Literary Devices & Figures of Speech 101

(+ PDF)
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND OTHER LITERARY TERMS

Figures of Speech or Literary devices refer to the use of language (constructions,

statements etc.) in ways that are unusual or special.

These expressions are different from  the way we ordinarily use language.

Example: 1. A: Ordinary Usage:

I fell asleep at 10:00 pm

2. B: Special/Unusual Usage:

Sleep paid me a visit at 10:00 pm.

‘B’ therefore contains a figure of speech. Can you name it? The collective term
used for them is Imagery.
Speakers or writers use figures of speech or literary devices to make the ideas they
want to put across more striking and effective.

METAPHOR: A figure of speech in which a direct comparison is made between

two unlike things without the use of ‘like’ or ‘as’
Example 1: They looked at us with stony eyes. 2. The memory of my blood

3. The necklaces of laughter 4. Beyond the snows of yesterday

5. Days sparkling with ever-new joys

 SETTING: The place, time or atmosphere within which a story or play occurs

PLOT: The sequence of causes and effects of events in a novel or play
IRONY (VERBAL IRONY): where there is a difference between what is said and
what is really meant. Example: 1. My enemies shall continue to prosper.
BALLAD: Definition: Refer to page 16.
Example: The owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat

They took some honey, and plenty of money

Wrapped in a five-pound note

The owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar

“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love

What a beautiful Pussy you are

You are You are

What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

SATIRE: A literary work which reveals, ridicules and criticizes bad things
in society in order to reform the society for the better.
Example: i. A Man of the People

ii. The Beautiful Ones are Not Yet Born

iii. Anthills of the Savannah

iv. Money Galore

RHYTHM: The musical movement of the lines of poetry found in its metre, stress

pattern, punctuation and rhyme.
SONNET: The poem of fourteen lines usually with a predetermined rhyme
scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, and gg. The first eight lines are called Octave and the
last six lines, Sestet. Where the last two lines rhyme, they are called a Couplet.
DIDACTIC LITERATURE: A work of art which teaches a moral lesson
ALLITERATION: The repetition of similar initial consonants in a work of art.
Example: i. The cane cracked on the caked khaki

ii. Stand silent

iii. Bitter bile

iv. Drawn drips

EPILOGUE: The final statement (coming at the end) in a work of art.

PROLOGUE: The introductory statement (coming at the beginning) in a work of
art. In drama, the prologue is usually played by a CHORUS
ROMANCE: A work of art filled with intense feelings of excitement, intrigue and
suspense.
Example: Don Quixote

COMIC RELIEF: A point of humour in a tragedy

CONFLICT: the struggle between opposing forces in a work of art. Conflict is an
important ingredient in any piece of good literature.
POETIC JUSTICE: When bad or evil is punished and good triumphs (is
rewarded)
OXYMORON: The use of two usually opposite terms, close to each other in a
brief expression.
English Conversation About Art
Video Player is loading.

Example: i. Most foul, most fair

ii. Pure impiety

iii. Impious purity

iv. Friendly enemy

v. Bittersweet

vi. Harmless lion

vii. Pregnant virgin

1. KINESTHETIC IMAGERY: Imagery depicting movement or action.

Example: i. The water crawled feebly into the next hole
ii. She grabbed it with the speed of lightning.

1. AUDITORY IMAGERY: Imagery associated with hearing.

Example: i. They booed us every time we performed

ii. There was a loud silence in the room.

VISUAL IMAGERY: Imagery appealing to the reader’s or listener’s sense

of sight.
TACTILE IMAGERY: Imagery appealing to our sense of touch
Example: i. This kind of news can only pierce a man’s heart like a spear.

OLFACTORY IMAGERY: Imagery evoking the reader’s sense of smell.

Example: i. Her beauty filled the room like the fragrance of French lavender.

EPIC: A long narrative poem recounting the great deeds of heroic or supernatural
figures of history.
TRAGIC FLAW (HARMATIA): The weakness or failing in an otherwise great
character which causes his downfall.
REVERSAL: A change in the fortunes of tragic hero from happiness to sadness.
HYPERBOLE: An exaggerated statement or an over statement.
Example: At his birth, the earth stood still.

 LITOTES: Making a point in the affirmative by using two negative terms.

