Examples of Literary Devices
Adage: a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth
- "Money can't buy you happiness." (75)
- "An abyss cannot be crossed in two steps." (327)
- "No matter how many of us you kill, you will never kill your successor." (349)
- "...threw out the baby with the bathwater." (404)
- "Sixteen sheets to the wind." (497)
Aphorism: a concise statement that is made in a matter-of-fact tone to state a principle or an opinion that is generally understood to be a universal truth.
- "Implausible truth can serve one better than plausible fiction." (49)
- "One mustn’t gobble one’s birthday chocolates all at once." (73)
- "Promises you can’t keep are not a sound currency." (118)
- "Do whatever you can’t not do." (133)
- "Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty." (180)
- "Secrets jus’ rot you like teeth if you don’t yank ‘em out." (302)
Arch: witty and clever humor
- "The youngest guests were in their seventies. The oldest guests were three hudred plus." (175)
- The asexual care worker, whose name was Deirdre, unsurprisingly, strung tinsel from the light fittings and failed to electrocute herself.” (335)
Circumlocution: the use of many words where fewer would do
- "She shrugs, having gained an armor of fatalism from the event of the last six hours." (396) She felt invincible.
- "Bill Smoke savors a complex dish, all of whose ingredients even he, the chef, can't list." (405) He was proud of himself.
- "Time has knitted her skin into webs of wrinkles." (428) She had wrinkles.
- "Mrs. Wagstaff's contempt for her young husband, if bottled, could have been vended as rat poison." (484) She hated her husband.
Conceit: two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of similes or metaphors.
- "A half read book is a half-finished love affair." (64)
- "Life. A Force Ten shitstorm." (108)
- "Knowledge without xperience being food without sustenance." (224)
Metonymy: when a concept or subject is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that concept or subject
- "Coffin" instead of bunk. (25)
- "Culture vultures" meaning media hosts. (151)
- "Helmsmen" in place of CEO. (407)
- "Steels himself" instead of "braces himself." (416)
- "Seized the rudder of conversation" meaning "took hold of the conversation." (487)
- "Ruby juices" instead of blood. (494)
Oxymoron: incongruous or seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side
- "Dark halo." (15)
- "Miniature eternity." (171)
- "Noisy silence." (202)
Allusions: refers to an object or circumstance that has occurred or existed in an external context
- Herman Melville (10, 64, 148, 253, 492, 49)
- "Her Oil of Olay smile." (175)
- George Orwell (211)
- "Aurora House would wake to fine me gone, like Zorro." (371)
- Huckleberry Finn is quoted. (439)
Alliteration: occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
- "spring sky's sediment" (338)
- "deadly duet of disease dust" (490)
- "lickerish laughter" (493)
Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman.
- "My heart bungee-jumped from throat to bowel, back again." (381)
- "The Range Rover wolfed down the northward miles." (382)
- "The answer raised the latch on a door of deception and a horrific truth kicked that same door in." (503)
Wonderful Words:
Mana (12)
Harum-scarum (39) Flummoxed (76) Tupping (79) Curmudgeonliness (82) |
Alackaday (152)
Wheedle (155) Doolally (159) Ennui (229) Cuckold (356) |
Melancholia (468)
Haberdashery (476) Recidivist (477) Domicile (478) Waylay (484) |
Rapacity (489)
Tittle-tattle (490) Anathema (493) Crepuscular (495) Vainglorious (508) |