Literary Devices

In the literary world, authors do not simply write stories. To make their stories interesting and meaningful, they make use of literary devices. These are narrative techniques that add texture and excitement to writings, stir the readers’ imagination, and convey information and readers’ understanding of such writings. 

There are hundreds of literary devices in literature, the following are a few common ones.

Allegory:

It is a story that is used to represent a general message about real-life issues. It could be an entire book, novel, play etc.

e.g. George Orwell’s Animal Farm, (an allegory for the reasons behind the Russian revolution).

Alliteration:

It is a series of words or phrases that start with the same consonant sound.

e.g. “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Allusion:

This is when an author makes an indirect reference to a figure, event, place or idea outside the text. This indirect reference could be biblical or historical.

e.g. He is blessed with the wisdom of Solomon. This is an allusion to the biblical King Solomon.

Anaphora:

It is when a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of multiple sentences throughout a piece of writing. 

E.g.    

“We shall fight to get there 

We shall fight to conquer

We shall fight to rebuild”

It is used for emphasis and to evoke strong feelings in the audience.

Anthropomorphism: