Bookmark It: Literary Devices

This page, called Literary Devices is part of Mr. Braiman’s English Online. Now, this might be a page for students to study before a literature test. And it’d be good for that.

But it’s also interesting for authors to study – or at least bookmark so you can refer to it. It enables you to put a name to things you do without even realizing you’re doing them. It can also give you ideas.

Do you use anthropomorphism? It’s different than personification. Mr. Braiman defines anthropomorphism as:

Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs, facial features, human locomotion or other anthropoid form.

And what would you do if you were called on stage and asked to speak in iambic pentameter? Run like hell? Well, according to Literary Devices, iambic pentameter is:

A poetic meter wherein each line contains ten syllables, as five repetitions of a two-syllable pattern in which the pronunciation emphasis is on the second syllable.

Now, I bet you’ve used onomatopoeia in your writing. Here’s the example Mr. Braiman uses to demonstrate onomatopoeia:

Remarque uses onomatopoeia to suggest the dying soldier’s agony, his last gasp described as a “gurgling rattle.”

So, visit Mr. Braiman’s page of Literary Devices. Enjoy the read and bookmark it for future reference.