LITERARY DEVICES (LANGUAGE DEVICES) IN LITERATURE
These are artistic language structures used by writers to give a deeper meaning and to flavour their literary works.
Literary devices includes,
(a) Figures of speech.
(b) Musical devices/Sound techniques.
A. FIGURES OF SPEECH.
Is any way of stating something other than in an ordinary way. Figures of speech includes
works appear colourful and attractive to read. Figures of speech include the following.
(1) Simile.
Is the comparison between two distinct things using words “like”, “as as” or “resemble”
E.g. She is beautiful like flowers. As black as a charcoal.
(2) Metaphor.
Is a direct comparison between two distinct things without using the words “like”, “as. as” or resemble.
E.g. Life is a dream. Juma is a lion
Metaphor is having two parts which are Tenor and vehicle
(a) Tenor
is the subject of the metaphor to which attributes are ascribed.
E.g. Juma is a lion
(b) Vehicle
is the object of the metaphor whose attributes are borrowed.
Eg. Juma is a lion
(3) Extended metaphor.
This is the metaphor that is extended throughout a majority of the literary work or throughout the entire literary work.
(4) Dead Metaphor
is the metaphor that has been used so frequently and hence has became a common expression. In other words, dead metaphor Is the metaphor that has lost its metaphoric status due to frequent use.
Eg. Time is money.
The heart of the mater.
(5) Personification.
Is the giving of human attributes or qualities to animals or inanimate objects.
Eg. The cow cried bitterly.
The moon smiled at me during the night.
(6) Symbolism.
Is the use of something to represent something else.
Eg. “Angel” to represent “purity” . “Lion” to represent “courage”.
(7) Hyperbole/Overstatement/Exaggeration.
Is an evident exaggeration of the meaning for the sake of emphasis.
Eg. I will fill all the rivers with my tears.
Thanks a million.
(8) Understatement.
Is a figure of speech which expresses a fact too weakly or less emphatically than the way it is. Eg.I didn’t beat him much, only 100 strikes.
I have only a small farm, only 500 acres.
(9) Metonymy.
Is the substitution of a word with another word that is close related to it.
Eg. My tongue is not difficult to learn: tongue = language.
You must address the chair first: chair = Leader of the session.
(10) Eponymy.
This is when a name of a person is used as a synonym of something.
Eg. Hitler for Nazism.
Musolin for dictatorship.
(11) Synecdoche.
Is a figure of speech in which part of something is used to designate the whole or the whole to designate the part.
Eg. I have many months to feed: Mouths = people.
Tanzania won a gold medal in marathon:Tanzania = Only a person who participated.
(12) Paradox.
Is a statement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents the truth.
Eg. They have been burning us with a cold fire(
i.e ruining us without our notice ). Look at those walking corpses.
(13) Sarcasm.
Is a bitter cutting speech intended to wound someone’s feelings. It is intended by a speaker to give pain to the person addressed.
Eg. Student: I don’t understand :Teacher: Well I wouldn’t expect you too.
(14) Satire.
Is a ridicule of human folly with the purpose of bringing about a reform or at least of keeping other people from falling into similar
It is used to criticize human folly especially by making it appear ridiculous or laughable.
(15) Irony.
Is the use of words in such a way that the intended meaning is completely opposite to their literal meaning.
Eg. The bread is soft as a stone.
Types of Ironies.
There are three main types of ironies which are the following.
(a) Verbal Irony.
(b) Dramatic Irony.
(c) Situational Irony.
(a) Verbal Irony.
Is the type of Irony in which words are used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning.
Eg. You are cleverest student in the class, You scored 5% in Maths.
(b) Dramatic Irony.
Is a failure of a character to see or understand what is obvious to the audience. Dramatic irony refers to a contradiction in a play between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true.
Situational irony is the moment when the narrator and the audience share the knowledge or experience that a character is ignorant of.
Eg. In “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles where Oedipus fails to realize what the audience knows-that he married his own mother.
(c) Situational Irony.
This is an event that occur directly contrary to the expectations of characters, the readers or the audience. Situational irony is when things turn out to be contrary to the expectations of the characters, readers or audience.
Eg. In “Man of the people” by Chinua Achebe, One could not expect that Chief Nanga would take Elsie (who was Odili’s girlfriend) and sleep with her under Odili’s witness and worse still not being apologetic to what he has done.
(16) Allusion.
Is a passing reference, without explicit identification to a literary, historical person, place, event, or to another literary work or passage. Or Is a reference in a literary work to a person, place or book without explicit identification.
Eg. Reference from holy books.
(17) Euphemism.
Is a figure of speech which avoids the use of taboo or unpleasant words.
Eg. Private parts is a Euphemism for vagina/penis.
(18) Apostrophe.
Is a direct address to the dead, an absent or a personified idea.
Eg. Ooh!, death where are you.
(19) Analogy.
Is a comparison between two objects that are essentially different but have at least one common quality.
Eg. Advertising cigarettes is like manslaughter.
(20) Tautology.
Is a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words.
Tautology is a needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context without imparting additional force or clearness.
