What are literary devices?

‘Literary Device’ is an umbrella term for all the styles, strategies, and techniques that wordsmiths utilize to create or enhance a particular effect in their writing. They were the part of ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh,’ and since then, roughly thousands of years later, we have developed quite an assortment of these devices. Additionally, the current era of social media and extensive meme-sharing has only accelerated their evolution dramatically.

These devices are often used for emphasis or clarity; they are sometimes used to convincingly connect the readers with either the story or a particular chunk of it.

Literary devices, when used precisely, can spruce up an otherwise monotonous and flavorless piece of text. They breathe life into the stories and help authors capture the highly elusive attention of the readers successfully. They may contain elements that reappear consistently or occur only once.

How to spot a Literary Device

The identification of literary devices can help you appreciate the artistic ingenuity of authors from a novel perspective. Additionally, the more literary devices you spot in a certain piece of writing, the greater your comprehension. However, having ample knowledge of literary devices is not a prerequisite. Devices such as personification and anthropomorphism do not lose their efficacy regardless of their recognition by a reader.

To spot literary devices, you simply need to familiarize yourself with as many as you can. Once that is accomplished, you can look for them with intent in any particular piece of text. You may not be successful in the first attempt as a ‘literary device’ stalker. However, a little practice will help you achieve mastery in no time. With enough experience, you will be able to identify literary devices with little to no effort.

How to use them?

Before incorporating literary devices into your writing, you need to become fairly good at recognizing them. In this article, I will go through a list of a few widely used devices. Go through the list below to assess what you are looking for, and look at their usage by expert wordsmiths.

When you are ready to play with them, the most crucial tip is to use them naturally. Many amateur writers try to force them into their text and the result feels like a desperate attempt to imitate better authors. Badly used literary devices tend to stand out more than the good ones. Therefore, it is best to use them deservedly and cautiously. At this stage, you should keep in mind that some devices are more appropriate in a work of fiction rather than nonfiction and vice versa.

If you want them to be part of your book effortlessly, there are ghostwriting companies that can scan your text and include them in your manuscript. To learn more about ghostwriting, you can peruse this article at your leisure.

A Quick Guide to Start Working with a Ghostwriter.

A list of widely used literary devices

Anagram

It is a form of wordplay in which letters of a particular word or phrase are rearranged to create a new word or phrase.

Examples:

From The Da Vinci Code, a work of fiction By Dan Brown

“_{O, Draconian devil!}

_{Oh, lame saint!}

_{So dark the con of Man”}

These phrases were clues (anagrams) connected to Da Vinci.

_{O, Draconian devil! = Leonardo Da Vinci}

_{Oh, lame saint! = The Mona Lisa}

_{So dark the con of Man = Madonna on the Rocks}

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism occurs when non-human entities, such as animals or objects, take on human characteristics such as speech, ideas, complicated emotions, and even donning clothes and standing on two legs.

Example:

Many fairy tales such as ‘The Beauty & The Beast’ have creatures that are the perfect examples of anthropomorphism.

Aphorism

Aphorism is a succinct and witty presentation of facts or opinions. Philosophical, moral, and literary principles are frequently referred to as aphorisms.

Examples:

_{“To err is human, to forgive divine.” (An Essay on Criticism – Alexander Pope)}

_{“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare)}

Circumlocution

Circumlocution is when the writer uses excessive words and overly complicated sentence structures to purposely convolute the meaning.

Example:

_{“A vehicle that is used to take people from one place to another” is a circumlocution for a car.}

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary trick used by authors to imply or hint to readers about something that will happen later in a story.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a phrase or a sentence that exaggerates the perceived significance of the actual meaning.

Examples:

_{“I’ve been waiting for you for eternity.”}

_{“This is a million-dollar idea!”}

Isocolon

Isocolon is the literary device for a person who loves everything to be perfect. When two or more phrases or clauses have identical structure, rhythm, and even length and they line up flawlessly when stacked on top of each other, it is called an isocolon.

Examples:

_{“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”}

_{“Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause…” – ( A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By James Joyce)}

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a literary technique that is used to create a comparison by pitting two entities against each other.

Examples:

Juxtaposition can be seen in the forms of land and sea in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and in the forms of kindness and malice in Cinderella.

Malapropism

Malapropism is a deliberate use of incorrect yet similar sounding words to add humor to the story.

Examples:

_{I was most putrified (petrified) with astonishment.” – (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)}

_{“Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious (suspicious) persons.” – (Much Ado About Nothing)}

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a fancy literary name for words that represent sounds and have similar pronunciations.

For example, the term ‘rattle’ as in ‘rattlesnake’ is pronounced similarly to the sound the viper makes.

Palindrome

A palindrome is a word, number, or symbol that can be read forward as well as backward, with the same effect and/or meaning.

Examples:

_{“T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.” – The Life of a Poet (By W.H. Auden)}

_{“Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel.” – The Funny Side of English (By O. A. Booty)}

Portmanteau

Portmanteau is a literary device that uses two distinct words to form a new word with a hybridized meaning. Amusingly, the word “portmanteau’ itself is autological. It is the blend of two French words, porter (to carry), & manteau (to cloak).

Example:

Brunch, a widely used word in North America, is a portmanteau of breakfast & lunch. The term blog is a clever portmanteau of web & log.

Soliloquy

It is a literary technique that authors use to convey the thoughts or emotions of a character in the form of a monologue. The intention is to make the readers aware of the inner thoughts and feelings of a particular character without letting the other characters acknowledge them.

Examples:

The ‘to be, or not to be’ monologue from Hamlet is perhaps one of the most famous soliloquies in Literature.

_{To be, or not to be–that is the question:}

_{Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer}

_{The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune}

_{to take arms against a sea of troubles}

_{And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep–}

_{No more–and by a sleep to say we end}

_{The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks}

_{That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation}

_{Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep–}

_{To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,}

_{For in that sleep of death what dreams may come}

_{When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,}

_{Must give us pause.}             

Tautology

Tautology is a literary device that writers use to say something twice. The intention behind that is to emphasize a point and affix it into the minds of readers.

Examples:

Here are some common examples of Tautology:

                _{Repeat again}

                _{Return back}

                _Gift

                _{It is what it is}