Literary

devices
Literary devices
◦A literary device is a writing technique that writers use to express ideas, convey meaning, and highlight important themes in a piece
of text.

1.Couplet
20. Prologue
2.Heroic Couplet
21. Epilogue
3.Allegory
22.Art for Art’s sake
4.Metre
23. Expressionism
5.Blank Verse
24. Narratology
6.Rhythm
7.Assonance
8.Consonance
Rhythm
● The word rhythm is derived from rhythmos (Greek) which means,
“measured motion.”
● long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables
● The Tyger by William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forest of the night

Meter
● number of syllables and emphasis in a line of poetry
● ” A “foot” of a poetic work features a specific number of syllables and
pattern of emphasis.
● Eg. Iambic pentameter-The structure of iambic pentameter features five
iambs per line, or ten total syllables per line. All the even-numbered
syllables in this metric form are stressed.
● Eg. : “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” from sonnet 18,William
Shakespeare
Consonance
● Consonance is a literary device that refers to the repetition of the same
consonant sounds in a line of text
● alike consonant sounds can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of
words, and consonance is created when these words appear in quick
succession.

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.” (The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe)
Assonance
● Assonance is a literary device in which the repetition of similar vowel
sounds takes place in two or more words in proximity to each other
within a line of poetry or prose.
● repetition of internal vowel sounds in words that do not end the same.
● he fell asleep under the cherry tree”-/e/ sound repeats which is a vowel
sound
Couplet
● A couplet is a pair of rhymed lines that are equal in length with similar
end rhymes
● A couplet may be formal (or closed), in which case each of the two lines is
end-stopped.
● run-on (or open), with the meaning of the first line continuing to the
second.
● Eg,Sonnet 132 by Shakespeare

Then will I swear beauty herself is black,

And all they foul that thy complexion lack.

Heroic Couplet
● consists of two iambic pentameter lines rhyming together at the end.
● These couplets are called ‘heroic’ because pentameter verse rhymed or
unrhymed, was first used for epic or heroic poetry
● Used by poets predominantly from the age of Dryden
● Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope

Of these am I, who thy protection claim,

A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.

Blank Verse
● lines of iambic pentameter (five-stress iambic verse) which are
unrhymedhence the term ‘blank’
● Very flexible and adaptable
● became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama

Eg. Mending Walls (By Robert Frost)

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

Irony
● the root sense of dissembling of hiding what is actually the case; not
however in order to deceive but to achieve special rhetorical or artistic
effects.
● Verbal irony-the explicit expression of one attitude or evaluation but with
indications in the overall speech-situation that the speaker intends a very
different and often opposite, attitude or evaluation.
Kinds of Irony
1. Dramatic irony-a situation where the audience knows more about what’s
going on on-screen or stage than the characters do.Eg.Romeo and Juliet
by Shakespeare where Romeo kills him in the end thinking Juliet is dead
when it is not true.
2. Situational Irony-the irony of something happening that is very different
to what was expected
3. Verbal Irony -most common form of irony. A speaker says something that
is in direct conflict with what they actually believe or mean.
Eg. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” by Shakespeare
Allegory
● A narrative in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to
represent a meaning with moral or political significance.Eg.The Pilgrim’s
Progress is a moral and religious allegory in a prose narrative
● Types of Allegory-
○ Historical and political allegory- the characters and actions that are signified literally in
their turn represent or ‘allegorize’ historical personages and events.Eg.Absalom and
Achitophel
○ The allegory of ideas- the literal characters represent concepts and the plot allegorizes
an abstract doctrine.The central device is the personification of abstract entities as
virtues, vices, states of mind, modes of life and types of character.Eg.John Milton’s
Paradise Lost where Sin and Death are personified as daughters of Satan
Rhetorical Question
● A question is asked just for effect, or to lay emphasis on some point being
discussed, when no real answer is expected.
● A persuasive technique
● Eg.: Ode to the West Wind (By Percy Bysshe Shelley)

The poem ends with a rhetorical question:

‘…O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’

