Literary Devices

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

Using non-abstract symbolism to represent an abstract concept

e.g. Hope is a ship in a raging storm

In literature, an allegory is when abstract concepts and ideas are represented through characters, figures and attempts

Question 2

Personification Allegory

Answer 2

When abstract ideas are personified in characters

Question 3

Personification

Answer 3

When human attributes are given to non-human objects

Question 4

Archetype

Answer 4

When characters, settings or plots are based off of famous, recurring qualities, traits and personalities

Question 5

Allusion

Answer 5

References to subject matter not present within text

E.g. He dressed like the Comte de Montesquiou

Question 6

Amplification

Answer 6

When a sentence is embellished with extra information (metaphor, imagery, etc) to elucidate meaning.

E.g. The ship was magnificent - a hulking goddess of solid steel and burnished bronze, polished wood and sturdy iron, shrouded in deep amaranthine smoke

Question 7

Analogy

Answer 7

Essentially an allegorical moral

E.g. As the flower will always wilt, death is inevitable

Question 8

Anastrophe

Answer 8

Switch the adjective and the noun for dramatic flair

e.g. A Curse Dark and Lonely

Question 9

Anecdote

Answer 9

A story from the personal life or related fact told for amusement or to drive a point home. They are factual as opposed to fictional.

E.g. I once killed a bear

Question 10

Anthropomorphism

Answer 10

Human qualities to non-human entity

E.g. the Sea in The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea

Question 11

Antithesis

Answer 11

Juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas:

E.g.Witch and witch hunter

Question 12

Aphorism

Answer 12

Short maxim

E.g. my way or the highway

Question 13

Authorial Intrusion

Answer 13

When a characterless narrator has a personality and voices it to the reader

E.g Lemony Snicket

Question 14

Asyndeton

Answer 14

Super super super succinct

Eg. Fuck, Rinse, Repeat

Question 15

Assonance

Answer 15

Vowel alliteration

Question 16

Consonance

Answer 16

Consonant Alliteration

Question 17

Bildungsroman

Answer 17

Character Development on Steroids

E.g. Lei from GoPaF

Question 18

Cacophony

Answer 18

Feels wrong when u read it out loud bcos nasty noises.

Oh damned, accursed be the wretch who made their sorry travel here

Question 19

Caesura

Answer 19

The dramatic dash:

In that moment, I didn’t know what I’d wanted to do to her - embrace her, kiss her, rape her - The Secret History.

Question 20

Chiasmus

Answer 20

The parallel reversal

The dog jumped but the jump was doggedt

Question 21

Circumlocution (Periphrasis)

Answer 21

Convoluted sentences. Overused in the Secret History

Question 22

Deux ex Machina

Answer 22

When the main character is unbelievably lucky - plot armour on steroids and is totally a contrived solution

E.g. Remember that one time Seungmins mom showed up to save Minmin

Question 23

Diction

Answer 23

Tone & Word Choice

Question 24

Ekphrasis

Answer 24

Describing art or objects to convey a hidden emotion or meaning.

E.g. Keats Ode to a Grecian Urn

Question 25

Epithet

Answer 25

….the…..

E.g. Alexander the great, nona the ninth, the amethyst dragon,

A title, basically

Question 26

Euphemism

Answer 26

When u reword to be a little less blunt: the birds and the bees, for example

Question 27

Euphony

Answer 27

Opposite of cacophony

Question 28

Foil

Answer 28

When characters are literal opposites to create meaning

Eg. Dumbledore and Voldemort

Question 29

Versimilitude

Answer 29

If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck…or not

Question 30

Synaesthesia

Answer 30

When you use one sense to describe another：smelt savoury, bitter cold, flowery music, melodious caress

Question 31

Synecdoche

Answer 31

Showing and not telling - a part to show a whole.

E.g. weary feet in the walk of life

Question 32

Portmanteu

Answer 32

When words fuck around.

E.g Spork, Liger, Smog

Question 33

Polysyndeton

Answer 33

You put more conjunctions:

E.g. Daisy and Henry and Alex