It is also called an understatement
Example: i. It is not uncommon to find facts strange.
ii. I am a member of no unimportant family
 EUPHEMISM: Speaking of a whole by using just a part of it to represent
it. (Part to represent a whole). Synecdoche is used mostly with parts of the
human body.
Example: i. Senior citizen FOR Very Old Person

ii. Pass away FOR: Die

SYNECDOCHE: Speaking of a whole by using just a part of it to

represent it. (Part to represent a whole). Synecdoche is used mostly with
parts of the human body.
Example: i. All hands on deck (Everybody must work).
ii. She has many mouths to feed (many people)
 METHONYMY: Speaking of something by using the name of
something closely associated with it. (Usually objects)
Example: i. The crown = The king/queen or monarch
ii. The bottle = Alcoholic drinks
ii. The rod = Punishment or discipline
 FARCE: An extremely funny, hilarious play with elements of absurdity or
abnormality
BURLESQUE is another term used to describe such plays.
 REVELLERS: A group of unruly, usually drunk characters engaged in acts
of immorality and extreme joy.
 ORGY: A sense of excessive bloodshed or sexual acts involving many
people.
 ALTERNATE RHYME: A rhyming pattern (scheme) with first line
rhyming with the third, the second with the fourth etc. i.e. abab etc.
Example: Those who live through pain

      And have their blood shed

     Shall have so much gain

     When their victories are read.

SECONDARY TEXT: The part of a play usually written in italics or

parentheses and directing the actions of characters or describing the setting.
 FICTION: An imaginary long narrative story. It is also called PROSE or
NOVEL.
Example: i. The Ancestral Sacrifice

ii. Anthills of the Savannah

 AUTOBIOGRAPHY: A life story written by the person himself and

usually in the first person narrative voice.
 BIOGRAPHY: The life story of a person written by another person.
 TRAGIC HERO:  The main character in a tragedy. He is usually a person
of a high social status who uses lofty, poetic language but has a human
failing (tragic flaw).
 SYLLABLE: The linguistic unit on which stress is put or not put in poetry
and other forms of expression.
Example: today(2 syllables) “to” is unstressed and “day” is stressed.
 FOOT: A metrical unit in poetry. It may consist of one stressed and one
unstressed syllable, two stressed and one unstressed syllable etc
Example: I vow\ to thee\ my country = 3 feet

PARODY: An exaggerated imitation, which ridicules another work in a

harsh manner.
 PERSONA: The speaking voice in a poem. Usually, the persona is
considered as distinct from the poet\writer.
 ROUND CHARACTER: A character who changes and develops as the
story progresses. He or she is also called a multi-dimensional character.
 FLAT CHARACTER: A character who does not change or develop much
in a story. – a mono-dimensional character. Such a character may also be
referred to a stereotype. 
 SIMILE: It is comparison between two things or persons that are similar in
one point and otherwise dissimilar. It is usually introduced by such words as
‘like’, ‘as’, ‘so’, e.g.
 “A room without books is like a body without a soul”
 “Great men stand like a solitary tower
 “Baaba ran as fast as a horse in the race.
 MIXED METAPHOR/CONFUSED METAPHOR: Two or more
different metaphors used in the same sentence with reference to the same
subject. e.g. He was fishing for his heart and a long search reached his goal.
 ANTITHESIS: This results when opposites or contrasts are employed in the
same sentence usually to emphasize a point.
Example

 Man proposes, God disposes

 Speech is silver but silence is Gold
 They speak like saints and act like devils.
 PARADOX: It is a statement, which seems absurd at first sight and yet
proves to be true on second thought. Example
 The child is the father of the man
 Cowards die many times before their death
 The greeter the fool, the better the dancer.
 ANTI-CLIMAX OR BATHOS: It is the opposite of climax consisting in a
descent from a higher level to lesser heights, the intensity or importance
weakening instead of increasing toward the end e.g. He lost his wife, his
child, his household, goods and his dog at one swoop of fate”
 TRANSFERRED EPITHET: An epithet sometimes transferred from its
proper words, to another that is closely associated with it. In the sentence the
qualifying adjective is transferred from a person to things e.g.
 The ploughman homeward ploughs his weary way
 He lay all night on a sleepless pillow
 PUN OR PARONOMASIA: The use of words of the same sound with
different meaning for the sake of humour.
Example:

