A literary device, also called a literary technique, figure of speech, or rhetorical device, is a planned method that writers or speakers use to help achieve a goal. These goals might include helping the audience pay attention, making language or ideas easier to remember, or causing a specific emotional, thoughtful, or artistic reaction. The many names for this idea may have slightly different meanings when used by experts.

Literary devices can be grouped into different types, such as narrative devices, poetic devices, argumentative devices, or language patterns. However, these devices can be hard to sort into groups because they are often used in many kinds of writing and may belong to more than one category, such as figurative devices that use non-literal language.

Terminology

In literature, a device refers to a tool or method that writers use intentionally to create a specific effect in their writing.

The word "trope" originally described an artistic effect created by using figurative language, which is language that is not literal. Figurative language involves replacing a word or phrase with another that is less direct. Over time, the meaning of "trope" has expanded to include recurring or overused elements in creative writing, such as common character types, situations, motifs, and clichés. The word "trope" comes from the Latin "tropus," meaning "figure of speech," which itself is derived from the Greek word "tropos," meaning "a turn" or "a change."

The term "figure of speech" (or simply "figure") has two related meanings. In a broader and more technical sense, it is a synonym for any literary device. In scholarly discussions, this term often includes two categories: tropes and schemes. Tropes involve changes in the usual or literal meaning of words, while schemes involve changes in the order or arrangement of words. The word "scheme" comes from the Greek "schēma," meaning "form" or "shape." However, in everyday language, the term "figure of speech" is often used to refer only to tropes. In the difference between literal and figurative language, figures of speech or tropes are part of the figurative side.

Similarly, the term "rhetorical device" can be used as a synonym for any literary device. However, it is more specifically used to describe techniques in persuasive or argumentative writing (rhetoric). These devices aim to make an argument more convincing, emotionally engaging, or to encourage the audience to take action.

History

During the Renaissance, scholars carefully listed and grouped literary devices. The term "figure of speech" originated with Renaissance humanists, who used it in its technical sense, influenced by the writings of ancient rhetoricians. For example, Henry Peacham included 184 different figures of speech in his book The Garden of Eloquence (1577). Professor Robert DiYanni wrote in his book Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay: "Rhetoricians have listed more than 250 different figures of speech, expressions, or ways of using words in a nonliteral sense."

Narrative devices

Various literary devices are used to improve stories and help readers understand them better. Examples include:

• Allegory: A story that has a hidden meaning, often by giving characters, places, and events symbolic meanings. These stories represent abstract ideas or principles. For example, Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, using animals to represent real people and events.

• Flashback: A part of the story that happens before the main events. It helps explain the story, provide background, or show more about characters. Sometimes, most of a story is told through a flashback.

• Foreshadowing: Hints about what will happen next in a story, creating suspense and excitement for the reader.

• Mood and tone: Mood is the emotional feeling a story creates for the reader. Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the subject, the reader, or themselves.

• Motif: A word, image, or idea that repeats in a story, often in different ways. Motifs can help develop themes, create mood, or serve as symbols.

• Plot device: A method used to help the story move forward.

• Story within a story: A story told by a character inside another story. If a whole story is framed within another, it is called a frame story. For example, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley uses the tale of a sea captain as a frame story for the scientist’s story.

Poetic and sound-based devices

Sonic language is a way of sharing more complex, fast, or artistic messages by using sound or by making people imagine sounds. It helps send messages to the audience by making them hear certain things. Here are some examples:

