Literary Devices
SHORT STORY UNIT MODULE 1:
“THE BANANA TREE”
Do Now: Copy down these terms.
Then define them if you can.
Imagery
 Asyndeton
Simile
 Polysyndeton
Metaphor
 Allusion
 Onomatopoeia
 Hyperbole
Dialect
 personification
imagery
 Using
the five senses or literary devices to
create vivid pictures in the reader’s mind.
 Any device (like simile or metaphor) that
paints a picture in your mind is imagery.
 The
giant tree was ablaze with the orange, red,
and yellow leaves that were beginning to make
their decent to the ground.
simile
A
direct comparison between two unlike
things using like or as.
My
books are as heavy as bricks.
metaphor
A
comparison between two unlike things
without like or as.
She
is a firecracker.
onomatopoeia
A
sound device; when a word
resembles the sound it means.
BOOM!
Whoosh.
dialect
The
expressions, words, and phrases
used in a particular region.

Howdy, y’all!
asyndeton
 Not
using conjunctions when you have a
list of words or phrases. This makes
the sentence more powerful.

My heart, my soul, my life are
yours.
"We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these
words as the backbone of a life spent defending
something. You use them as a punch line." -- delivered by
Jack Nicholson (from the movie A Few Good Men)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/asyndeton.htm
polysyndeton

Overusing conjunctions when you have a list
of words or phrases. Used for emphasis.

For homework tonight, I have math
and science and social studies and
English and Spanish and music!
"It's [football] a way of life, really, to those particular people who are a part of it.
It's more than a game, and regardless of what level it's played upon, it still
demands those attributes of courage and stamina and coordinated efficiency
and goes even beyond that for [it] is a means -- it provides a mental and
physical relaxation to everybody that watches it, like yourself." -- Vince Lombardi
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/polysyndeton.htm
allusion
A
text to world, history, or literature
connection.

Calling a young couple, Romeo
and Juliet
"Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. Both want to
impose a militant Islamic empire first on the region and then on the entire
world. They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that
empire. In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for
Israel.- Benjamin Netanyahu, Third Joint Session of Congress Address
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/allusion.htm
hyperbole
 Exaggeration .

My book bag weighs three tons.
 "So
first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the
only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -- Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address
 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/hyper
bole.htm
personification
Giving
human qualities to nonliving
things or to animals

The tree danced in the wind.