Dreamers often lie

Yes, they lie in bed as they dream

ECHOISM/ONOMATOPOEIA: It is the use of words whose sounds naturally

suggest their meaning. e.g.
I bring fresh showers for the thirsty flowers
The arrow whizzed through the air
ALLITERATION/CONSONANCE: It is the repetition of the same initial
consonant in several words near one another e.g.
Full fathom five their father lies

After life, fitful fever he sleeps well

Peter piper picked a peck of pickle pepper

INVERSION: It is a change in the natural or usual order of words for the sake of
effect or emphasis. Compare the two statements below:
“I will go to Akatsi tomorrow”

To Akatsi tomorrow will I go (inversion)

SETTING: It refers to the place (location) where an actions and events in

the story come. It is the sequence of events in a play or Novel.
 IAMBUS (LIMBIC METRE): One unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed one in poetry.
Example: – / – / – / –

1. I vow to thee my country

 2. To you we owe the sea
3. THEME: The underlying message in a work of art.  Love, hate,
materialism, corruption, politics, etc
Example: Chume: Forgive us all

Congregation: Amen

Chume: Forgive us all

(And the, punctuated regularly with Amens)

Yes Father, make you forgive us all. Make you save us from palaver.

Save us from trouble at home. Tell our wives not to give us trouble …..

(The penitent has become placid. She is stretched out flat on the ground)

… Give us money to satisfy our daily necessities. Make you no forget those of

us who dey struggle daily.  Those who be clerk today, make them chief clerk
tomorrow. Those who are messengers today, make them senior service tomorrow
…….

(The Amens grew more and more ecstatic)

Those who are petty trader today, make them big contractor tomorrow. Those who
dey sweep street today, give them their own big office tomorrow. It we de walka
today, give us our own bicycle tomorrow. I say those who dey walka today, give
them their own bicycle tomorrow. Those who have bicycle today, they will ride
their own car tomorrow.

(The enthusiasm of the response becomes, at this point quite overpowering) I say
those who day push bicycle; give them big car big car tomorrow. Give them big
car tomorrow. Give them big car tomorrow, give them big car tomorrow.

One theme of this extract is materialism.

“My people, I have been somewhere
If I turn here, the rain beats me

If I turn there the sun burns me

The firewood of this world

Is for only those who can take heart

That is why not all can gather it ……”

The theme of this extract is suffering

SOLILOQUY: A character’s speech to himself, which reveals his motives,

and state of mind.
 PERSONIFICATION (PROSOPOPEIA): giving human attributes or
characteristics to inanimate, lifeless objects or animals or abstract ideas.
Example:

1.
Cruel wishes entered him, departed and entered again
2.
The sun rose from his bed
3.
The engine coughed twice
4.
PASTORAL POETRY: It is about simple, rural life (life in the
countryside) especially of shepherds.
Example: “Michael” by William Wordsworth

 SUSPENSE: When a reader is kept in a state of high expectancy, eager to

know what will happen next.
Example: In English, my name means hope. In Spanish, it means too many letters.
It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is
the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when his shaving, songs
like sobbing.

By delaying the disclosure of the narrator’s name, the writer has used the
literary technique known as suspense  
 ALLUSION: The reference to issues that re outside the literary work being
studied.
Example: A Daniel has come into judgment i.e. Biblical Allusion by Shylock
in The MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare.
 CLIMAX: The crisis stage in a series of events in a story or play.
 APOSTROPHE: An address to an imaginary person or object as if they
were present, usually in poetry.
Example: You my ancestors, come to my aid

 ELEGY: Poetry meant to praise somebody or something.

 DIRGE: A song meant for mourning the dead.
 TRAGEDY: A play in which there occurs a sudden change (reversal) in the
hero’s fortunes from  happiness to disaster. It ends sadly
Example: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, The
Gods Are Not To Blame By Ola Rotimi.

 COMEDY: A play whose characters are usually low or middle class

citizens, bringing out their follies and weaknesses in an amusing but
educative manner.
Example: Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi And The Trials Of
Brother Jero.

