Literary DevicesIntroduction to

Literature

Forms of Repetition

• Alliteration– Repetition of the initial (first) consonant

• Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer…

• Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance: a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.– V is for Vendetta

Forms of Repetition

• Assonance– Repetition of a vowel sound• Row, row, row your boat…

• …dead in the middle of Little Italy; little did we know / every riddle's a middleman who didn't do diddly.– Big Pun, “Twinz (Deep Cover ‘98)”

Forms of Repetition

• Consonance– Repetition of an internal consonant• Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…

• Rap rejects my tape deck, ejects projectile. / Whether Jew or Gentile / I rank top percentile, / many styles, / more powerful than gamma rays, / my grammar pays…– The Fugees, “Zealots”

Forms of Repetition

• Anaphora– Repetition of a word or phrase to begin lines of poetry or

prose• It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age

of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief. It was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of Light. It was the season of Darkness. It was the spring of hope. It was the winter of despair.– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

• And the German won't be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us that they are tortured with.– Inglourious Basterds

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

• Chiastic Repetition– Inverting the word order (in a second

instance) without altering the meaning conveyed (in the first instance)• Boy, I can’t stand that sonuvabitch. He’s one

sonuvabitch I really can’t stand.”– The Catcher in the Rye (P. 23)

A

A1B1

BBoy, I can’t stand

I really can’t stand

that sonuvabitch

He’s one sonuvabitchCHI (X)

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

• Chiastic Antimetabole– Inverting word order (in the second instance) to change or amend

the meaning conveyed (in the first instance)• What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the

size of the fight in the dog.– President Dwight D. Eisenhower

• “Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.• “I do,” Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's

the same thing, you know.”• “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say

that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”• “You might just as well say," added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I

get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!’• “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be

talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

• Chiastic Wordplay– Inverting words, sounds, homophones, and/or

homonyms (in the second instance) to change or amend the meaning (in the first instance)• I find Paul appealing and Peale appalling.

– Adlai Stevenson, contrasting Saint Paul with Protestant Minister Norman Vincent Peale (who opposed President Kennedy’s bid for office in 1960)

• Unlike my predecessors, I have devoted more of my lifeto shunting and hooting than to hunting and shooting.– Sir Fred Burrows, speech upon his 1847 retirement as the

last governor of the British colony of Bengal

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

• Chiastic Double Entendre– Inverting the word order (in the second

instance) to evoke a second/double meaning from its usage (in the first instance).• We did not cross the border. The border

crossed us.– Immigrants’ Rights Slogan

• First sentence: “Cross” means “move beyond”• Second sentence: “Cross” means

“intersected,” “openly opposed,” and “betrayed”

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

• Palindrome– A word or phrase that reads exactly the

same backwards as it does forwards.

• Now, sir, a war is never even; sir, a war is won.

• Campus motto: Bottoms up, Mac!

• Stressed? No Tips? Spit on desserts.

• Narrative Chiasmus– Chiasmus on the largest scale, where it becomes the structural pattern of a whole

narrative.

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)

A: 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old,B: the LORD appeared to him

C: and said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

D: 3 Abram fell facedown, E: and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

F: No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c

] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7

G: I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendant after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep:

H: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12

AGEGOD TRAVELS

THE PLANBOWING

LEGACY

NAME CHANGE

ACTIONS & CONSEQUENCES

CIRCUMCISION

Forms of Chiasmus (Inversion)• Narrative Chiasmus (CONTINUED)

H: For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised.

G: My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

F: 15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.

E:  I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

D: 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

C: 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”

B: 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.  A: 23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

Source: Genesis 17:1-25

CIRCUMCISION

ACTIONS & CONSEQUENCES

NAME CHANGE

LEGACY

BOWING

THE PLAN

GOD TRAVELS

AGE

Forms of Contradiction

• Two-Idea Antithesis– A parallel syntactical construction used to

illustrate a contrast between two antonyms/opposites (either words or ideas)• Serenity now; insanity later.

– Seinfeld

• That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.– Neil Armstrong, upon the first moon landing

• Some men see things as they are and say ‘why’; I dream things that never were and say ‘why not.’– President John F. Kennedy

Forms of Contradiction

• One-Idea Antithesis– A compressed antithesis, where a single

subject expresses two opposing antonyms/opposites (either words or ideas)

• I'm a bitch, I'm a lover I'm a child, I'm a mother I'm a sinner, I'm a saint I do not feel ashamed.– Meredith Brooks, “Bitch”

Forms of Contradiction• Oxymoron

– From Greek: “oxy” (sharp) & “moron” (dull)– Two words juxtaposed (placed next to one another in contradiction)

that are inherent opposites (i.e. a contradiction in terms).

