Ma'am Ayesha Kashif

Bushra Ramzan

70143731

Literary devices and their use in Literature

Introduction:

Beginning in the 5th century, English Language has undergone many changes. The
history of English has seen continuous modifications and alterations owing to the multiple
cultures and various people who influenced it. Among these changes, many literary terms and
grammatical concepts were introduced to ease communication and form various compositions.
Poems are one of the forms of expression that use different “Poetic Devices” to create a narrative,
deliver a message, or exhibit emotions, and feelings in a rhythmic and aesthetic form

Poetic devices can be simply referred to as a form of literary devices which are used in
poetry. They are also used as different elements in a poem just like above in verbal, visual,
structural, rhythmic, metrical, grammatical elements, and so on.

Here are a few examples of literary devices that are used to evaluate and are critical to
analyzing the text.

Onomatopoeia: In simple words, onomatopoeia can be termed as the creation of a word

describing its sound.

Example: Splash, Murmur, Bang, Fwoosh, Buzz

Alliteration: One of the most used poetic devices, Alliteration is a phonetic structure and
repeated usage of sound or letter used in the first syllable of a word.

Examples: “She sells seashells by the sea-shore.”

Rhyme: It is a tool that brings music to the poem in a proper rhythmic structure.

Examples: Night-Bright, Skin-Grin, Frog-Log

Assonance: In a literary landscape, when two or more words that are close to each other repeat
the same vowel sounds then such English poetic devices are known as Assonance

Consonance: Falling under the list of poetic devices, Consonance is used in both prose and
poetry. It can be understood as the repetition of sounds that are produced by the consonants in a
phrase or a sentence.

Examples: Toss the glass, boss; Dawn goes down; Don’t creep and beep while grandpa falls
asleep.

Euphony: It is the repetitive use of mellow, melodic tones that are enjoyable to read or listen to.

Repetition: To put extreme emphasis on our writing style, we use the repetition technique

Cacophony: Cacophony is the use of unappealing, repulsive, or harsh noises (mostly consonants)
to evoke chaos, disorder, or dread

Rhythm: The flow of words throughout each meter and stanza create rhythm and highlight
particular elements of the poem.

Examples: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Shakespeare)

Irony: In the literary landscape, words are often framed in such a way that their original
meaning gets changed.

Allegory: An allegory is a narrative or description in which certain abstractions or concepts are

represented by certain events, behaviors, characters, locations, or objects

Ambiguity: Ambiguity happens when a statement’s structure or substance leaves room for
alternative interpretations and obscures its intended meaning.

Personification: Amongst all the poetic devices, personification is a simple one to understand.
As the name suggests, you need to personify inanimate objects or plants or animals, or any other
living beings with human qualities thus transforming your poetry into lively and filled with
imagery and description.

Analogy: An analogy is a literary device that establishes a relationship between two concepts
based on similarities or connections.

Denotation: The denotation of a term refers to its neutral, objective meaning

Connotation: Connotation is the use of a word to imply a unique association from its denotative,
or literal, meaning.

Contrast: A writer will often use contrast as a rhetorical tactic to highlight the contrasts between
two persons, places, or objects.

Metaphor: As a figure of speech is a poetic device, a metaphor is used to draw a comparison

between unrelated things in an implicit or hidden way.

Pun: Puns are among the most frequently used figures of speech in daily conversation. They
may be great conversation starters since they make you sound clever and occasionally even
humorous.

Hyperbole: A hyperbole is a figure of speech that consists of an exaggeration.

Simile: A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things that are different from each other
but have similar qualities.

Metonymy: Metonymy is a figure of speech when one term or phrase is used in place of another
with which it is closely related.

Oxymoron: This figure of speech, which should not be confused with ironies and paradoxes,
links two opposing ideas at once.

Paradox: These figures of speech, like ironies, emphasize something by discussing the exact
opposite of it.

Symbolism: Poets employ symbolism to communicate underlying ideas.

Rhyme Scheme: The sequence of sounds that repeats after a line or stanza is known as a rhyme
scheme.

Stanza: A stanza is a method of splitting and grouping lines in a poem, separating one group of
lines from other groups of lines by line spacing or indentation.

Blank Verse & Free Verse: Blank verse is written in strict iambic pentameter, but has no rhyme
scheme and Free verse contains no rhyme and no meter.

Synthesia: Synesthesia is a figure of speech in which terminology from one sense is used to
describe another.
Imagery: In a literary or poetic context, the imagery refers to the author’s use of vivid language
and description to enhance the reader’s comprehension of the work by appealing to their senses.

Tone or Mood: The basic definition for “tone” is created by the reader’s perception of the
cumulative moods and mental or emotional states of the narrator, characters, and writer.