• Alliteration: Repeating the same starting sound in a group of words or syllables. (Example: "Small showers last long but sudden storms are short." from Shakespeare's Richard II 2.1.)
• Assonance: Repeating similar vowel sounds in nearby words. (Example: "Flow slowly, you rosy glowing ocean!" repeats the "oh" vowel sound multiple times.)
• Consonance: Repeating consonant sounds in words. This is different from alliteration because the repeated sounds can appear anywhere in the word, not just at the beginning. (Example: The "k" sound is repeated four times in "with streaks of light,/ And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels" from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 2.3.)
• Cacophony and Euphony: Using sounds that are either unpleasant or pleasant. Cacophony uses harsh or unpleasant sounds, such as "k," "g," "t," "d," "p," "b," "sh," "s," "ch," and "j," in quick succession to create a rough or jarring effect. (Example: "Hear the loud alarum bells/ Brazen bells! What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!/ In the startled ear of night/ How they scream out their affright!/ Too much horrified to speak,/ They can only shriek, shriek…" from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells".) Euphony uses sounds that are soft, pleasant, or musical.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like the noises they describe. These are often written in all caps or with multiple exclamation marks in casual writing. They are common in comic strips and cartoons. (Examples: smek, thwap, kaboom, ding-dong, plop, bang, and pew.)
• Rhyming: Repeating the same or similar sounds at the end of words or lines. This makes lines easier to remember, more catchy, or more musical.

Rhetorical and argumentative devices

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Rhetorical devices are language techniques used to persuade people. Traditionally, three main types of rhetorical devices are classified based on what they appeal to: emotions (pathos), logic (logos), or the speaker's credibility (ethos). A rhetorical device, as defined by literary critic M. H. Abrams, refers to any technique used at the phrase or sentence level that changes how words are arranged to create special effects, rather than changing the meaning of the words themselves. These devices often relate to how new ideas are introduced or how ideas are emphasized in a text.

Amplification/Pleonasm: Amplification involves repeating a word or phrase while adding more details to emphasize a point. This helps draw attention to an idea and clarify its importance. For example, in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the lines "But this revolting boy… He left a most disgusting taste…" use repetition and added details to highlight the boy’s bad behavior. Pleonasm uses more words than needed to describe an idea, creating emphasis and adding meaning. An example is from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure: "Swerve not from the smallest article of it…"

Antanagoge: This device places a positive point or benefit next to a negative one to reduce the impact of the negative. For example, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the line "Within the infant rind of this weak flower/ Poison hath residence, and medicine power" contrasts harm and healing. Another example is saying, "We may be managing the situation poorly, but so did you at first." Antanagoge can also reframe a negative situation positively, as in "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Apophasis: This technique brings up a subject by denying that it should be mentioned. It is also called paralipsis, occupatio, praeteritio, preterition, or parasiopesis. An example from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is: "There's something tells me, but it is not love…"

Aporia: Aporia is a rhetorical expression of doubt. An example is Hamlet’s question, "To be or not to be, that is the question," from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. When a rhetorical question is answered, it is also an instance of hypophora.

Diasyrmus: This device rejects an argument by making a ridiculous comparison.

Enthymeme: An enthymeme is a type of argument that skips a premise or conclusion, assuming the reader understands the missing part. For example, the Singapore Tourism Board’s slogan, "Welcome to Singapore," implies that Singapore was built quickly despite the claim that it takes centuries to build a nation.

Gish Gallop: A Gish gallop is a debating tactic that overwhelms an opponent with many arguments, regardless of their accuracy or strength. This term was coined in 1994 by Eugenie Scott, who named it after Duane Gish, a creationist known for using this technique.

Hypophora: Hypophora involves asking a question and then answering it immediately. An example from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 is: "Can honour set to a leg? No… What is honour? A word."

Innuendo: Innuendo is an indirect way of suggesting an accusation without stating it clearly. For example, saying, "I notice all the bottles in your liquor cabinet are empty," implies the listener drank the alcohol.

Metanoia: Metanoia involves recalling or rejecting a statement and rephrasing it more clearly. An example from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is: "All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows…"

Procatalepsis: Procatalepsis is when a speaker anticipates and answers a possible objection before it is raised. This is similar to hypophora. An example from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is: "What shall we do to entertain our darling children? We’ll answer this by asking you…"

Rhetorical Question: A rhetorical question is used to persuade or make an audience think, even though no answer is expected.

Classical rhetoricians classified four categories of rhetorical devices, known as the quadripita ratio:
– Addition (adiectio), also called repetition, expansion, or superabundance.
– Omission (detractio), also called subtraction, abridgement, or lack.
– Transposition (transmutatio), also called transferring.
– Permutation (immutatio), also called switching, interchange, substitution, or transmutation.

These categories are still used today. The earliest known text mentioning them is Rhetorica ad Herennium, which refers to them as pleonasmos (addition), endeia (omission), metathesis (transposition), and enallage (permutation). Later, Quintillian and Philo of Alexandria also described these categories using similar terms.

Figurative language

Figurative language is a way of expressing ideas that is not the usual or direct way. It often helps the audience feel something more strongly, understand something more deeply, or connect with an idea in a new way. American writer Kenneth Burke called metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony the "four master tropes" because they are often used in everyday speech. Examples of figurative language include:

• Allusion: Using a word or phrase to indirectly refer to something famous, such as a place, event, or story. For example, calling Beirut the "Paris of the Middle East" refers to Paris as a center of culture, business, and art.
• Antanaclasis: Repeating a word in two different ways for wordplay.
• Anthimeria: Changing the type of a word, such as using a noun as a verb or a verb as a noun. For example, "Don't yes, sir me!" uses a verb as a noun.
• Apostrophizing: Speaking directly to someone who is not present, dead, or not a person, such as an object or idea.
• Literary analogy: Comparing two different things to show how they are alike and explain a bigger idea.
• Metaphor: Comparing two things without using "like" or "as." For example, "That boy is a machine!" suggests the boy works very hard. A metaphor has two parts: the "tenor" (the main idea) and the "vehicle" (the thing used to represent the idea).
• Simile: Comparing two things using "like" or "as." For example, "From the hill, the people in the valley look like ants."
• Hyperbole: Exaggerating to make a point. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare writes, "The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars…"
• Metonymy and synecdoche: Referring to something by a related part or object. For example, "crown" can mean a king or queen. Synecdoche uses a part to represent the whole, like calling workers "hands."
• Personification: Giving human traits to non-human things. For example, "The moon smiled down on the travelers" suggests the moon is kind, even though it cannot smile.
• Symbolism: Using an object, person, or event to represent an abstract idea. For example, the sun in the phrase "All their fears melted in the face of the newly risen sun" can mean hope.
• Imagery: Using vivid details to help the audience imagine something, often involving the senses.
• Understatement: Downplaying something for effect. For example, "The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" is a understatement. A type of understatement is litotes, which uses negatives, like "Heatwaves are not rare in the summer."

Irony is when language or events go against expectations.
– Verbal irony happens when someone says the opposite of what they mean. This includes sarcasm, understatement, and euphemism. For example, someone might say, "I'm not worthy to receive this honor" after winning an award.
– Situational irony occurs when events turn out the opposite of what is expected. For example, in The Pearl by John Steinbeck, finding a valuable pearl leads to tragedy instead of happiness. In Hamlet, Hamlet avoids killing Claudius because Claudius is praying, but Claudius later admits his prayers were fake.
– Dramatic irony happens when the audience knows something that a character does not. In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows Juliet is alive, but Romeo believes she is dead. In The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader knows the narrator killed the old man, but the guests do not.

Schemes

A linguistic scheme is a writing or speaking technique that uses the careful arrangement of words in phrases, sentences, or groups of sentences to create a specific effect.

Word repetition rhetorical devices use the repeated use of words or phrases to highlight ideas. Some examples include:

• Anadiplosis/Conduplicatio: Repeating the last word or words of one sentence at the start of the next. (Example: "To die is to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream…" from Shakespeare's Hamlet 3.1.) Conduplicatio is similar, repeating a key word in later parts of a sentence. (Example: "Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep!" from Shakespeare's Richard III 5.3.)
• Anaphora/Epistrophe/Symploce/Epanalepsis: Anaphora repeats the same word or words at the beginning of multiple sentences or phrases. (Example: "With mine own tears I wash away my balm; with mine own hands I give away my crown…" from Shakespeare's Richard II 4.1.) Epistrophe repeats the same word or words at the end of sentences or phrases. (Example: "If you had known the virtue of the ring; or half her worthiness that gave the ring…" from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice 5.1.) Symploce combines anaphora and epistrophe but uses different words at the start and end. (Example: "I'm willing to tell you. I'm wanting to tell you. I'm waiting to tell you…" from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.) Epanalepsis repeats the same word or words at the beginning and end of a sentence. (Example: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!" from Shakespeare's Henry V 3.1.)
• Epizeuxis: Repeating the same word without interruption. (Example: "O horror! Horror! Horror!" from Shakespeare's Macbeth 2.3.) Antanaclasis repeats the same word with different meanings. (Example: "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately" from Benjamin Franklin.)
• Diacope: Repeating a word or phrase after another word or phrase. (Example: "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" from Shakespeare's Richard III 5.4.)

Word relation rhetorical devices connect words in a sentence to create meaning.

• Antithesis/Antimetabole/Chiasmus: Antithesis pairs opposite ideas in a sentence for contrast. (Example: "Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall" from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure 2.1.) Antimetabole repeats words in reverse order. (Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" from John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address.) Chiasmus uses parallel structure but reverses the order of parts. (Example: "But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er / Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves!" from Shakespeare's Othello 3.3.)
• Asyndeton/Polysyndeton: Asyndeton removes conjunctions like "and" or "but" for effect. (Example: "Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!" from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 4.4.) Polysyndeton uses more conjunctions than needed. (Example: "We'll live, and pray, and sing, and tell old tales…" from Shakespeare's King Lear 5.3.)
• Auxesis/Catacosmesis: Auxesis lists words from least to most important. (Example: "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea / But sad mortality o'er-sways their power…" from Shakespeare's Sonnet 65.) Catacosmesis does the opposite, listing from most to least important. (Example: "Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment bears not one" from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale 1.2.)
• Hypallage: Transferring an adjective from its usual subject to another related one. (Example: "the sleepy countryside" implies people are sleepy, not the land.)
• Hyperbaton: Rearranging words in a sentence to create a special effect.
• Oxymoron: Combining two opposite words for contrast. (Example: "I could weep and I could laugh, I am light and heavy" from Shakespeare's Coriolanus 2.1.)
• Zeugma: Linking two or more words to a single word or phrase for clever effect.

— J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
— William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.2

General linguistic choices

Diction refers to the careful selection of words a writer or speaker uses. These choices not only convey meaning but also express emotions. When writing, authors think about both the literal meaning of a word (denotation) and the feelings it can create (connotation). For example, the words "stubborn" and "tenacious" have similar meanings, but "stubborn" is often seen as a negative trait, while "tenacious" is usually viewed positively. Similarly, "thrifty" and "stingy" describe someone who saves money, but "thrifty" is a compliment, and "stingy" is an insult. A writer's word choices are important for showing the narrator's tone or attitude.

Sentences can vary in length and structure. They may use active or passive voice and can be simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. Other techniques include inversion, appositive phrases, verbal phrases (like gerunds, participles, and infinitives), and subordinate clauses (such as noun, adjective, and adverb clauses). These tools help writers achieve their goals.

An example is the sentence, "The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion," from Night by Elie Wiesel. Here, Wiesel uses two parallel independent clauses in the passive voice. The first part creates suspense about who controls the ghetto, and the second part builds expectation, with the final word revealing a metaphorical answer.

Verbs show actions or states of being and can be changed in different ways. In English, verbs are modified using grammatical tense (past, present, future), grammatical aspect (simple, perfect, progressive), and grammatical mood. The perfect and progressive aspects describe how actions change over time rather than just when they occur. Important moods include the indicative (statements), imperative (commands), and interrogative (questions). Other moods include affirmative, negative, emphatic, conditional, and subjunctive.