21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

A CORE SUBJECT FOR GRADE ELEVEN STUDENTS

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TOPIC 6: LITERARY TECHNIQUES AND DEVICES
Literary devices are common structures applied in any literary work that writers use
to convey their message to the readers. It allows the readers to interpret, understand,
and analyze the examined work when the devices are effectively utilized.
LITERARY DEVICES
In poetry, there is a recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables on a regular or
nearly regular pattern. This gives a sense of beat or pattern to poetry.
• Rhythm – is the recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables in pattern
(words or in the lines in the poem). Rhythm can be classified in five types:
Foot Type Pattern Example
Iamb unstressed/ stressed compare
Trochee stressed/ unstressed numbers
Spondee stressed/ stressed sunshine
Dactyl stressed/ unstressed/ unstressed marvelous
Anapest unstressed/ unstressed/ stressed metaphor

• Meter – is the basic rhythmic structure of a line within a work of poetry. Meter
consists of two components:
1. The number of syllables
2. A pattern of emphasis on those syllables
A line of poetry can be broken into “feet”, which are individual units within
a line of poetry. A foot of poetry has a specific number of syllables and a
specific pattern of emphasis.
Common Types of Meter in Poetry
Metrical feet are repeated over the course of a line of poetry to create poetic
meter. We describe the length of a poetic meter by using Greek suffixes:
one foot = monometer
two feet = dimeter
three feet = trimeter
four feet = tetrameter
five feet = pentameter
six feet = hexameter
seven feet = heptameter
eight feet = octameter

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PREPARED BY: CLAUDINE E. CAPIN, LPT
 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
A CORE SUBJECT FOR GRADE ELEVEN STUDENTS
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Examples:
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson: When the first line of
a poem written in iambic tetrameter is followed by a line written in iambic
trimeter, the combination is called “common meter.” Here is an example from the
middle of the poem:

“We passed the school / where children played, /

Their lessons / scarcely done; /
We passed the fields / of gazing grain, /
We passed the / setting sun.”/

• Rhyme – the occurrence of the same sounds in words at the end of lines.
Example:
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day;
—Andrew Marvell, “To his Coy Mistress”

FIGURES OF SPEECH
Figures of speech is the use of more expressive language applying varieties of words
to provide creative and dramatic approach to the meaning being presented.
• Simile – comparison that uses the expressions “like” and “as…as” (however,
it is safe to assume that it is not limited to such)
Example:
My love is like a red red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
My love is like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune

• Metaphor – directly compares two unlike objects

Example:
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
—Langston Hughes, “Dreams”

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PREPARED BY: CLAUDINE E. CAPIN, LPT
 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
A CORE SUBJECT FOR GRADE ELEVEN STUDENTS
______________________________________________________________________________
• Personification – giving human qualities to inanimate or non-living objects
Example:
The wind whispers serenely through the silent night.
The boat dances when hit by large waves.

• Onomatopoeia – the use of sound words

Example:
Tick-tock-tick-tock – denotes time or clock
Vrrooom – sound of an engine
Boom – explosion

• Metonymy – the use of a term connected with an object to represent it

Example:
“The pen is mightier than the sword”
—Edward Bulwer Lytton, “Richelieu” (Play)

• Synecdoche – The use of a part of an object to the whole

Example:
“His parents bought him a new set of wheels.”
“I would like to have your hand in marriage.”

• Allusion – the use of indirect reference to people, place, thing or idea

regarding cultural, mystical or political concept.
Example:
Our new classmate is an Einstein during examinations.
You don’t always have to carry the weight of the world on your
shoulders.

• Alliteration – the repetition of a consonant sound. For example, “Peter Piper

picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

• Assonance – the repetition of lines of verse of the same vowel sound. For
example, “on a proud round cloud in white high night.”

• Consonance – is a figure of speech that refers to repeated sounds.

Specifically, it’s repeated consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of
words.
Example: Funny bunny, Fuzzy buzzing bee, Blossom emblem, A
stash of cash

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PREPARED BY: CLAUDINE E. CAPIN, LPT
 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
A CORE SUBJECT FOR GRADE ELEVEN STUDENTS
______________________________________________________________________________
• Apostrophe – call to a person, a thing or a personified idea which is not really
present
Example:
O Captain my Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won
—Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain”

• Hyperbole – express exaggeration

Example:
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
—Joseph Conrad, “The Hear of Darkness”

• Irony – is a contradiction between words and expressions. It is characterized

by contrast and incongruity between reality and appearance.
Example:
"How nice!" she said when I told her I had to work all weekend.

• Anaphora – is a technique where several phrases or verses begin with the

same word or words. For example:
"I came, I saw, I conquered." - Julius Caesar
"Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!" - King John II, William
Shakespeare
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." - A Tale of Two Cities, Charles
Dickens

• Euphemism – it is a mild or indirect term that often substitutes a harsh, blunt,

or offensive term. For example:
A little thin on top (instead of "going bald")
Fell off the back of a truck (instead of "stolen")
Letting you go (instead of "firing you")
Passed away (instead of "died")
Economical with the truth (instead of "liar")

• Oxymoron – is two contradictory terms used together. Some examples

include:
Bitter sweet memories
Beautiful nightmare

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PREPARED BY: CLAUDINE E. CAPIN, LPT
 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
A CORE SUBJECT FOR GRADE ELEVEN STUDENTS
______________________________________________________________________________

• Epigram – is a short, interesting and witty thought or idea on a particular

subject, usually presented in a funny manner.
For example:
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” – Eleanor
Roosevelt
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man
does. That’s his.” – Oscar Wilde

• Paradox – apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning

of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to
arrest attention and provoke fresh thought. The statement “Less is more” is
an example.
Example: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than
others.

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PREPARED BY: CLAUDINE E. CAPIN, LPT