Literary device

A technique writers use to shape meaning, evoke effects, or organize a work, such as symbolism, irony, or foreshadowing.

Metaphor: A figure of speech that describes one thing as another to suggest a resemblance. It creates meaning by transferring qualities between unlike things.
Foreshadowing: A technique that hints at events or developments that occur later in a narrative. Earlier clues prepare for later events without fully revealing them.
Dramatic irony: A form of irony in which an audience knows facts that a character does not. The audience’s greater knowledge makes a character’s actions carry double meaning.
Literary technique: A method used in literary composition to shape a work’s form, language, or effect. This broader category includes devices alongside techniques such as point of view.
Simile: A figure of speech that compares unlike things, usually with “like” or “as.” It makes comparisons explicit where metaphor leaves the connection implicit.
Flashback: A scene that interrupts a narrative’s present action to depict an earlier event. Reordered time reveals information that changes how present events are understood.
Verbal irony: A form of irony in which a speaker’s intended meaning differs from the literal meaning of the words. It lets dialogue communicate an attitude that contradicts its surface wording.
Literary trope: A recurring or conventional figure, theme, or narrative element in literature. A trope is often a recognizable pattern or convention rather than a single textual technique.
Imagery: Language that evokes sensory impressions or vivid mental pictures. Sensory details can establish mood and make abstract ideas concrete.
Unreliable narrator: A narrator whose account is limited, distorted, or misleading. A gap between narration and events makes interpretation part of the work’s effect.

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LiteratureRelated: Devices such as metaphor and irony give works distinctive expressive effects.