Literary Devices

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Example: You are the light of my life

A warning or dictation of the future for the viewers

Stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets. Day after day, a vast heavy veil had been driving over London from the East, and it drove still, as if in the East there were an Eternity of cloud and wind. So furious had been the gusts, that high buildings in town had had the lead stripped off their roofs; and in the country, trees had been torn up, and sails of windmills carried away; and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death. Violent blasts of rain had accompanied these rages of wind, and the day just closed as I sat down to read had been the worst of all.

An interruption of the chronological sequence (as of a film or literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence

Example: As he fell looked down he remembered himself as a child falling down a slide 3 meters tall

An exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis

Example: He is as big as the empire state building

When describing the events of her story, an author never has just one word at her disposal.

Example: At lunch I punched John, At lunch I kicked John, At lunch I elbowed John

Where two or more words in a phrase or line of poetry share the same beginning sound

Example: Slip and Slide

Visually descriptive or figurative language especially descriptive or figurative language

Example: I could hear the popping and crackling as mom dropped the bacon into the frying pan, and soon the salty, greasy smell wafted toward me.

a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance

Example: This place is like a Garden of Eden

A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Example: All I know is that I know nothing

A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words.

Example: This was not typed out

Using indirect comparison, like using "like" or "as" as verbal clues

Example: He is as strong as an elephant