Literary Devices: 20 Examples Every Student Should Know

Literary devices are the tools writers use to make language more vivid, memorable or persuasive. Students are usually asked to do two things with them: identify a device in a passage, and explain its effect. This guide covers the 20 devices that come up most often in grades 8–12, with one example each and a quick way to tell look-alikes apart.

Comparisons

• Simile — compares two things using like or as. Example: "Her smile was as bright as the sun."
• Metaphor — says one thing is another, with no like/as. Example: "Time is a thief."
• Extended metaphor — a metaphor developed over several lines or a whole poem. Example: describing a heart as a locked iron door, then a key, then a rusty hinge.
• Personification — gives human actions or feelings to something non-human. Example: "The wind whispered through the trees."

Quick test: if you can find the word like or as doing the comparing, it's a simile. If the sentence simply claims one thing is another, it's a metaphor. If an object is doing something only people do, it's personification.

Sound devices

• Alliteration — repeated consonant sounds at the start of nearby words. Example: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
• Assonance — repeated vowel sounds inside nearby words. Example: "Mike likes his bike" (the long i).
• Onomatopoeia — a word that imitates the sound it names. Example: "The bacon sizzled."

Exaggeration and contrast

• Hyperbole — deliberate exaggeration. Example: "I've told you a million times."
• Oxymoron — two contradictory words side by side. Example: "deafening silence", "jumbo shrimp".
• Paradox — a statement that seems to contradict itself but contains a truth. Example: "The more you learn, the less you know."

Irony (three kinds)

• Verbal irony — saying the opposite of what you mean, often sarcastically. Example: "What lovely weather," said while soaked by rain.
• Situational irony — the opposite of what you'd expect happens. Example: the fire station burns down.
• Dramatic irony — the audience knows something a character doesn't. Example: we know the cup is poisoned; the character drinks it.

Structure and reference

• Allusion — a brief reference to a well-known person, story or event. Example: "Don't be such a Scrooge."
• Foreshadowing — hints about what will happen later. Example: dark clouds gathering as the heroes set out.
• Imagery — description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch).
• Anaphora — repeating the same words at the start of successive clauses. Example: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…"
• Symbolism — an object or image that stands for a bigger idea, such as a dove for peace.

How to write about a device (not just name it)

Naming the device only earns part of the marks. A strong answer follows three steps: name it, quote it, explain the effect. For example: "The poet uses personification — 'the wind whispered' — which makes the setting feel alive and secretive, building a quiet, uneasy mood."

Try the Grade 9 literary devices worksheet for a quick check, then move up to the hard level, which includes dramatic irony, chiasmus and apostrophe.