Literary Devices

Notes

Literary Devices

Simile Comparison between two unlike things that uses

the words like or as. When writers say that one thing is like another,

they are using a simile. Writers often create special effects and paint

"word pictures" using similes. Ex. “The moon, as bright as lustrous pearl, hangs high

in the western sky.” Ex. “My care is like my shadow in the sun - follows me

flying - flies when I pursue.”

Literary Devices

Metaphor Comparison between two unlike things by describing one thing in

terms of another. Metaphors don't say that one thing is like another. Instead, they

say that one thing is another thing. Some metaphors are directly stated / others are implied.

Ex. “What you are holding is in reality no book, nor part of a book; It is a man, flushed, and full-blooded - it is I..”

(This metaphor is directly stated. In this metaphor, Walt Whitman compares a book he wrote to his own flesh and blood.)

Ex. “This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.”

(This metaphor is implied. In this metaphor, William Shakespeare compares deepening love to a

blooming flower.)

Literary Devices

Personification Compares abstract ideas, animals, or inanimate objects to people or

people's actions. (Giving human-like qualities to something nonhuman.) Personification is a common and powerful type of metaphor. (By giving

nonhuman things human attributes, the writer makes it easier for the reader to become emotionally involved in the writing.) Children do this all the time...giving a doll or a teddy bear a mind, voice, etc.

Ex. “And the meeting-house windows, black and bare, gaze at him with spectral glare.”

(Here, Henry Longfellow, compares a building's windows to ghostly eyes.)

Ex. “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders...”

(In this line, Carl Sandburg gives the city of Chicago a series of human attributes.)

Literary Devices

Hyperbole Statement that is exaggerated or greatly

overstated. "I've said it a million times!" "The song went on forever." "The sky's the limit!“

Ex. “A million suns shone out for every star. The winds rushed in from outer space, roaring in my ears, "America! America!"

Ex. “Sweet childish days, that were as long as twenty days are now.”

Notes Practice - Label each of the following literary devices.

1. The exhausted detective slept like a baby the night his crime had been solved.

2. I’ve read this book a million times! 3. The time sped by as if on wings of an eagle.4. The walls of the dungeon laughed mockingly as the girl

realized she must leave without the treasure she had hoped to find.

5. “You’re a treasure!” exclaimed Jennifer. 6. Looking for the missing assignment in Leah’s locker was like

trying to find a needle in a haystack. 7. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this hand.8. The clouds are crying. 9. He looks like a pig! 10. The dark clouds grumbled an angry threat at the wandering

trio.