Literary Devices

1. Literary Devices Ms Davis

2. Literary Devices • They are used to: • Convey meaning • Add beauty • Evoke emotions • Guide the reader/ listener • To create tone (the tone is the narrator’s attitude towards the events/ characters).

3. We use them everyday • Speech and writing would be very dull without literary devices.

4. A world without literary devices • A love song without any literary devices: • “I love you. You are pretty. You make me smile. I want to have sex with you.” Compare that to real love songs: • An insult without any literary devices: • “I don’t like you. You are not nice.”

5. Denotation and Connotation • Denotation: the explicit or direct meaning of a word or phrase. The primary meaning of a word phrase. • Example: “This is my home”– this is where I live. • Connotation: the implied or indirect meaning of a word or phrase. The secondary meaning of a word or phrase. • Example: “I am really at home here”– this is where I feel comfortable, accepted, where I want to stay for awhile.

6. Imagery • Writers often make their writing more vivid by using imagery. • Imagery appeals to any of the 5 senses. • No imagery: The house was by the lake.

7. Imagery appeals to the senses • Imagery: The little, white, ginger-bread trimmed cottage sat perched just feet from where the gently-lapping waves burbled over the pebbled shore. Next to the house were ancient pines and the cool wind off the lake made a quiet hushing sound when it blew through them. From the chimney came a smell of wood smoke and freshly baked bread.

8. Symbols Represent other things, have additional meaning beyond themselves. Can be national and public: e.g.: the maple leaf, a red light, a wedding ring Often depend upon culture: e.g. White: In Western Europe: innocence, purity In India: mourning Can be private: e.g. Neesa’s father is a baker. She kissed him goodbye and got on the bus to leave for college. On the handle of her bag, she noticed a large handprint in flour and she held back a tear.

9. Simile • Compares two things to make a direct connection about one quality they share. • Examples: as stubborn as a mule smart like a fox pretty as a picture faster than a speeding bullet

10. Similes point out one similarity

11. Metaphors Uses something familiar or tangible to represent something less familiar or intangible. example: my love is a rose hope is a bird An implicit comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.

12. Metaphors don’t tell you what qualities the two things have in common--this means they can carry more meaning and be more open to interpretation than similes

13. Simile vs. Metaphor Simile: The Honda Civic is as fast as a rocket. It is fast Metaphor: The Honda Civic is a rocket. It is fast It attracts attention It has good acceleration It is short-lived It is popular It is small

14. TTC: Ride the Rocket • It’s fast • It’s exciting • It’s a different way to travel

15. You are a firework

16. Parables and Fables • Like a metaphor, but extended into a very short story (usually) • Short, simple stories that illustrate a religious or ethical truth. • Each element of the story represents something else. • Fables have magical/ fantastic elements (usually talking animals) • Parables are realistic and about everyday events.

17. Example of a Fable • Once, a fox saw some beautiful grapes hanging on a vine. They looked delicious and her mouth watered at the thought of eating them. She jumped and jumped but could not reach them. “They were probably sour, anyway,” she said, and walked away.

18. The Fox and the Grapes

19. The Fox and the Grapes • What type of person does the fox represent? • What do the grapes represent? • What is the message of the fable?

20. Foreshadowing • Hints about what will happen later in the story. • You can only tell that something was foreshadowing after you know what happens in the plot. • Examples: The hero narrowly avoids getting hit by a car on the way to the doctor where he finds out he has cancer. • Foreshadowing prepares the reader for what is coming, gives it more emotional impact.

21. Irony • In fairy tales and romantic/ hero stories, the world makes sense– good is rewarded, etc. • Irony is about how the world doesn’t make sense to us. It points out how unfair things are, how hypocritical and foolish people are. • There are 3 main types:

22. 1. Dramatic Irony • We know more than the characters in the story. It highlights that the characters, like us, are limited in what they can know, are the victims of fate. • Examples: The babysitter goes into the basement, where we know the serial killer is waiting. Romeo kills himself, thinking Juliet is dead, but she isn’t.

23. 2. Verbal Irony • Saying the opposite of what one means. • Example: “That was brilliant,” Navdeep said after Anju dropped the dishes.

24. 3. Situational Irony • The opposite of what one expects to happen occurs. • Very familiar in shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons. • Remember– Irony shows the unfairness of fate and the hypocrisy of people. • Examples: The mayor of Springfield is crooked. Bart decides to do the right thing and that is when he gets punished. The one man who really loved the heroine is the one man she over-looked.

25. Pathetic Fallacy • In comedy, romance, and heroic stories, nature sympathises (pathos– feeling for) with the feelings of the hero. (This is a fallacy, an untrue argument, unfortunately) • Examples: It rains the day of the funeral, it is sunny the day of the wedding. The dog likes the good person and barks at the bad person. • Extreme examples: Snow White sings to the birds and they land on her arms. Cinderella is helped by the mice.

26. Personification • It refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals. • Example: “the cruel wind” “the wise owl”

27. Hyperbole • Exaggeration • “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times.” • “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”

28. Allusion • A reference to a place, event, or other work in a passing reference. The author assumes you can make the connection between the two things yourself. • “She puts Mother Teresa to shame with all of her volunteering.” • “Banff is the Mecca of the snowboarding world.” • “Algonquin park was Sanjay’s Garden of Eden.”

29. Sound literary devices • Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds. It makes it seem like the words go together naturally. “Tiny Talent Time” • Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds. “Kabob shop.” • Onomatopoeia: words that sound like what they represent. “The brook babbled playfully over the pebbles.”

30. Oxymoron– opposite words put together and yet still means something. • -- bitter sweet -- exquisite torture • Paradox-- contradictory but makes sense • -- We go quickly by going slow. • -- Men: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. • -- Live like you are dying. • Repetition– words repeated to give more impact.