HCL II
Literary Devices 2
Examples in Literature
Allegory - A kind of extended metaphor in which an entire book, poem, or story can signify something other than the actual story that is being told. Many works of literature have several levels of meaning.
The Divine Comedy is an allegory of the Way to God - to that union of our wills with the Universal Will in which every creature finds its true self and its true being. But, as Dante himself has shown, it may be interpreted at various levels. It may be seen, for example, as the way of the artist, or as the way of the lover - both these ways are specifically included in the imagery.
- Dorothy L. Sayers
Alliteration - Used for poetic effect, a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group. The following line from Robert Frost's poem "Acquainted with the Night provides us with an example of alliteration,": I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet." The repitition of the s sound creates a sense of quiet, reinforcing the meaning of the line.
Aphorism - A brief statement which expresses an observation on life, usually intended as a wise observation. Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac" contains numerous examples, one of which is “Drive thy business; let it not drive thee” which means that one should not allow the demands of business to take control of one's moral or worldly commitments.
Example from Polonius, King of Aphorism:
Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Didactic (di-DAK-tik): refers to literature or other types of art that are instructional or informative. In this sense The Bible is didactic because it offers guidance in moral, religious, and ethical matters. It tells stories of the lives of people that followed Christian teachings, and stories of people that decided to go against God and the consequences that they faced. The term "didactic" also refers to texts that are overburdened with instructive and factual information, sometimes to the detriment of a reader's enjoyment. The opposite of "didactic" is "nondidactic." If a writer is more concerned with artistic qualities and techniques than with conveying a message, then that piece of work is considered to be nondidactic, even if it is instructive.
Hyperbole - obvious and deliberate exaggeration or an extravagant statement. It is a figure of speech not intended to be taken literally since it is exaggeration for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbole is a common poetic and dramatic device.
The device was common in Tudor and Jacobean drama. Shakespeare used it in Antony and Cleopatra when Cleopatra praises the dead Antony:
His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm
Crested the world . . . .
Act V, scene ii : lines 82 – 83
Hyperbole is consistently used in everyday speech, such as when saying, “I’m freezing.” when you are cold.
Irony - Irony takes many forms. In irony of situation, the result of an action is the reverse of what the actor expected. Macbeth murders his king hoping that in becoming king he will achieve great happiness. Actually, Macbeth never knows another moment of peace, and finally is beheaded for his murderous act. In dramatic irony, the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not. For example, the audience may know the identity of the murderer in a crime thriller long before the mystery is solved. In verbal irony, the contrast is between the literal meaning of what is said and what is meant. A character may refer to a plan as brilliant, while actually meaning that (s)he thinks the plan is foolish. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony.
Personification - A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics. Consider the following lines from Carl Sandburg's "Chicago:"
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the big shoulders:
Carl Sandburg’s description of Chicago includes shoulders. Cities do not have shoulders, people do. Sandburg personifies the city by ascribing to it something human, shoulders. "Justice is blind." is another example