Literary Tools

plot diagram

Paradox

Definition: a statement whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought.

"They have ears but hear not.“ "Deep down he's really very

shallow." Paradox attracts the reader's or the

listener's attention and gives emphasis.

oxymoron

apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

"A yawn may be defined as a silent yell."(G.K. Chesterton)

Motif (leitmotif)

A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it

can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.

Weather in The Great Gatsby

Parody

Conan O’Briena humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing: his hilarious parody of Hamlet's soliloquy.

Synecdoche

a part is used to represent the whole

"Take thy face hence."(William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

Pun

A play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words.

"Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight"

(Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night")

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

(Groucho Marx)

Metonymy

one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

"The B.L.T. left without paying."(waitress referring to a customer)

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is exaggeration. It puts a picture into the "reader" mind. Hyperbole is frequently used in humorous writing.

It's a slow burg—I spent a couple of weeks there one day.

—Carl Sandburg, "The People, Yes"

Onomatopoeia--The use of words to imitate sounds is called onomatopoeia.

Cynthia in the Snow It SHUSHES

It hushesThe loudness in the road.It flitter-twitters,And laughs away from me.It laughs a lovely whiteness,And whitely whirs away,To beSome otherwhere,Still white as milk or shirts,So beautiful it hurts.

--Gwendolyn Brooks

invective

As defined in our glossary, invective is language that denounces or casts blame on somebody or something. That language is often highly abusive and sometimes witty.

Shakespeare Insult Kit

Conceit

An extended metaphor—

Identity

Analogy

Rather than a figure of speech, an analogy is more of a logical argument.

demonstrate how two things are alike pointing out shared characteristics

Shakespeare’s Language

Translating Elizabethan English Shakespearean Syntax Common Expressions