Lecture Notes on Literary Devices

Definition of Literary Device

• A technique used in literature to help the author achieve their purpose.
• Helps readers appreciate, interpret, and analyze literary works.

Onomatopoeia

• Definition: A word's pronunciation imitates a sound.
• Examples:
  • Buzz
  • Hiss
  • Beep
  • Fizz
  • Click
  • Vroom
  • Woof
  • Boom
  • Additional examples: Meow, Knock knock, Tuk tuk, Zap, Zip

Personification

• Definition: Giving human characteristics to non-human items (animals or objects).
• Examples:
  • "The leaves danced their way through the lawn."
  • "The plants were begging for water."
  • Shakespeare's "The earth hath swallowed all my hopes."
  • "My watch told me the time."
  • "The wind whistled throughout the day."

Simile

• Definition: Directly compares two things using "as" or "like."
• Examples:
  • "He slept like a log."
  • "Like a moth to a flame."
  • "He eats like a horse."
  • "I work like a dog."
  • "She's as cute as a kitten."
  • "Canada is cold as ice."
  • "I'm becoming blind as a bat."
  • "She is as sweet as sugar."

Metaphor

• Definition: Compares two things directly without using "as" or "like."
• Examples of Metaphors for Love:
  • "Love is a fruit, in season at all times, and within reach of every hand." (Mother Teresa)
  • "Love is a dog from hell." (Charles Bukowski)
  • "Love is a journey with water and stars, with drowning air and storms of flower." (Pablo Neruda)
  • "Love is a disease and disease knows no laws." (Turgenyev)

Exercise

• Determine the literary device used:
  • Use O for onomatopoeia, P for personification, S for simile, and M for metaphor.
• Answers:
  1. Simile
  2. Metaphor
  3. Onomatopoeia
  4. Personification
  5. Metaphor
  6. Personification
  7. Metaphor
  8. Onomatopoeia
  9. Simile
  10. Simile

Conclusion

• Questions: Post them under the video.
• Subscribe, like, and share if you found the lesson helpful.