The Literary Devices

by Christina Regalbuto

Literary Devices are tools used by writers to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story or piece of writing.

A simile compares two things using “like” or “as.”

Example: Her eyes are blue like the sea.

A metaphor compares two things as if they were the same item.

Example: The track star was a cheetah.

Alliteration uses the same beginning letter in a phrase for emphasis.

Example: Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

Personification means writing about an inanimate object as if it was a person. Stories about talking animals or trees are the most common examples.

Example: The sheets danced in the wind.

Irony is when something in a story happens in the opposite way than was expected.

Example: A doctor getting sick; The dentist getting a cavity.

2. Which literary device should be used for comparison? Why?

3. Why are literary devices helpful in literature?

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