Literary Devices

1. Conceit -n.- egotism, self-admiration - In Emily Dickinson's poem “There is no frigate like a book.”

2. Connotation -n.- undertone, hidden meaning, hint - Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which includes the famous line "water, water, everywhere."

3. Colloquial Diction - A level of language in a work that approximates the speech of ordinary people - Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, where the main characters Huck and especially Jim speak using slang.

4. Comedy -n.- satire, slapstick, drama - The Three Stooges, - "A Modest Proposal"

5. Controlling Metaphors - Metaphors that dominate or organize an entire poem. -

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day Sonnet 18 William Shakespeare

6. Cosmic Irony - Fate, the Universe, God, or whichever omnipotent force you choose makes it their sole purpose to mess with your life -

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" - In "The Open Boat," Crane's theme,cosmic irony, is illustrated through the use of symbols for isolation,insignificance, and indifference.

7. Denotation -n.- the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the fellings or ideas that the word suggests. - "The Mending Wall" by Robert Frost

8. Dramatic Irony - when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. - Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"

9. Dramatic Monologue - a piece of spoken verse that offers great insight into the feelings of the speaker - "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

10. Echo -n.- a close parallel or repetition of an idea, felling, style, or event - In Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

11. Elegy -n.- a poem of serious reflection - Walt Whitman's "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd"

12. Epigram -n.- a short poem having a witty or ingenious ending - Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "On a Volenteer Singer" compares and contrasts the death of swans with that of humans. "Swans sing before they die- 'twere no bad thing
Should certain people die before they sing!"

13. Existential Character - A person, real or fictional, who, whatever his or her past or conditioning, can change by an act of will.

14. Extended Metaphor - comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem - the grass in Whitman's "Song of Myself"

15. Farce -n.- an absurd event - The play "Charley's Aunt" by Brandon Thomas

16. Flashback -n.- a scene in a movie, novel, set in a time earlier than the main story - Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" uses flashback to relate Willy Loman's memories of the past.

17. Formal Diction - language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal. -