Literary Devices: fun facts and quiz

A metaphor describes one thing as if it were another: “time is money”, “all the world’s a stage”. It isn’t meant literally.

Key fact
A simile compares using “like” or “as”; a metaphor doesn’t.

A simile compares two things using “like” or “as”: “brave as a lion”, “sleeping like a log”.

Key fact
Similes are everywhere in everyday speech.

Alliteration repeats the same starting sound in nearby words: “Peter Piper picked a peck”. Brands love it: Coca-Cola, PayPal, Dunkin’ Donuts.

Key fact
Many comic heroes have alliterative names, like Peter Parker.

Personification gives human qualities to things that aren’t human: “the wind whispered”, “the sun smiled down”.

Key fact
Fables use it when animals talk and think.

Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something a character doesn’t. We watch Romeo believe Juliet is dead, knowing she’s only asleep.

Key fact
Horror films use it when we see the danger a character can’t.

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect: “I’ve told you a million times”, “this bag weighs a ton”.

Key fact
Hyperbole comes from the Greek for “throwing beyond”.

Foreshadowing drops hints about what’s coming. The playwright Anton Chekhov said that if a gun appears in the first act, it should go off later.

Key fact
The idea is known as “Chekhov’s gun”.