Refrain
● This poetic device repeats at regular intervals in different stanzas. It may
contain minor changes in wording or sequence.
● Contributes to rhyme and indicates important ideas that the poet wants
to emphasize
● Refrain refers to a line or part of a line or a group of lines which is
repeated in the course of a poem
● Eg: Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Aside
● Aside is a stage device in which a character expresses to the audience his
or her thought or intention in a short speech which by convention is
inaudible to the other characters on the stage.
● asides are brief, passing remarks, sometimes made by minor characters
● aside helps in the audience in knowing things they would have no other
way of finding out
● Eg. Henry Fielding’s narrator in Tom Jones explains to the reader directly
why the characters has acted the way he or she does.
Monologue
● a “speech” made by a single character to address other characters present in
the scene and/or the reader/audience
● effective in storytelling to reveal about plot or character
● to share the internal thoughts of a character as well as their backstory to
understand the character’s motivations and its importance to the narrative.
● Writers deliver their thoughts, ideas, and beliefs regarding an important subject
through one of their character’s monologues
● Purposes of Monologue
○ Voice of character-know the character’s authentic voice and point of view
○ Motivation of a character-understand a character’s motivation in terms of behaviour within
a narrative.
○ Background of a character- contributes to character development and plot, information
and meaning for the reader, move the narrative forward, and indicate the impact of a
character’s traits and past events in terms of the overall story
Soliloquy
● It is a kind of monologue
● act of talking to oneself whether silently or aloud
● the audience (and sometimes other characters) can hear the speech, but
the person talking to himself is unaware of others listening
● way to convey information about a character’s motives and state of mind
or for purposes of exposition
● Eg. Hamlet’s speech which begins with “To be or not to be” in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Plot
● The plot in a dramatic or narrative work is constituted by its events and
actions as these are rendered and ordered toward achieving particular
artistic and emotional effects.
● chief character in a plot on whom our interest centers is called the
protagonist and who they are pitted against is called antagonist
● Complete ordered structure of -unity of action
● There is a beginning,middle and the end
● Eg. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Character
● one of the essential elements of every story
● A character can be any person, a figure, an inanimate object, or animal.
● Different types of characters have different functions
- Please refer next slide
Types of Characters
● Confidante- the character in which main character confides, main character confides
● Dynamic Character - character changes during the course of a novel or a story, changes in
the character is permanent
● Static Character A static character remains the same throughout the whole story. Even the
events in a story or novel do not change character
● Antagonist -a bad guy, or an opponent of the protagonist or the main character. The action
in the story arises from a conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist.
● Protagonist- the main character, who creates the action of the plot
● Round Character- round charac,more realistic, and demonstrate more depth in their
personalities,they are well-developed and complex figures in a story
● Flat Character- does not change during a story, reveals one or two personality traits.
● Stock Character A stock character is a flat character that is instantly recognizable by
readers,, the stock character does not undergo any development throughout the story
Setting
● The overall setting is the general locale, historical time and social
circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or
scene within such a work is the particular physical location in which it
takes place.
● overall and individual settings are important elements in generating the
atmosphere of their works.
● When applied to a theatrical production, ‘setting’ denotes both the
scenery and the properties or movable pieces of furniture on the stage.
Narrative Techniques
● methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of
stories or accounts.
● Point of view:
○ Objective point of view-With the objective point of view, the writer tells what happens
without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue
○ Third Person Point of View-the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as
one of the characters, but lets us know exactly how the characters feel
○ First Person Point of View-the narrator does participate in the action of the story,he
might not be telling the truth,question his accounts.
○ Omniscient Points of View-A narrator who knows everything about all the characters
○ Limited Omniscient Points of View-A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one
character, either major or minor
Narrative Techniques
● Dialogue- direct speech between two characters, often signifying
dialogue with quotation marks and a dialogue tag like "he said" or "she
whispered.
● Manipulation of time- shifts in time within novels
○ Flashback is when the storyline jumps backward to show something that has happened
before the main events of the novel and that has relevance to the present story
○ Foreshadowing is when the narration hints at things that will happen but have not
happened yet
○ Frame story is a secondary story that is not the main story of the novel but through
which the main story is told
● A symbol is a thing that signifies something else. Symbols in novels are
often ambiguous.
Farce
● a type of comedy designed to provoke the audience to simple, hearty
laughter-‘belly laughs’
● employs highly exaggerated or caricatured types of characters
● puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations and makes free use of
broad verbal humor, physical bustle and horseplay
● Farce is also a frequent comic tactic in the theater of the absurd.
● Eg. Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Satire
● the literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it
ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn
or indignation
● usually been justified by those who practice it as a corrective of human
vice and folly
● eighteenth century became a golden age of satire in poetry, drama,
essays and criticism
● Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has aspects of satire directed
against the type of the fatuous and hypocritical Puritan
Prologue
● A preface or introduction usually associated with drama and especially
popular in England in the plays of the Restoration and the eighteenth
century.
● a short introduction presented by a character or chorus.
● prologues were often written by the author of a play and delivered by one
of the chief actors
● Eg.’General Prologue’ in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Epilogue
● A concluding statement; an appendix to a composition.
● It can also be the final remark of an actor addressed to the audience at
the close of the play
● In comedies, epilogues uttered by actors were often used to show the
main characters of the plays enjoying a happy and contented life after
experiencing the disorder during the play.
● In tragedies, the actors narrating the epilogue told the audience about the
tragic hero’s final suffering, caused by his poor moral choices.
● Eg.Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, recites an epilogue in which it asks
for the good will of the audience and the courteous treatment by critics
Art for Art’s Sake
● the idea that art was valuable as art and did not need moral ,social and
political justification
● Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Arthur Symons
who were supporters of this movement
● opened the way for artistic freedom of expression in the Impressionist
movement and modern art.
Expressionism
● Its chief precursors were artists and writers who had in various ways
departed from realistic depictions of life and the world by incorporating in
their art visionary or powerfully emotional states of mind that are
expressed and transmitted by means of distorted representations of the
outer world.
● its central feature is a revolt against the artistic and literary tradition of
realism both in subject matter and in style
● Writers include T.S. Eliot and James Joyce
Narratology
● Narratology looks at what narratives have in common and what makes
one different from another.
● It looks at a certain patterns of narratives in literature
● the “same” narrative can be seen in many different forms like oral and
written language, gestures, and music
● Influential narratologists are Gerard Genette and Roland Barthes