Literary Devices & Genre Classifications
Literary Devices: Enhancing Communication
Literary devices are the language tools used to enhance communication and create specific effects in writing.
Sound Devices (Phonic Resources)
- Alliteration
- Repetition of one or more initial consonant sounds in close proximity.
- Onomatopoeia
- Use of words that imitate the sounds they represent.
- Paronomasia
- Repetition of words that sound very similar, often for a pun or wordplay.
Syntactic Devices (Morphosyntactic Resources)
- Anaphora
- Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.
- Parallelism
- Repetition of similar syntactic structures in successive phrases or clauses.
- Anadiplosis
- Repeating the last word or phrase of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next.
- Concatenation
- A series of anadiplosis, linking multiple clauses or sentences.
- Epanadiplosis
- Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of the same clause or sentence.
- Hyperbaton
- Altering the natural or expected word order in a sentence for emphasis or effect.
- Pun
- A play on words that sound alike but have different meanings, or on a single word with multiple meanings.
- Epithet
- A descriptive adjective or phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
- Enumeration
- A list of successive elements whose terms belong to the same grammatical category.
Figurative Language (Semantic Resources)
- Simile or Comparison
- A direct comparison between two unlike things, using “like” or “as.”
- Metaphor
- A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating one is the other, without using “like” or “as.”
- Synonymy
- A sequence of continuous or near synonyms used for emphasis or variation.
- Synesthesia
- The blending of different senses, describing one sense in terms of another.
- Metonymy
- The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant.
- Hyperbole
- Exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
- Understatement
- The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.
- Personification (or Prosopopoeia)
- Attributing human qualities or characteristics to inanimate objects or abstract concepts.
- Antithesis
- The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas or words, often in parallel structure.
- Paradox
- A statement that appears self-contradictory but contains a deeper truth.
Literary Subgenres
Epic Subgenres
- Epic
- A long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds and events crucial to a nation or civilization.
- Chanson de Geste
- A medieval epic poem extolling the heroic deeds of a historical or legendary figure.
- Romances
- Popular narrative poems, often derived from epics, covering various topics like chivalry and adventure.
Narrative Subgenres
- Novel
- An extended prose narrative, typically presenting a complex plot and characters.
- Short Story
- A brief prose narrative, usually focusing on a single plot line and a limited number of characters.
- Novella
- A prose narrative of intermediate length, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.
- Legend
- A traditional story, sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated, often featuring supernatural elements.
Poetic Subgenres
- Eclogue
- A pastoral poem, often in dialogue, expressing feelings through the mouths of shepherds in nature.
- Elegy
- A poem expressing sorrow, often for the dead or a past time.
- Ode
- A lyrical poem, typically addressed to a particular subject, expressing elevated emotion.
- Satire
- The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices.
Dramatic Subgenres (Classical & Modern)
- Tragedy
- A drama dealing with serious or somber themes, typically involving a protagonist who suffers extreme sorrow or ruin, often ending in death.
- Drama
- A play dealing with a serious subject, but not necessarily ending in tragedy. Characters are often from various social classes.
- Comedy
- A play characterized by its humorous or satirical tone and its happy ending, aiming to amuse the audience.
- Auto Sacramental
- A one-act play of religious character, popular in Spain during the Golden Age, often performed on Corpus Christi.
- Entremés
- A short, humorous theatrical piece, often performed between acts of a longer play.
- Sainete
- A short, humorous play, often depicting customs and manners of a particular region or social class, popular in Spain.
- Mixed Dramatic Subgenres
- Theatrical works where the written text is set to music, including Opera, Operetta, and Zarzuela.