Questions tagged [literary-device]
Techniques used by writers to produce certain effects in their writing
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"He ordered a whiskey." - metonymy/synecdoche/neither?
From what I understand, "He drank a glass" (container instead of thing contained) is metonymy, but would "He ordered a whiskey" instead of "a glass/shot of whiskey" be ...
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Is there a term for the device of repeating the exact same word twice immediately to emphasize its sincerity or power? [duplicate]
I already know the term anaphora exists for repeating the same word for emphasis. I'm specifically interested in a term for repeating a word twice without additional clarification to express that ...
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How to correctly create a transition from a phrase to an unintelligible scream?
I'm trying to create a transition effect in a situation when a character suddenly finds himself falling, and his last word, which ends in '-y', is transitioning into an unintelligible scream.
However, ...
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Polysyndeton or another term? [duplicate]
After searching for "English phrase where you list a lot of things" I came upon Polysyndeton which is defined as:
Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that
is ...
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What is the term for using a word to portray a particular idea outside of but close to the context of the original meaning?
What is the term for using a word to portray a particular idea outside of but close to the context of the original meaning? Here is an example of what I mean. Someone may use the word “mercenary” in a ...
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Which literary device is "the only place to put the pieces were the bags under my eyes"?
I am writing a few paragraphs about Rupi Kaur's poetry. I've been trying to think about which literary device is used in this example.
In milk and honey, written by Rupi Kaur, she states:
"the ...
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Help me identify the literary device (if any)
Is there a literary device hidden in the following sentence?
The officer wheels me around
I was thinking if it could be a hyperbole or a trope opposite to personification, because a person does not ...
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What is it called when someone deliberately feigns misunderstanding in order to make a joke?
I used to think this is irony, but after searching for the definition of "irony", it clearly isn't. It also isn't sarcasm. Here's an example:
Person 1: Hey, do you know Newton's second law?
...
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Is freak of nature an oxymoron?
My question is, is the term "freak of nature" a oxymoron?
I feel as if it is a oxymoron due to freak and nature being contradictions of each other, but I am not sure.
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What kind of repetition is "millions and millions and millions of"? [duplicate]
One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths…
J.B. Priestley, An Inspector Calls
Would "millions and millions and millions" be an example of ...
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What does "he broke into his hands" mean in The House on Mango Street?
In The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the chapter "What Sally Said" ends with the following:
Then we didn't need to worry. Until one day Sally's father catches her talking to a ...
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What is the term for this literary device where a name is replaced by a description?
I remember in school being taught a literary device while studying Beowulf where a name is replaced by a description ("wave-rider" instead of boat, a weapon being "life-ender", etc)...
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Identifying Literary devices (synecdoche, periphrasis)
Does the usage of the names of specific national dishes here represent the countries? Can we affirm that the author uses a synecdoche?
Even if you’re not bold enough to try bubble and squeak, haggis ...
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Question about literary devices (probably personification)
Is there any literary device? I suspect that the part with "relationship" is connected with personification.
From: https://www.britishtours.com/greenwich-tours.
The Museum packs a treasure ...
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Is there a term for quoted language in a poem?
In Wyatt's Whoso List to Hount, there is a (fictional) piece of writing quoted. Here are the three lines that display this:
There is written, her fair neck round about:/
'Noli me tangere for Caesar'...
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What figure of speech or literary device is the following? [closed]
What figure of speech or literary device is it when multiple interpretations are possible of a particular verse or words?
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Is chremamorphism the literary technique for objectification? [closed]
So I was hoping if someone could support that chremamorphism is the literary technique term for objectification. Specifically, I am looking at the phrase "the pushing of your sadness". ...
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In the phrase: "She swallowed her words", what literary device is being used?
Words can't be swallowed, so there has to be some literary device being used here. It's not a metaphor or simile because words are not being compared to anything, and it's not personification either ...
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Is there a technique for when a verb is used to conjure up a distinct image? [closed]
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the love between John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor as an "emotion flowing between them". In my interpretation, the verb
"flowing" connotes ...
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What is the name of the literary technique for this?
So the common adage is "The apple never falls far from the tree."
So what would you call: "Sometimes the apple falls very far from the tree."
It points out an exception to the rule....
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too many this tilts his thumb to his lips; is this metaphor?
Mama dances, laughs, dances. All of a sudden, Mama is sick. I fan her hot face with a paper plate. Too many tamales, but Uncle Nacho says too many this tilts his thumb to his lips.
The House on Mango ...
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What would we call this literary device? [duplicate]
To best describe it, when the same word or family of words is used twice in the same sentence to provide an ironic meaning. For instance, "raiding English from the English, stealing poetry from ...
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Is there a name for the literary device of having multiple speakers alternating in the same paragraph?
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis has:
. . . Lucy could only say, "It would break your heart." "Why," said I, "was it so sad?" "Sad!! No," said ...
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Which literary device swaps ideas between clauses? [duplicate]
While thinking of an appropriate inscription for my dad’s headstone, the following phrase came to mind: “He served his country with honor, and honored his wife with love.” Can this sentence be ...
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What is the literary device when a character takes part in a real play in the story?
In the story, one of the characters acts in a play. This play also exists in real life, and it has a symbolic meaning to the story. Would this be an example of intertextuality or would it be a ...