MIME: acting without speech but demonstrating with gesture, bodily

movement and facial expression.
 MIMICRY: imitating gestures, speech of others especially in drama.
 ASSONANCE: A type of rhyme pattern in which there is repetition of
similar middle vowels.
Example: i. Your name remains in frames of gold

ii. Tall walls fall mightily

RHYME:  sameness of sounds especially in the last syllable of words in

line endings of poetry Example:  time/clime keep/reap
 STANZA: A division of a poem of song.
 CHAPTER: major division of prose.
 PARAGRAPH: A sub-division of chapter.
 FREE VERSE: A poem of irregular and unpredictable line – lengths.
Example: A plea for Mercy by Kwesi Brew.

 BLANK VERSE: Unrhymed five-foot iambic poetry

 HEROIC COUPLETS: Successive five –foot iambic lines rhyming in pairs
 ASIDE: A statement made by an actor on stage but not meant to be heard by
the other actors but which may be heard by the audience.
 EPITAPH: An inscription on a tombstone
Example: Your Life Was A blessing To Us

POLY-SYLLABIC WORD: A word containing only one syllable.

Example: argument, examination.

 MONO-SYLLABIC WORD: A word containing only one syllable.

go, bed, sun

POINT OF VIEW: The angle from which the narrator sees and narrates
events.
 FIRST PERSON NARRATOR: A person who narrates a story in which he
takes an active part. He uses the pronoun, “I” a lot. He may be biased and
subjective.
 THIRD PERSON (OMNISCIENT) NARRATOR: A narrator who is not
part of the story but narrates as an outsider. He uses the third person
pronouns – He, She, It, They.
 SECOND PERSON NARRATOR: The narrator who uses the second
person pronouns and appears to be addressing the reader directly i.e. “You”.
 EPISODE: An important event or incident in a literary work.
Example: The Outbreak of an epidemic in the Gods Are Not To Blame.

ORAL LITERATURE: unwritten literature (i) involving the active

participation of the performance and the audient (ii) which is communally
owned (iii) which tells much about the history and culture of the people (iv)
influenced by the environment of the people.
Example: Myth, proverbs, praise songs, dirge, riddles, war songs, folktales, fables.

PRIMAL MYTH: A piece of oral literature which tells a story about how
the world was created.
 DRAMA: A piece of literature meant to be performed. Its key elements
include (i) imitation or impersonation (ii) disguise (iii) dance (iv) mime (v)
dialogue
Example: The Gods Are Not To Blame, As You Like It, THE TRIALS OF
BROTHER JERO, ROMEO AND JULIET, THE MARRIAGE OF ANANSEWA.

 ATTITUDE: The feeling of a writer or one character towards a character.

Words used to describe attitude include;
 Positive Attitude: Admiration, like, approval, sympathy
 Negative Attitude: disgust, contempt, disapproval, unsympathetic, dislike
Example:

Attitude
Msimangu opened the book, and read to them first from the book. And Kumalo
had not known that his friend had such a voice. For the voice was of gold, and the
voice had such love for the words it was reading. The voice shook and beat and
trembled, not as the voice of an old man shakes and beats and trembles, or as a leaf
shakes and eats and trembles but as a deep bell when it is struck. For it was not
only a voice of gold but it was the voice of a man whose heart was golden, reading
from a book of golden words.

(Alan Patton –Cry The Beloved Country P 78)

Kumalo’s attitude towards Msimagu is one of admiration.
 CONTRAST: Presenting two opposing sides of an issues in order to
emphasize a point about one side.
 FABLE: A story involving animal characters.  Example: The Tortoise and
the Birds.
 LANGUAGE OR DICTION: The kind of words and sentence construction
(syntax) used in a work of art. It could be: formal or pedantic, archaic or old
fashioned, humorous or funny, simple, complex, informal.
 ONOMATOPOEIA: Use of words whose sounds echo their meaning.
Example: i. The bomb boomed
ii. Tooting of horns.
iii. The bells are tolling
iv. Bells are chiming
 ELEMENTS IN THE PLOT OF TRAGEDY: Conflict, reversal,
denouement.
 ELEMENTS OF COMEDY: Caricature, humour, wit, parody, absurdity
 NEGRITUDE: Literature, especially poetry meant to celebrate Africa and
its black people. Its main proponent is Leopold Sedar Senghor. Example: i)
Long long have you held (ii) Black woman (iii) I will pronounce your name,
Naett.
 EPITHET: The use of descriptive words especially when added to names,
titles etc.
Example: i. Sango, the thunder lion