• "O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!“– William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

– Clichés• Deafening silence• Sweet sorrow

– Jokes• Business ethics• Civil war

– Commonly Used• Electric candles• Virtual reality

Forms of Contradiction

• Literary Paradox– A statement that seems self-contradictory but expresses a

little known truth.

– Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.• William Shakespeare, Hamlet

– “Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

– “I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.”

– “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter. “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”• Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Forms of Contradiction

• Logical Paradox– A statement that seems (or is)

impossible to resolve.• I always lie. (The Liar’s Paradox)

– If we read this as true, the statement is invalidated because nothing the speaker ever says can be understood as honest, and so the statement, in itself, must be false.

– If we read this as a lie, the statement is invalidated because the statement, in itself, would end up being honest, and would contradict the truthful message it sets out to deliver.

Forms of Ambiguity

• Hyperbole– An obvious exaggeration of a person, thing, or

situation, which is intended for effect.• “I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled

with an alligator. That's right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick! I'm so mean I make medicine sick!“– Muhammad Ali, Interview before fight with George Foreman

• Infomercial Montage

Forms of Ambiguity• Litotes

– An obvious understatement of a person, thing, or situation, which is intended for effect.• [King Arthur and the Black Knight are fighting. King Arthur severs the Black

Knight’s arm.]• King Arthur: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.• Black Knight: ’Tis but a scratch.• King Arthur: A scratch? Your arm’s off!• Black Knight: I’ve had worse.• [They fight again. King Arthur severs the Black Knight’s other arm.]• King Arthur: You are indeed brave, Sir Knight, but the fight is mine.• Black Knight: Oh, had enough, eh?• King Arthur: Look, you stupid b*stard, you’ve got no arms left!• Black Knight: Yes, I have.• King Arthur: Look!• Black Knight: It’s just a flesh wound.

– Monty Python and the Holy Grail

– They can often created by using a double negative or a negation of the opposite.• The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day. (Was bad…)

– “Casey at the Bat,” 1888 Baseball Poem

Forms of Ambiguity

• Malapropism– A statement in which the speaker unknowingly uses an

improper word/term, usually one which sounds similar to the proper word/term.

• The ironing (irony) is delicious!– The Simpsons, (Bart, upon finding Lisa in detention)

• No, a moo point. Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo." (moot)– Friends, (Joey)

• This is definition (defamation) of character!– My (Callie’s) grandfather, upon being arrested for public intoxication

(or so the story has been told…)

Forms of Ambiguity

• Verbal Irony/Sarcasm– A statement regarding a person, thing, or situation that

is intended to be interpreted obviously as the opposite.

• [Maude shows the porn video starring Bunny to the Dude]• Sherry in ‘Logjammin’”: [on video] You must be here to fix

the cable. • Maude Lebowski: Lord. You can imagine where it goes from

here. • The Dude: He fixes the cable? • Maude Lebowski: Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey.

– The Big Lebowski

• I’ll just marry an NFL player. They’re super reliable.– Glee, Santana

Forms of Ambiguity

• Dramatic Irony– A form of irony on a larger scale, where a statement regarding

a person, thing, or situation is intended to be interpreted obviously as the opposite by the audience (and potential some other characters), but not by the speaker.

– The effect of this is placing the audience one step ahead of the character.

• Would I ever leave this company? Look, I'm all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I'm being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most. – The Office, (Dwight)

• Yeah, sir, you might want to send a maintenance man over to that office across the way. The lights are off, and they must be looking for a fuse box, 'cause them flashlights, they keep me awake.– Forrest Gump, (Forrest, in the Watergate Hotel, contacting security)

Forms of Ambiguity• Situational/Cosmic Irony

– Irony on the largest scale, where a person, thing, or situation ends up undergoing an unexpected and/or tragic reversal in the outcome of events (usually, different from the outcome the audience would have predicted).

• In 1981, when John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Reagan, all of his shots missed the President. However, one ricocheted off of the bullet-proof limousine and ended up striking the President in the chest.– The situational irony is that a car intended to protect the President actual caused him to be

shot.

• The Wizard of Oz is filled with situational irony:– Dorothy spends her dream trying to find the Wizard of Oz so she can return home; she had

the ability to do it the whole time, though, by clicking her heels.– Everyone in Oz believes the Wizard is all-powerful; however, he ends up being a shriveled,

old man behind a curtain.– The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion all accompany Dorothy to acquire a head, heart,

and courage; by the movie’s end, they realize they had these qualities the whole time.

• In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet fakes her death to avoid marrying Paris; however, Romeo believes she is really dead (because he did not receive the “memo” in exile), so he kills himself shortly before she wakes up.