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Is there a word for "the use of opposite expressions" similar to "comparison"
Is there a word as a use of language when the writer uses an opposite / bad example to make the correct / other ones particularly stand out?
Thanks
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What Literary device is in use, when the tone/pronunciation/intonation/delivery of a word or phrase gives its double meaning
What is the literary device used in the above scenario called?
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What are the literary devices that appear in these two quotes?
Majestic and minute, remote and magically near, frank and divinely enigmatic.
It's a polysyndeton but since antonyms are used there would it be juxtaposition? I thought it wouldn't be oxymoron or ...
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Question about the literary device personification
But what I miss,
Among these mahua trees,
When merrily I pace,
Is the beholding pleasure
Of her face.
This is a stanza from a poem.I would like to know if 'beholding pleasure'could be an example of ...
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What literary device is used in this phrase? (Opposite of personification?)
Writing an analysis on a short story.
This line is talking about one of the main characters who plays music throughout the house often.
...it is not "like living with a person at all, it was like ...
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"consumers" referring to "pupils"
In the following sentence, "consumers" means "consumers of education." Is this a metaphor, or an ordinary use of the word?
Education Ministers ought to have placed the interests ...
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Word for stating something as fact when narrator and audience knows it is untrue?
I am looking for a literary term that is similar to irony. Basically, the narrator say something in an almost sarcastic way by stating something that everyone knows is untrue. The quote I am going off ...
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What is the Difference Between a Mood and Tone?
The two literary devices "mood" and "tone" seem to be the same no matter where I read about them. I cannot seem to differ them.
Example: "the dark and gloomy night"
The ...
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What is the difference between 'transferred epithet' and 'metaphor'?
In the poem 'My Mother at Sixty-six' by Kamala Das (which I have attached below), what is the poetic device in the line 'the merry children spilling out of their homes'?
I feel like it should be ...
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Is "My teeth chatter" a form of personification? [closed]
Is the phrase "my teeth chatter" (due to the cold) an example of personification? Teeth can't literally chatter, but they can make a chattering noise, so I am a bit torn on this one.
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Seeking a name for literary device/technique involving denial and hypothetical dialogue
Preface
To properly frame this question, I should note that I recently have been studying formal rhetoric according to the five canons (inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, and actio), and paying ...
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Literary term for when the author purposely doesn't describe something so that the audience is left to imagine it
I read an article the other day with this term, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.
Essentially, the vaguely describes/hints at something, but the reader is never made aware of the ...
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What is the difference between parataxis and asyndeton?
Online, I have found many different definitions and comparisons of parataxis and asyndeton. In the dictionary (New Oxford American) they are defined as follows:
Parataxis: the placing of clauses or ...
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What is the name of the literary technique/device used where the reader is only shown one side of a dialogue?
What is the literary device used when there is a dialogue but only one speaker's side is heard/shown to the reader/audience. And how can I write this in a way that it is clear that although this ...
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What type of literary device is referring to a famous quote in a song?
In his song Land of the Free, the artist, Joey B., sings:
And everything I do or say today that's worthwhile
Will for sure inspire actions in your first child.
is similar to this quote by Marcus ...
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Is there a name for this kind of language in prose?
I recently came across this sentence in Raymond Chandler's The High Window: "I seemed to be wading through mud as I went on into the room." I feel strongly that there is some sort of literary or ...
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Is there a literary device to show how a character or interactions with a character changes as the story goes on?
I'm trying to break down Wilfred Owen's Disabled, and I feel like there should be a device for describing his condition before and after the war. Girls treat him so differently. He used to be a ...
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What literary device/term is this? "To die will be an awfully big adventure." [closed]
What literary device does this show (if any)?
To die will be an awfully big adventure. — Peter Pan
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A word or phrase for a hypothetical reaction of a person from the past to the present
This question arises from an essay in a recent bird guide, in which the author imagines how ornithologists past would react to changes since their time, and which of these would interest them most.
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What is the literary device for "our eyes opened" when describing a realization?
This is a quote from the book Night, by Elie Wiesel. In context: "We realized that we were not staying in Hungary. Our eyes opened. Too late."
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Can someone please identify this literary device [duplicate]
"Mike-schmike." I muttered, preoccupied by the way he'd said "you and I." I liked it more than I should.
This is a line from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight novel (page 25). How would we describe 'Mike-...
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Is there a name for the substitution of "the + singular noun" for a plural noun? [duplicate]
For instance, I might say, "Overcrowding is a major concern in the classroom today" rather than "Overcrowding is a major concern in classrooms today".
Is that substitution a literary device?
The ...
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Literary devices and sentence structure in Matthew 7:1 (KJV)
I am a student who is looking for help on a specific portion of my discussion. I have been asked the following questions with respect to this KJV verse:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
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What is an "indirect dialogue/discourse"?
I came upon this paragraph during my practice for a literature test.
"...Lin stood in the yard facing the front wall while flipping over a dozen mildewed books he had left to be sunned on a stack of ...
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Literary term for "I picked up my suitcase and convictions and walked out the door"? (intangible and tangible items together in a list)
All! I've been stumped with this question for a while now. What do we call it when you use an intangible object and represent it as though it is tangible, usually coupled with tangible objects? ...
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