literature

2. What are Literary Devices?
Introduction
 Commonly, the term Literary Devices refers to the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey
his or her message(s) in a simple manner to his or her readers.
 When employed properly, the different literary devices help readers to appreciate, interpret and analyze a
literary work.
Two Kinds of Literary Devices
 Literary Elements have an inherent existence in literary piece and are extensively employed by writers to
develop a literary piece e.g. plot, setting, narrative structure, characters, mood, theme and moral values.
 Writers simply cannot create his desired work without including Literary Elements in a thoroughly professional
manner.
 Literary Techniques, on the contrary, are structures usually a word s or phrases in literary texts that writers
employ to achieve not merely artistic ends but also readers a greater understanding and appreciation of their
literary works. Examples are: metaphor, simile, personification, etc.

3. Common Literary Elements
Plot
It is the logical sequence of events that develops a story. There are five main elements in a plot.
1. Exposition or Introduction
This is the beginning of the story, where characters and setting are established. The conflict or main problem is
introduced as well.
2. Rising Action
 Rising action which occurs when a series of events build up to the conflict.
 The main characters are established by the time the rising action of a plot occurs, and at the same time,
events begin to get complicated.
 It is during this part of a story that excitement, tension, or crisis is encountered.
3. Climax
 In the climax, or the main point of the plot, there is a turning point of the story.
 This is meant to be the moment of highest interest and emotion, leaving the reader wondering what is going to
happen next.
4. Falling Action
 Falling action, or the winding up of the story, occurs when events and complications begin to resolve.
 The result of the actions of the main characters are put forward.
5. Resolution
 Resolution, or the conclusion, is the end of a story, which may occur with either a happy or a tragic ending.

4. Common Literary Elements Explanation
Point of View  Is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see”
what takes place in a story, poem, or essay.
 Point of view is a reflection of the opinion an individual from real life or fiction has
First person  Involves the use of either of the two pronouns “I” or “we.”
“I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace.”
Second person  Employs the pronoun “you.”
“Sometimes you cannot clearly discern between anger and frustration.”
Third person  Uses pronouns like “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” or a name.
“ Stewart is a principled man. He acts by the book and never lets you
deceive him easily.”
Example of Point of
View in Literature
Daffodils (By William Wordsworth)
“I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.”
 Uses the first-person point of view to express his subjective feelings about the scene
of daffodils

5. Common Literary Elements Explanation
Setting
It refers to the time and
place in which a story
takes place.
 Setting is an environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place.
 It may provide particular information about placement and timing, such as New York,
America, in the year 1820.
 Setting could be simply descriptive, like a lonely cottage on a mountain.
 Social conditions, historical time, geographical locations, weather, immediate
surroundings, and timing are all different aspects of setting.
Character
Can be any person, a
figure, an inanimate
object, or animal.
Types of Character
Protagonist
 Every story has a protagonist, the main character, who creates the action of the plot
and engages readers, arousing their empathy and interest.
 The protagonist is often a hero or heroine of the story, as the whole plot moves around
him or her.
Antagonist
 An antagonist is 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.
 The antagonist can be a person, an inanimate object, an animal, or nature itself.

6. Common Literary
Elements
Explanation
Narrative  Narrative is a report of related events presented to listeners or readers, in words
arranged in a logical sequence.
 A story is taken as a synonym of narrative.
 A narrative, or story, is told by a narrator who may be a direct part of that experience,
and he or she often shares the experience as a first-person narrator.
 Sometimes he or she may only observe the events as a third-person narrator, and gives
his or her summation.
Mood  Evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions.
 Mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an
emotional setting that surrounds the readers.
 Mood is developed in a literary piece through various methods, including setting, theme,
tone, and diction.
Creating Mood
through Setting
Charles Dickens creates a calm and peaceful mood in his novel Pickwick Papers:
“The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed
noiselessly on.”
The representation of relaxing scenery imparts a serene and non-violent mood to the
readers.

7. Common Literary Elements Explanation
Creating Mood through
Tone
The manner in which a writer
approaches this theme and
subject is called the tone.
 Robert Frost, in his poem The Road Not Taken, creates a gloomy feeling
through his tone:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
 Frost informs us about his past with a “sigh” that gives the above lines an
unhappy tone and thus evokes an unhappy mood
Creating Mood through
Diction
Diction or choice of words
conveys deep feelings, and
depicts the events, places,
and characters in a literary
work in specific colors, having
an effect on the way the
readers feel about them.
 The following lines from Jonathon Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is one of the great
mood examples created using diction:
“And being no stranger to the art of war, I have him a description of cannons,
culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles,
sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea-fights…”
 In order to create feelings of disgust in readers, for the destructive
consequences of war, the writer chooses words that are unmelodious, harsh,
and jarring.

8. Common Literary
Elements
Explanation
Tone  Is generally conveyed through the choice of words, or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular
subject.
 The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, or cheerful, or it may be any
other existing attitude
Tone
Example in
Common
Speech
Example
Father: “We are going on a vacation.”
Son: “That’s great!!!”
– The tone of son’s response is very
cheerful.
Example
“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on
here?”
– This has an aggressive tone.
Examples of
Tone in
Literature
Example :The School (By Donald Barthelme)
“And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died.
Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best.
We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to
plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was
depressing.”
The use of the adjectives “dead” and “depressing” sets a gloomy tone in the passage. As trees
signify life here, their unexpected “death” from an unknown cause gives the above passage an
unhappy and gloomy tone.