Forms of Ambiguity• Pun

– A play on meanings within a single word, or words with similar sounds being substituted to create a double meaning/humorous effect.

• Thou art Peter [Greek: Petros], and upon this rock [Greek: petra] I will build my church.– Matthew 16:18

• [James Bond has just wrestled an enemy, who consumes an air capsule, puffs up like a balloon, and floats away.]

• Solitaire: Where’s Kananga?• James Bond: Oh, he always did have an

inflated opinion of himself.– Live and Let Die

Forms of Ambiguity

• Zeugma– The use of a single verb throughout several

words, clauses, or sentences to evoke multiple meanings, usually both concrete and abstract.

• [Lieutenant Jimmy Cross] carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.– Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”

• My teeth and ambitions are bared—be prepared!– The Lion King (Scar, “Be Prepared”)

Forms of Imagery

• Simile– Compares two separate ideas, objects,

people, etc. by using like or as.

• My rhymes are like shot clocks, interstate cops, and blood clots; / my point is your flow gets stopped.– Talib Kweli, “Hater Players”

• “The full green hills are round and soft as breasts.”– John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Forms of Imagery

• Metaphor– Transfers the qualities of one idea, object, person,

etc. to another, relying on an unexpected resemblance to make it work; in this way, it is similar to a simile, but does not use like or as.

• Time is money.– Popular saying

• All the world's a stage, / and all the men and women merely players; / they have their exits and their entrances.– William Shakespeare, As You Like It

• The eyes are the nipples of the face.– The House Bunny

Forms of Imagery

• Slang Metaphor– Slang words that are coined through their

continued use as metaphors

• We get that bread (money), boy.– Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana, “Get that Bread”– From “dough,” which also arose from metaphor: bread is

one of the cheapest (and oldest foods) upon which people have survived.

• If I wanna floss (show off/flaunt), I got my own.– Jennifer Lopez, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”– Gangsters would show off the grill on their teeth, as

though they were baring their teeth in front of the mirror to floss.

Forms of Imagery

• Part-for-a-Whole Synecdoche– Occurs when the writer uses one part of

something to stand in for a larger whole.

• Needles: Nice set of wheels (car). Let’s see what she can do.– Back to the Future III

• Dark Helmet: I knew it! I’m surrounded by assholes (men full of crap).– Spaceballs

Forms of Imagery

• Whole-for-a-Part Synecdoche– Occurs when the writer uses a larger object, person,

idea, etc. to stand in for a part of it.

– He was quite fond of the drink (alcohol). It was the drink that killed him. He was hit by a Guinness truck.• Mrs. Doubtfire

– Look at me now. Look at me now. I’m gettin’ paper (money).• Chris Brown, “Look at me now”

Forms of Imagery

• Metonymy– Substituting one term for another, using an

association to provide the necessary logical link.

• One suit, two suit, three suit, four!– Entourage, (Billy, commenting on Eric and Ari—

businessmen)

• Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.– William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (Mark Antony, asking

for attention)

Forms of Imagery

• Allegory– A narrative containing a figurative meaning

distinct from and parallel to the explicit (literal) plot.

• Planet of the Apes– Literal Reading: Astronauts land on a foreign planet in the

distant future. The planet seems desolate, but apes, who have attained human-like speech and intelligence, run the place, and humans are mute, wearing animal skins.

– Figurative Reading: People reflect on the state of society, given the issues war, pollution, racism, evolution vs. creationism, and portray a bleak future.

Forms of Imagery

• Personification– Attributing human-like

qualities to inanimate objects or abstract concepts.

• The Brave Little Toaster– A toaster, desk lamp,

electric blanket, radio, and vacuum cleaner go on a quest to search for their original owner.

Constance & Fortitude

Forms of Imagery

• Anthropomorphism– Attributing human-like qualities to

animals or other non-human living objects.

• The Jungle Book• The Lion King• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe• Animal Farm

Forms of Imagery

• Fable• A story told with animals, plants, inanimate

objects, or forces of nature, intended to convey a moral lesson that will be perfectly clear by the conclusion (and may even be spelled out)

• “The Tortoise and the Hare”– Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

• Finding Nemo– Moral: Just keep swimming.

Forms of Imagery

• Parable– A story told with humans to illustrate a moral

lesson, which may or may not be clear (and is often more complex than that of a fable)

– Parables can often be religious in nature.

• The Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32)– A man has two sons, and he gives each an inheritance. The

younger son wastes all of his money in a foreign land. When he comes home, he repents and asks his father for forgiveness. The father accepts, and makes a celebration of his son’s return. The older son, who has worked hard and saved his money, is upset. The father maintains that celebration is necessary, because his son, in a sense was dead, and has now come back to life.

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