Literary Devices

1. Alliteration – It is a repetition of the same letter in the beginning of each word in a sentence.
Example – A big bully beats a baby boy. She sells seashells on the sea shore.

2. Simile – It compares two things or persons by using words such as – like or as – as.
Example – He is as brave as lion. He is as funny as a monkey. She is like a red rose.

3. Metaphor – It makes an indirect, implied or hidden comparison between two things or

persons.
Example – He is the black sheep of the family. Camel is the ship of desert. Kalidas is the
Shakespeare of India.

4. Hyperbole – it uses exaggeration to describe things.

Example – My grandfather is as old as hills. It’s been ages since I met you. I have told you this
thousand times.

5. Litotes – it is opposite to Hyperbole, as it uses understatement by using double negatives or

in other words. (Double negatives)
Example – I cannot disagree with you. He is not unhappy. You are not doing badly. Your room is
not unclean.

6. Irony – it is a statement which has different meaning, not what the words express.
Example – His views were as clear as mud.
Twins shouted at each other and one of them said “You are ugly”. The thieves robbed the police
station.
7. Personification – it treats non-living things as living ones.
Example – My car is a beauty. The moon smiled at me. The fire swallowed the entire forest.

8. Oxymoron – it joins two opposite words.

Example – Open Secret, Seriously Funny, Wisest fool, Sweet Poison. There was a love-hate
relationship between them.
Paid volunteers were working for the company. All the politicians agreed to disagree.

9. Sonnet – (sonetto) – A poem which contains 14 lines divided into two parts Octave (Problem)
and Sestet (Resolution). It is different from Ballad (A folk song).

10. Transfer Epithet – An epithet is a word that describes something else. Usually, this is an
adjective describing a noun. Examples – Unhappy Marriage, A careless match, the weary road
etc.

11. Rhyme Scheme – Rhyming scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a
poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines
designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. ABAB/ABCD/AAA/BBB Etc.