Post on 05-Jan-2016
Literary Devices
8th Grade Reading
Allegory
• A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor.
• Usually written in the form of fables, parables, poems, or stories
• Tells a story that has characters, a setting, and other types of symbols that have literal and figurative meaning
• Writers use allegory to add different layers of meanings to their works.
• Allegory makes their stories and characters multidimensional, so that they stand for something larger in meaning than what they literally stand for.
• Allegory allows writers to put forward their moral and political point of views.
Alliteration
• A pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds.
• Used to call attention to a phrase and fix it into the reader’s mind-emphasis
1.But a better butter makes a batter better.
• Remember it is not necessarily the letters but the letter sounds that are repeated.
Allusion
• A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.
• Allusions are often indirect or brief references to a well-known character or event.
• “Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is?”
• “Newton”, means a genius student, alludes to a famous scientist Isaac Newton.
Antagonist
• A character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works against the main character in some way.
• Doesn’t necessarily have to be a person could be (Evil, death, etc.)
• Just prevents the main character from having a “Happily Ever After”
• In the Batman series, Batman and Robbin are the “good guys” saving the world
• The antagonist could be a character like Joker
Ballad
• A narrative folk song.
• Ballads were created by common people and passed on orally due to the illiteracy of the Middle Ages.
• A traditional story that is passed down in simple language for others to understand
• The three little pigs could be an example
Character
• A person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature.
• They serve as the medium that readers interact with throughout the piece of literature
• Characters are the main things people remember about a story
Connotation
• An association that comes along with a particular word
• Connotation relates to the ideas or qualities that are implied by the word
• Example: Gold
• Connotations for gold could be greed or luxury
• NOT necessarily what gold means
Couplet
• A style of poetry defined as a complete thought written in two lines with rhyming ends
• Couplet means two
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see• So long as lives this, and this gives life to thee
Denotation
• The exact meaning of a word, without the feelings or suggestions that the word may imply.
• The opposite of “connotation”• Denotation is the Dictionary definition of the
words meaning
• Heart: an organ that circulates blood throughout the body. (Denotation)
• In context, people associate the word heart with love or heartache. (Connotation)
Dialogue
• The conversation between characters in a drama or narrative
• Often remembered as character conversations
Elegy
• A type of literature defined as a song or poem, written in couplets that expresses sorrow usually for someone who has died
• Often remembered as a “Eulogy”-spoken at a wake service for someone who has passed on
Figurative Language
• A type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly as they say.
• Most common types: Similes and Metaphors-discussed later
Flashback
• An interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence
• Allows the writer to present past events
during current events in order to provide background for the current narration
• Flashbacks can occur throughout the story or sometimes given at the end to wrap the story up and make sure the reader doesn’t miss the meaning of the story
Genre
• A type of literature
• Each story relates to a particular genre based on its characteristics
• Many types of genres
• Example:• The gothic genre often features things such as
supernatural elements and attempts to horrify the reader
• Historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, folktale, poetry, non-fiction, autobiography, biography, realistic fiction, and science fiction
Hyperbole
• An extravagant exaggeration.• A figure of speech that is a major exaggerated
description of a statement • Used to emphasize descriptions
Irony
• A literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem.
• Usually it is the EXACT opposite of what it appears to be
• I posted a video on YouTube about how boring and useless YouTube is.
• The name of Britain’s biggest dog was “Tiny”.• You laugh at a person who slipped stepping
on a banana peel and the next thing you know, you slipped too.
• The butter is as soft as a marble piece.• “Oh great! Now you have broken my new
camera.”
Lyric
• A lyric is a song-like poem written mainly to express feelings of emotions or thought from a particular person
• Generally these are short expressing vivid imagination as well as emotion and all flow fairly concisely
• Often times, you can think about music as music consists of lyrics written about a certain topic
Metaphor
• A type of figurative language in which a statement is made that says that one thing is something else but, literally it is not.
• A comparison NOT using like or as
1.My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
2.The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)
3. It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and life is going to be without hardships)
4.The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this implies that the coming times are going to be hard for him.)
5.Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel happy)
Motif
• A recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature
• Can be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil
• Allows one to see main points and themes that the author is trying to express, in order that one might be able to interpret the work more accurately
Myth
• Any story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is
• Myths are stories that are passed down from generation to generation and normally involve religion
Narrative
• A collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing
Narrator
• One who tells a story, the speaker or “voice” of an oral or written work
• Narrator is not usually the same person as the author• One of these types of narrators:
– Participant-protagonist or participant in any action in the story
– Observer- someone who is indirectly involved in the action of the story
– Non participant- one who is not at all involved in any action in the story
Parable
• A brief and often simple narrative that illustrates a moral or religious lesson
Persona
• The persona is the narrator, or storyteller, of a literary work created by the author
• The persona is not the author, but the author’s creation-the voice through which the author speaks
Personification
• A figure of speech where animals, ideas or inorganic objects are given human characteristics
• Example: animals being able to talk/walk
Point of View• A way of the events of a story are conveyed to the reader.• First Person-narrator is a character in the book
• Third Person Objective-narrator is outside of the story and can only report what he or she sees or hears
• Third Person Limited-narrator is outside of the story but can see into the mind of the characters
• Third Person Omniscient-omniscient means “ALL knowing” so this is when the narrator is outside of the story but can see into ALL aspects of the story
Protagonist
• Considered to be the main character or lead figure in a story
• Can also be referred to as the “hero” of the story
• Would be Batman in referring back to that example
Rhyme
• Repetition of and identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work
• Can be words that rhyme at the end of lines or words that rhyme within the line
Setting
• The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs
• Includes the background, atmosphere or environment in which the characters live in
Simile
• A simile is a type of figurative language that does not mean exactly what it says, that makes a comparison between two unlike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words “like” or “as”
• Our soldiers are as brave as lions.• Her cheeks are red like a rose.• He is as funny as a monkey.• The water well was as dry as a bone.• He is as cunning as a fox.
Short Story
• A prose narrative that is brief in nature
• Also has many of the same characteristics of a novel including characters, setting, and plot
• Sometimes the explanation of ideas is not as well-written as it should be due to the length of the story
Symbol
• A symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object
• The object can be seen with the eye or not visible
• Example: A dove stands for peace
Symbolism
• The use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense
• Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.• A ladder may stand as a symbol for a
connection between the heaven and the earth.• A broken mirror may symbolize separation
Theme
• A common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated throughout a literary work
• A thought or idea the author presents to the reader that may be deep, difficult to understand, or even moralistic
Imagery
• Means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that appeals to our physical sense
• It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images.
• The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. - “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.
Non-Fiction
• All of the information is based on true facts and is not made up