NPI University of Bangladesh (NPIUB)

Hawlader Md. Ruhul Amin, Lecturer, Department of English

Cell: 01787-774331, E-mail:ruhul.amin336@hotmail.com

Topic: Literary Terms

Simile
Definition: Similes are one of the most commonly used literary devices. Simile refers an explicit comparison between two unrelated
and dissimilar things. By using similes a greater degree of meaning and understanding is attached to an otherwise simple sentence.
The reader is able to better understand the sentiment the author wishes to convey. Similes are marked by the use of the words ‘as’ or
‘such as’ or ‘like’.
Example: He is like a mouse in front of the teacher.

Metaphor
Definition: Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit or hidden comparison between two dissimilar things that are
unrelated but share some common characteristics.
Example: “Henry was a lion on the battlefield”.

Irony
Definition: The use of irony in literature refers to playing around with words such that the meaning implied by a sentence or word is
actually different from the literal meaning.
Example: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”- Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen
There are 3 types of irony: 1. Verbal Irony, 2. Situational Irony. 3. Dramatic Irony

Imagery
Definition: In literature, one of the strongest devices is imagery where in the author uses words and phrases to create “mental images”
for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. 
For Example: It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images.

Hyperbole
Definition: A hyperbole is a literary device where in the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the
basic crux of the statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect.
Example: “I am so tired I cannot walk another inch” or “I’m so sleepy I might fall asleep standing here”.

Allusion
Allusion is basically a reference to something else. It’s when a writer mentions some other work, or refers to an earlier part of the
current work. Desdimona could patient but I can’t.

Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human quality. The non-human objects are
portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.So personification means to personify something. It
means a lifeless thing to give a life.
For Example: That piece of chocolate cake is calling my name.
Sometimes the sun smiles, the wind whispers to the trees, and the shadows of the leaves dance in the wind.
Allegory
An allegory is a story within a story. It has a “surface story” and another story hidden underneath. For example, the surface story
might be about two neighbors throwing rocks at each other’s homes, but the hidden story would be about war between countries.
In most allegories, the hidden story has something to do with politics, religion, or morality.
In Gulliver Travels, we can see Lilliput’s wars against Blefuscu.
Setting
Setting is the time and place (or when and where) of the story. It’s a literary element of literature used in novels, short stories, plays,
films, etc., and usually introduced during the exposition (beginning) of the story, along with the characters. The setting may also
include the environment of the story, which can be made up of the physical location, climate, weather, or social and cultural
surroundings.
Example: As the sun set in the evening sky, Malcolm slowly turned and walked toward his home. All was silent and still. Through the
window, he could see his older brother James watching a football game on the TV. James was home from his first year of college in
the city. It was lonely at times, but Malcolm felt it was rather nice to not be in James’ shadow during his senior year of high school.
Time: evening, senior year of high school, and modern times (they have a TV)
Place: Malcolm’s home, and possibly the suburbs or country (his brother has gone to the city for school).
Stanza:
In poetry, a stanza is a dividing and organizing technique which places a group of lines in a poem together, separated from other
groups of lines by line spacing or indentation. Stanzas are to poetry what paragraphs are to prose. Stanzas can be rhymed or unrhymed
and fixed or unfixed in meter or syllable count.

Couplet:
The couplet is a couple of lines, a stanza made of two lines. Mostly couplet is used end of the poem.
Theme
Definition: The theme of any literary work is the base that acts as a foundation for the entire literary piece. The theme links all aspects
of the literary work with one another and is basically the main subject. The theme can be an enduring pattern or motif throughout the
literary work, occurring in a complex, long winding manner or it can be short, concise and provide a certain insight into the story.
Example: The main theme in the play Romeo and Juliet was love with smaller themes of sacrifice, tragedy, struggle, hardship,
devotion and so on.
Tone
Definition: The tone of a literary work is the perspective or attitude that the author adopts with regards to a specific character, place or
development. Tone can portray a variety of emotions ranging from solemn, grave, and critical to witty, wry and humorous. Tone helps
the reader ascertain the writer’s feelings towards a particular topic and this in turn influences the reader’s understanding of the story.
Example: In her Harry Potter series, author J.K. Rowling has taken an extremely positive, inspiring and uplifting tone towards the idea
of love and devotion.
Sonnet
A sonnet is a fourteen line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme. Often, sonnets use iambic pentameter: five sets of unstressed syllables
followed by stressed syllables for a ten-syllable line.
There are two kinds of sonnet-1. Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet 2. Shakespearean sonnet.
The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (group of eight lines) followed by a sestet (group of six lines). The typical rhyme scheme
is as follows: a b b a a b b a for the octave and c d d c d d, c d d e c e, or c d d c c d for the sestet. The octave introduces a problem or
conflict, and then the sestet addresses or solves the problem.
Here is an example of an Italian sonnet written by William Wordsworth:
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: (a)
England hath need of thee: she is a fen (b)
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, (b)
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, (a)
Have forfeited their ancient English dower (a)
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; (b)
Oh! raise us up, return to us again; (b)
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. (a)

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; (c)

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: (d)
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, (d)
So didst thou travel on life’s common way, (e)
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart (c)
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (e)
London, 1802” has the rhyme scheme of an Italian sonnet: In the octave, we learn of a problem: Milton has died and England is in
moral decline. In the sestet, we learn of the solution: unlike England, Milton was filled with glory and morality which England must
adopt in order to recover.

The Shakespearean sonnet is named after Shakespeare not because he invented it but because he is the most famous writer of this type
of sonnet. Typically, the English sonnet explores romantic love. Its rhyme scheme is as follows: a b a b c d c d followed by e f e f g g.
Here is an example of an English sonnet by William Shakespeare:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (a) 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (b) 
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a) 
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: (b) 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c) 

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; (d) 
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c) 
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; (d)

But thy eternal summer shall not fade (e)

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; (f) 
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, (e) 
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: (f) 
 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (g) 
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g)

“Sonnet 18” is one of the most famous examples of the Shakespearean sonnet, using the exact rhyme scheme and exploring romantic
love for a woman.