

Enjambment Continuation of a sentence I wonder, by my troth, ● Create a sense of anticipation in the poem
or clause across a line what thou and I/Did, till ● Create a sense of movement and flow and
break without terminating we loved? pushes the pace of the poem forwards
punctuation mark

Epizeuxis Word or phrase is repeated Words, words, words ● Usually forceful, vehement -> mirror rallying
in immediate succession cry
● Emphasises the repeated word
● Communicate despair
● For humor

Euphony Combining of words that So long as men can ● Make the language sound beautiful
sound pleasant together or breathe, or eyes can see ● Create a sense of musicality
are easy to pronounce

Extended Metaphor that unfolds ‘Life is a highway that ● Explain abstract concept in vivid and
metaphor across multiple line or even takes us through green memorable terms
paragraphs of text pastures, vast deserts,
and rocky mountains.
Sometimes your car
breaks down or you run
out of gas, and

Flat character Character that is
one-dimensional or lacking
in complexity
Foreshadowin Author hint at plot
g development that don't
actually occur until later in
the story
Free Verse Poetry that doesn't use any
strict meter or rhyme
scheme
Hubris Excessive pride or
overconfidence that leads
to person’s downfall
Hyperbole Writer exaggerates for the
sake of emphasis
Iamb One unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed
syllable
Imagery Descriptive writing that
engages human senses
(Visual - sight)
(auditory - hearing)
sometimes you get lost’
If you say in the first ● Increase a sense of mystery
chapter that there is a ● Builds up tension and suspense
rifle hanging on the wall,
in the second and third
chapter it absolutely must
go off
Poem ‘Caged bird’ ● Lack of rules/regulations convey freedom in
language → mirror themes of poem
● Makes the reader feel disturbed and unnerved
as it foreshadows a character’s downfall
● Makes the characters relatable because it adds
complexity and depth to characters that may
otherwise be seen as ‘perfect’ heroes
My backpack weighs a ● Adds emphasis
ton ● Conveys a character’s emotions vividly
(exasperation, frustration…)
‘De-fine’ ● Heartbeat rhythm
● Create a conversational tone
● Engage the reader’s imagination and brings
them into the story
● Set the scene
 (Olfactory - smell)
(Gustatory - taste)
(Tactile - touch)
Internal Rhyme that occurs in the
Rhyme middle of lines in poetry
Juxtaposition When the author places
two things side by side as
a way of highlighting their
differences
Metaphor Compares two different
things by saying that one
thing is the other
Metonymy Object or concept is
referred to not by its own
name, but instead by the
name of something closely
associated with it
Onomatopoeia Words evoke the actual
sound of the thing they
refer to or describe
Oxymoron Two contradictory terms or
ideas are intentionally
paired in order to make a
I drove myself to the lake
And dove into the water
Cinderella (good-natured
main character)
juxtaposed to cruel
step-sibling
Love is a battlefield
‘Head count’
‘Lend a hand’ - ‘hand’ is a
metonym for helping
Boom
Tick tock
Ding DOng
Proud humility
● Make it seem musical and song-like
● Increase the sense of rhythm of poetry
● Draw comparison between two ideas
● Create constant and highlight the differences
● Create an absurd or surprising effect
● Make one element stand out
● Bring differing perspectives together in one
story
● Make it memorable
● Communicate personal or imaginary
experiences in terms to which readers can
relate
● Make it sound fancy
● Suggest detachment
● Enhance the expressiveness of written
language to evoke the sounds and feeling of
real life
● Describe things with sound that are difficult to
convey in any other way
● Bring language to life → reader vividly
imagines the scene.
● Convey strong, opposing emotions that often
occur together
● Humour
 point
Situational Unexpected, paradoxical
irony or perverse turn of events
Verbal irony Literal meaning of what
someone says is different
from what they actually
mean
Parallelism Two or more elements of a
sentence have the same
grammatical structure
Pathetic Weather reflects the inner
Fallacy experience of a narrator or
other characters
Pathos Argument that appeals to
an audience’s emotions
Personification Non-human things are
described as having
human attributes
Polysyndeton Coordinating conjunctions
In “The Gift of the Magi’,
a young wife cuts her hair
in order to buy her
husband a chain for his
prized watch but the
husband sells his watch
to buy his wife a comb for
her beautiful hair.
After painful visit to the
dentist, someone says
‘Well, that was pleasant’
Give a man a fish, and
you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and
you feed him for a lifetime
Calm peaceful wind
The rain poured down on
the wedding guests,
indifferent to their plans
we ate roast beef and
● Demonstrates how human beings are always at
the mercy of an unpredictable universe
● Display one character’s sparkling wit
● Display another character’s thickheadedness
● Humour
● Intensify rhythm of language
● Draw comparison/emphasise and idea
● Repetition for emphasis
● Set the mood
● Imbue the environment with a certain emotional
quality
● Craft a vivid and compelling setting
● Evoke sympathy from the reader
● Persuade readers to support a desired clause
● Create memorable images with language
● grab the readers’ attention as well as their
emotional support because the reader has a
better connection with human rather than
objects
● Slow down the rhythm of a phrase and make it
 such as ‘and’ are used
several times in
succession
Refrain A line or group of lines that
regularly repeat, usually at
the end of a stanza in the
poem or at the end of a
verse in a song
Repetition A word or phrase is
repeated two or more
times
Rhetorical A question is asked for a
Question reason other than to get an
answer
Rhyme End rhymes are repeated
scheme in works of poetry
Sibilance Repetition of the ’s’ sound
squash and biscuits and more memorable because it emphasizes each
potatoes and corn and individual items on the list
chee. ● Makes the items seem to pile up, which gives
the reader a feeling of being overwhelmed
● Mimic everyday speech and flow of thought
● Communicate the intensity of the experience or
the urgency on an issue
● Disrupt established speech patterns and
capture the audience's attention
● Express of capture childlike exuberance
● Make a phrase more memorable
● Make a phrase or word more memorable
● Highlight the importance of a word or phrase
for emphasis
● Creates a natural rhythm
What would you do? ● To make the reader feel accused and alarmed
so they are provoked to think
● Draws in the reader and makes them feel
involved
● Makes language sound beautiful no
thoughtfully composed like music
● Increases the rhythm and musicality of poetry
Sam sold seven ● Give language a musical element and can help
venomous serpents to emphasize words that resonate with the main
Sally ideas
● Increases the sonic or musical quality of
words to make it memorable to the reader

