Ma. Lourdes G.

Olegario
Instructor
What are Literary Devices?

Literary devices are techniques

writers use to engage their readers
beyond the literal meaning of the
text.
When employed properly, the
different literary devices help
readers to appreciate, interpret and
analyze a literary work.
Some common literary devices:

1. Hyperbole 7. Metaphor
2. Imagery 8. Personification
3. Oxymoron 9. Irony
4. Repetition 10. Onomatopoeia
5. Simile 11. Paradox
6. Symbolism
 HYPERBOLE
involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of
emphasis.
Example:
From W.H Audens poem As I Walked
One Evening,

Ill love you, dear, Ill love you

Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
Ill love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
 IMAGERY
to use descriptive words or phrases that appeal
to the 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and
smell- creating a picture in the readers mind.
the author uses words and phrases to create
mental images for the reader
Examples:

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.
He whiffed the aroma of brewed
coffee. whiff and aroma evoke
our sense of ______.

The girl ran her hands on a soft satin

fabric. The idea of soft in this
example appeals to our sense of _____.

The fresh and juicy orange is very

cold and sweet. juicy and sweet
when associated with oranges have an
effect on our sense of ____.
Below is an example of an effective use of imagery
from E.B. Whites Once More to the Lake:
When the others went swimming my son said he
was going in, too. He pulled his dripping trunks
from the line where they had hung all through the
shower and wrung them out. Languidly, and with
no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard
little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly
as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy,
icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt,
suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.

The images depicting the dampness of

clothes, in the above lines, convey a sense of
chilly sensation that we get from wet clothes.
 SIMILE
refers to the practice of drawing parallels or
comparisons between two unrelated and
dissimilar things, people, beings, places, and
concepts
marked by the use of the words as or such as
or like
Examples:
I would have given anything for the power to soothe
her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible
ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel
wires of a cage.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high oer vales and hills.
 METAPHOR
Metaphors make a comparison between two
things, objects, people, or even feelings.
This comparison is often hidden, but can
sometimes be quite obvious, depending on the
intent of the author.
Example from the Bible:

Jesus said to them, I am the bread

of life; he who comes to me will not
hunger, and he who believes in me
will never thirst. John 6:35
 METAPHOR
Examples:

Cause, baby, youre a firework

Come on, show em what youre
worth
- Katy Perry

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,
And sings the tunewithout the words,
And never stops at all,
- Emily Dickinson
Oral Drill: Identify whether the ff passages are
simile or metaphor:

1. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all

cans on the grocery store shelves. Simile

2. As the teacher entered the room she muttered

under her breath, This class is like a three-ring
circus.
Simile

3. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head

upon it after a long day.

Metaphor
4. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the
dogs bath.
Metaphor

5. Your eyes are like the stars at night

They shine bright like a million fireflies.

Simile

6. Life is a mountain, filled with switchbacks and

rock slides and few straight paths to the top.

Metaphor
 OXYMORON
a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined
to create an effect
the common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an
adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings,
e.g. cruel kindness or living death
the contrasting words/phrases are not always glued
together. The contrasting ideas may be spaced out in a
sentence, e.g. In order to lead, you must walk behind.
Examples:

Open secret
Tragic comedy
Seriously funny
Awfully pretty
Foolish wisdom
Original copies
Liquid gas
Below is an example of oxymoron from Tennyson's
"Lancelot and Elaine"

Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!

O anything, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
 REPETITION
Repetition is a literary device that repeats the
same words or phrases a few times to make an
idea clearer.
Example:

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,

And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the
famous Mister Ed.
 SYMBOLISM
the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving
them symbolic meanings that are different from their
literal sense
not necessarily objects, but also actions, events, or words
spoken by someone may have a symbolic value
Example:
All the worlds a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
they have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

The above lines are symbolic of the fact that

men and women, in course of their life perform
different roles. A stage here symbolizes the
world and players is a symbol for human
beings.
 SYMBOLISM
Example:
In the spring, I asked the daisies
If his words were true,
And the clever, clear-eyed daisies
Always knew.
Now the fields are brown and barren,
Bitter autumn blows,
And of all the stupid asters
Not one knows.

In the above lines, spring and daisies

are symbols of youth. Brown and barren
are symbols of transition from youth to
old age. Bitter autumn symbolizes death.
 PERSONIFICATION
a thing, an idea or an animal is given human
attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed
in such a way that we feel they have the ability to
act like human beings.
Example:
 IRONY
words are used in such a way that their intended
meaning is different from the actual meaning of
the words
it is a difference between the appearance and
the reality
Example:
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
 PARADOX
a statement that appears to be self-
contradictory or silly but may include a latent
truth
it is also used to illustrate an opinion or
statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas
Examples:

I know that I know nothing at all.

- Socrates

I must be cruel to be kind.

- Hamlet
 ONOMATOPOEIA
a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a
thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the
thing described, making the description more
expressive and interesting.
Examples:
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark!
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting
chanticleer
Cry, cock-a-diddle-dow!'