EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Literary Devices Unlocked: The Secret Tools Behind Great Writing

18 February 2025, By Zineb DJOUB

In literature, stories are told in many ways. Whether in prose or verse, they must capture readers’ attention and create an emotional connection that goes beyond words. If you want to analyze literary works effectively or become a stronger writer, mastering literary conventions—especially literary devices—is essential.

In this post, we’ll explore literary devices, including the most common ones, with examples, and how they differ from figurative language.

What are literary devices? 

Literary devices are techniques that authors use to add depth and meaning to their writing, making it more engaging and impactful.

These tools connect words, senses, and emotions, creating vivid images and experiences that go beyond the literal meaning.

For example, instead of simply stating that a summer evening was long, John Green, in The Fault in Our Stars, wrote:

The sun was a toddler insistently refusing to go to bed: It was past eight-thirty and still light.

Here, he uses a metaphor to compare two unlike things—the sun and a stubborn toddler—making the description more expressive and relatable.

Common literary devices

Here are some definitions and examples of the most common literary devices.

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds, often at the beginning of stressed syllables, to create rhythm and emphasis.

For example, in The Soul Selects Her Own Society” (303) by Emily Dickinson, the repetition of the “s” sound creates emotion and rhyme.

The Soul selects her own Society-then-shut the Door-.

Allusion

An illusion is an indirect reference to a person, event, statement, theme, or work.

It can be external (which most allusions are) referring to something outside the author’s story but familiar to his reader, or internal referring to something earlier in the story to grab the reader’s attention.

Authors allude to something their readers are familiar with to enrich meaning and engage them on a personal level.

For instance, in Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses mythological allusions to show Hamlet’s admiration for his murdered father by comparing the latter to three gods in Roman mythology.

See what a grace was seated on this brow,

Hyperion‘s curls, the front of Jove himself,

An eye like Mars‘ to threaten and command …

Foreshadowing

Authors use this technique to give the audience hints or signs about future events, actions, characters or revelations. This device builds suspense, engages readers, and stimulates curiosity by creating a sense of mystery.

Jane Austen masterfully employs foreshadowing in Sense and Sensibility. For example, in the following passage, she subtly hints at a character’s true nature—Mrs. Dashwood’s emotional attachment and expectations:

Tell me that not only your house will remain the same, but that I shall ever find you and yours as unchanged as your dwelling; and that you will always consider me with the kindness which has made everything belonging to you so dear to me.

Foreshadowing is often confused with ‘flash-forward’ in which a scene set in the future interrupts the present narrative.

While both techniques suggest future events, they serve different purposes. Foreshadowing subtly prepares readers for what is to come, whereas flash-forwards explicitly reveal future events to provide immediate insight into the present story.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is an emphatic exaggeration, for comic, ironic, or dramatic effect. It’s also referred to as overstatement.

Hyperboles are used in everyday conversations such as I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.

In literature, hyperbole is frequently used to heighten emotions and intensify descriptions. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo uses hyperbole several times when describing Juliet and his love for her.

There was a firestorm out there. Dresden was one big flame. The one flame ate everything organic, everything that would burn. — Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Similarly, Mark Twain uses hyperbole in Old Times on the Mississippi to dramatize a feeling of helplessness.

I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far.

Imagery

Imagery is descriptive language that brings to mind sensory impressions. This literary device is generally intended to make the author’s description concrete in the reader’s mind and to provide the reader with a sense of vividness and immediacy.

Imagery is closely linked to symbolism as all symbols depend on images.

In her poem “The Fish” (1946), Elizabeth Bishop used imagery to describe a hooked fish.

I looked into his eyes

which were far larger than mine

but shallower, and yellowed,

the irises backed and packed

with tarnished tinfoil seen

through the lenses

of old scratched isinglass.

They shifted a little, but not

to return my stare.

Irony

Irony occurs when there’s a contradiction between expectations and reality. It can apply to events, situations, a work’s structure, or an author’s tone.

Unlike sarcasm, which is a harsh form of verbal irony aimed at individuals, irony is usually directed at situations and is not necessarily hurtful.

Satire, on the other hand, is a literary genre that uses irony, humour, and sometimes sarcasm to criticize or expose flaws, whereas irony itself is a literary device.

Types of irony

Verbal irony: a discrepancy between what is said and what it is meant. Example: In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s famous opening line—“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”—ironically highlights how women seek wealthy husbands, rather than the reverse.

Situational irony: A contrast between expectations and reality. Example: In The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, a couple sacrifices their most prized possessions to buy gifts for each other—only to find the gifts are now useless.

Structural irony: a discrepancy that typically operates throughout the entire work in terms of structure or form. Example: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” uses an unreliable narrator to create irony, as the absurd suggestion of eating children critiques societal indifference to poverty.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that associates two distinct things (the vehicle and the tenor) without using connective words such as like or as.

Unlike similes, which make explicit comparisons (“Life is like a roller coaster”), metaphors imply a deeper connection between the two elements.

Types of metaphor

• Direct metaphor: Clearly states the comparison. Example: “Her mouth was a fountain of delight” (Kate Chopin, The Storm).
• Implied metaphor: The tenor is inferred from the context of the passage (e.g., “Hope is the thing with feathers”, Emily Dickinson compares hope to a bird),
• Mixed metaphor: Combines two or more metaphors in a way that creates a confusing image. Example: “Behind him, sitting on piles of scrap and rubble, was the blue kite. My key to Baba’s heart.” (Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner).

 

Personification

Personification is a kind of metaphor in which an inanimate object, abstract thing, or non-human animal is described in human terms. Writers use it to create vivid imagery and bring scenes to life.

Examples:

The ocean was making love with something under a yellow blanket.— Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him. — Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

 

Are literary devices and figurative language the same?

Literary devices and figurative language are both techniques authors use to enhance their storytelling, but they serve different purposes.

• Literary devices are broader tools used to enhance writing, including both figurative language (like metaphors and similes) and other techniques (like foreshadowing and irony).
• Figurative language is a specific type of literary device that plays with words and meanings to create vivid imagery or express complex ideas in non-literal ways. It includes devices such as metaphor, simile, and personification.

All figurative language is a literary device, but not all literary devices involve figurative language!