(21) Oxymoron.
Is a phrase bringing together two contradictory terms.
Eg. An Open secret. A wise fool. A Pleasing pain A loving hate.
(22) Antithesis.
Is a literary technique in which the opposite or contrasting statements are balanced for emphasis.
Eg. Man proposes, God disposes:Speech is silvern, but silence is golden.
We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.
(23) Apotheosis.
Refers to a deliberate failure to complete a sentence.
Eg. Be gentle my………
Ah………
(24) Suspense.
Is a lack of certainty on the part of a concerned reader/audience about what is going
to happen to character with whom the reader has established a bond of sympathy.
(25) Plot twist.
Is a change in the expected direction of the literary work intended to keep the interest of the audience.
(26) Litotes.
Is a figure of speech that uses an understated statement of an affirmative by using a negative description.
Eg. “I’m not feeling bad” for “I’m feeling good”
(27) Rhetorical question.
Is a statement in form of a question used for emotional emphasis.
Eg. Didn’t I tell you? – I told you.
Who knows? – No one knows.
(28) Poetic lisense.
Is the privilege which artists are given to break the grammatical rules of language.
Eg. “These steps is broken down” instead of “These steps are broken down” (from “Ballad of the landlord” by Langston Hughes).
(29) Ellipsis.
Is the act of leaving out some words which a writer or an artist thinks are less important. The ellipted words may be filled by the reader in mind as he reads the work. In Poetry ellipsis is mainly used to save space. Ellipsis is mainly done in grammatical or minor word classes.
Eg. “Way last week” instead of “On the way last week” (From “Ballad of the landlord”)
(30) Contrast.
Refers to closely arranged things with strictly different characteristics. It is sometimes defined as a literary device by which one element is thrown into oppositional to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity.
Eg. He was dark, sinister and cruel; she was radiant, pleasant and kind.
(31) Allegory.
Is a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning. Often, it is a symbolic narrative that has not only a literal meaning, but a larger one understood only after reading the entire story or poem.
Some critics consider Allegory to be an extended metaphor in which objects, persons and actions in narrative either prose or verse are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The surface story is often the representation of the event, situation or period of the hidden meaning.
Eg. “An animal farm” by George Orwell is an allegory of Russian revolution in which dictatorship, murder and betrayal were the order of the day.
(b) Musical devices/Sound techniques.
Is the choice and arrangement of words due to their sounds.
(1) Repetition.
Is a repetition of the same words to create rhythm and for emphasis.
Types of repetition.
Repetition includes the following types.
(a) Alliteration/Head rhyme.
(b) Anaphora.
(c) Parrallelism
(d) Assonance.
(e) consonance.
(f) Rhyme.
(g) Refrain.
(a) Alliteration/Head rhyme.
Is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a sequence of nearby words. Or the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of nearby words.
Eg. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick? i.e sound /p/
Delicate diplomatic duties you know i.e sound /d/ (From “Building the nation” by Henry Barlow)
(b) Anaphora.
This is the repetition of the word at the beginning of consecutive lines, verses or sentences.
Eg. The first three lines of the poem “Africa” by David Mandessi Diop.
(c) Parrallelism
Is the repetition of line which have similar structure and have a similar phrase. Contrary
anaphora, parallelism is a phrase that consists of more than one word.
Eg. The structure “I’ll ” in the last stanza of
the poem “The troubled warrior” by Alexander Muigai.
(c) Assonance.
Is the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in a sequence of nearby words.
Eg. Bride of quietness though foster child silence i.e sound /ai/
(d) Consonance.
Is the repetition of final consonant sounds in a sequence of nearby words.
Eg. Take your pick
and pack
your pack i.e sound /k/
(e) Rhyme.
Is the repetition of the same sound at the end of lines of a poem.
Eg bear……………………say cry
Hear…………………..pay high
Types of Rhyme.
There are two types of rhyme which are;
i) . Internal rhyme.
i) Internal rhyme.
This is when rhyming words are within the line of a poem.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.
From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
ii) End rhyme.
This is when rhyming words are at the end of lines of a poem. English Poetry usually use only end rhyme.
Rhyme schemes.
Rhyme schemes include the following;
a) Regular rhyme scheme.
b) Irregular rhyme scheme.
a) Regular rhyme scheme.
This is when rhyming words in a poem follow a specific pattern.
b) Irregular rhyme scheme.
This is when rhyming words do not follow a specific pattern. i.e no specific rhyme pattern.
(f) Refrain.
Is a line, part of line or group of lines which is repeated at the end of each stanza.
Eg. “Atieno yo” is a refrain in “A freedom Song” by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye.
(g) Onomatopoeia/Echoism.
These are words which imitate the sounds of their objects.
Eg. tick-tock.
(h) Rhythm.
Is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllbles or words in a poem. It is the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.
(i) Euphony.
Is a term applied to language which strikes the ear as smooth, pleasant and musical. Eg. And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon.
(j) Cacophony/Dissonance.
Is a language which is perceived as harsh, rough and unmusical.
Eg. Rats
They fought the dogs and killed the rats!