9. Common Literary
Elements
Explanation
Theme Main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly
Major Theme
Is an idea that a writer repeats in his literary work, making it the most significant idea in the work.
Minor Theme
Refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly, giving way to another minor theme.
Short
Examples of
Theme
Theme of fear
 The bus was travelling at a great speed when it was stopped by a gang of robbers. The
passengers were ordered to get out, leaving their precious belongings in the bus.
Theme of happiness
 Their marriage ceremony was taking place in a grand hotel. All the eminent people of the city
were invited, the reason that the celebration was excellent.
Examples of
Theme in
Literature
Love and Friendship Theme
 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
War Theme
 A Band of Brothers: Stories from Vietnam by Walter McDonald
Crime and Mystery Themes
 Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Revenge Theme
 A Time to Kill by John Grisham

10. Common Literary
Elements
Explanation
Moral  A message conveyed by, or a lesson learned from, a story, a poem, or an event.
 It is not necessary that the author or the poet has clearly stated it.
 It can be left for the audiences or the learners to derive.
 However, at times, moral is clearly stated in the shape of a proverb.
Examples of
Moral in
Literature
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (By Samuel Johnson)
“I have here the world before me; I will review it at leisure: surely happiness is somewhere to be
found … Happiness must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without
uncertainty.”
In his famous novel, Rasselas, Samuel Johnson narrates the story of a prince who escapes from
the valley of happiness in search of eternal happiness, which he ultimately finds nowhere. And
this is the moral lesson of this tale.

11. Common Literary Techniques
Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Imagery  To use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it
appeals to our physical senses.
 Imagery needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification,
and onomatopoeia, in order to appeal to the bodily senses.
• It was dark and dim in the forest.
The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images.
• The children were screaming and shouting in the fields.
“Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing, or auditory sense.
• He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee.
“Whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell, or olfactory sense.
• The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.
The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch, or tactile sense.
• The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet.
“Juicy” and “sweet” – when associated with oranges – have an effect on our sense of taste, or
gustatory sense.

12. Common Literary Techniques
Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Imagery
Examples in
Literature
Daffodils (By William Wordsworth)
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
 The poet uses the sense of sight to create a host of golden daffodils beside the lake.
 Their fluttering and dancing also refers to the sight.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (By Robert Frost)
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep … “
 Robert Frost uses visual imagery in these lines of his famous poem as, “the woods are lovely,
dark and deep.”

13. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Simile  Is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different
things.
 Draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct
comparison.
EXAMPLE “John is as slow as a snail.”
Snails are notorious for their slow pace, and here the slowness of John is compared to that of a
snail. The use of “as” in the example helps to draw the resemblance.
Short
Examples of
Simile in
Sentences
 The glow of the tube-light was as bright as sunshine.
 The young athlete looked as strong as an ox.
 The boys in the playing field were feeling as happy as dogs with two tails.
Example of
Simile in
Literature
The Daffodils (By William Wordsworth)
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o’er vales and hills.”
 The poet envisions himself as a free cloud that floats alone in a blue sky above valleys and
the mountains. By choosing this simile, Wordsworth describes his loneliness.

14. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Metaphor  Is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things
that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics.
 We do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor.
Common
Speech
Examples of
Metaphors
 My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
 The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)
 It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and
life is going to be without hardships)
Metaphor
Example in
Literature
I carry your heart with me (By E. E. Cummings)
“…and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you …”
 E. E. Cummings has compared his beloved to moon, as well as to the sun. This is another
good metaphor by a modern poet.

15. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Personification  Is a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes.
Common
Examples of
Personification
 Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn’t she?
 The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.
 Time and tide wait for none.
Examples of
Personification
in Literature
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (By William Wordsworth)
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
 Poem by William Wordsworth contains artistic examples of personification.
 The fourth line says, “A host of golden daffodils,” and the fifth line has those flowers
“Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

16. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Irony  Is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words.
 It is a difference between appearance and reality.
Verbal irony  A speaker says something that is opposite to the truth or how the speaker really feels. Note
that of the three main types of irony, verbal irony is the only one that is done intentionally by a
character.
Situational
irony
 A difference between what is expected to happen in a certain situation and what actually
occurs.
Dramatic irony  The audience knows something the characters do not. There is a special form of dramatic
irony called tragic irony in which the audience knows the character is making a mistake as the
character is doing something.

17. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Symbolism  To signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their
literal sense.
Common
Examples of
Symbolism in
Everyday Life
 The dove is a symbol of peace.
 A red rose, or the color red, stands for love or romance.
 Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.
 A broken mirror may symbolize separation.
Short
Examples of
Symbolism in
Sentences
 Rebels raised a white flag to negotiate. (During war, the color white symbolizes making peace
with the enemy. Otherwise, it represents purity and life.)
 He turned green when found a wallet. (Green color is often associated with greed and
jealousy)
Example of
Symbolism in
Literature
My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold (By William Wordsworth)
“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old, …”
 In this poem, the poet uses rainbow as a symbol of hope and general wellbeing
throughout his life.

18. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Foreshadowing  A writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.
 Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, or a chapter, and helps the reader
develop expectations about the coming events in a story.
 A writer may use character dialogues to hint at what may occur in the future. In addition, any
event or action in the story may throw a hint to the readers about future events or actions.
 Foreshadowing in fiction creates an atmosphere of suspense in a story, so that the readers
are interested to know more.
Foreshadowing
Examples
 The evening was still. Suddenly, a cool breeze started blowing and made a windy night.
(Foreshadows thunderstorm).
 They thought there would not be more bodies; however, they could not believe the thought.
(Foreshadows murder).
 Rainbow sparks, With shining lights. (Foreshadows optimism)

19. Common Literary
Techniques
Explanation
Flashback  Flashbacks are interruptions that writers do to insert past events, in order to provide
background or context to the current events of a narrative.
 By using flashbacks, writers allow their readers to gain insight into a character’s motivations,
and provide a background to a current conflict.
 Dream sequences and memories are methods used to present flashbacks.

20. THANK YOU FOR
ATTENDING THE
LECTURE!