Simile Directly compares two
unlike things using ‘like’ or
‘as’
Spondee Two syllable metrical
pattern in poetry where
both syllables are stressed
Symbolism Writer uses one thing
(usually a physical object
or phenomenon) to
represent something more
abstract
Trochee Two syllable metrical
pattern in poetry where a
stressed syllable is
followed by an unstressed
syllable
Understateme Something is expressed
nt less strongly than would be
expected
● Hissing sound that appears disturbing to the
reader
I slept like a log ● Create memorable images with language
Down-town ● Appear usually as a irregular feet in poem
where the meter is something else → creates
emphasis
● Highlight moments of crisis/when the speaker
is in a state of heightened emotion
Plant symbolises family ● Help readers visualize complex concepts
deferred dreams in ‘A ● Invite the readers to interpret a text
Raisin in the Sun’ independently rather than be directly told what
the author means
Po-et ● Associated with the action of running/rolling
and has a cascading effect
● Strong forward momentum making the meter
feel incessant (continue without pause or
interruption)
● Falling rhythm makes it seem mournful →
particularly suited to texts with grim subjects
If you had eaten delicious ● Humorous
meal, you may tell the ● Call attention to the way in which a character is
chef ‘it was edible’ modest or polite
● Allow the reader to interpret the exact
impact/meaning themselves