A literary device, literary technique, figure of speech, rhetorical device, stylistic device, or trope is any strategy of using language that a writer or speaker employs to deliberately achieve some purpose. This purpose is typically: to focus or guide the audience's attention, to make the language or its content memorable, or to evoke a particular emotional, rational, aesthetic, or other response."literary device" and "device: definition 4". In: Barber, Katherine (ed.). The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 15 Feb. 2026,. The many names (or synonyms) for this concept may carry slightly distinct meanings in technical scholarly usage.
Literary devices are classifiable into various sub-categories, such as narrative devices, poetic devices, argumentative devices, linguistic schemes or templates, or other techniques distinct to certain forms of language. They can be difficult to cleanly classify, however, as many are common across multiple such forms and can intersect under various categories, such as figurative (non-literal) devices.
Terminology In literature, a device is a common term for any intentional strategy of language use.
The word trope originally meant an artistic effect realized with figurative (i.e. non-literal) language, or "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". Semantic change has expanded the definition of trope to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring or overused devices (including types of characters and situations), motifs, and clichés in a work of creative literature. Trope entered English from Latin tropus, 'figure of speech', itself derived from the Koine Greek (), 'a turn, a change'.
The term figure of speech, or simply figure (sometimes rhetorical figure) in this context, has two related meanings. The broader and more technical meaning is merely a synonym for any literary device.Burton, Gideon (2016). "Figure of Speech". Silva Rhetoricae. Brigham Young University.[Mack, Peter (2011). A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380-1620. Spain: Oxford University Press. In scholarship, that often explicitly includes the two sub-types tropes (as defined narrowly above) and schemes. Tropes, again, are deviations of words from their ordinary or literal usage, while schemes are variations in the sequence, or the usual expected order, of words. Scheme comes from the Greek , 'form or shape'. However, colloquially, a figure of speech tends to specifically mean a trope. In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of speech or tropes in this sense constitute the latter.
Likewise, rhetorical device can be a simple synonym for literary device, though more narrowly it refers to a technique specifically of persuasive or argumentative language usage (rhetoric). These rhetorical devices aim to make a position or argument more compelling, emotionally or otherwise, or to prompt the audience to take action.
History During the Renaissance, scholars meticulously enumerated and classified literary devices. The term figure of speech dates back to the Renaissance humanists, who initially used it in its broad technical meaning, themselves inspired by reading the classical rhetoricians. Henry Peacham, for example, in his The Garden of Eloquence (1577), enumerated 184 different figures of speech. Professor Robert DiYanni, in his book Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the EssayRobert DiYanni, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, , p. 451 wrote: "Rhetoricians have catalogued more than 250 different figures of speech, expressions or ways of using words in a nonliteral sense".
Narrative devices
Various literary devices are specifically applied to enhance narratives and storytelling. Some examples include: Allegory: the crafting of a story with a second implicit meaning, usually by endowing its characters, setting, and events with symbolic significance. Such a story thus functions symbolically in its entirety; often, each literal item corresponds to an abstract idea or principle.Kennedy et al., 2006 p. 4-5Quinn, 1999. p. 12Baldick, 2008. p. 7 For instance, Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, using non-human animal characters as stand-ins for real historical people and plot points that mirror historical events. Flashback: a scene or plot that occurs before the events of the current narrative timeline. It is used to explain plot elements, give background and context to a scene, or develop characteristics of the characters or events. In some cases, the majority of a narrative can be expressed through a flashback. Foreshadowing: the inclusion of clues about what is to come next in a story, which builds tension and the audience's suspense. Mood and tone: The mood is a narrative's emotional atmosphere, the general feelings the audience is intended to experience, while the tone is the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the reader, or herself or himself.A Motif: any word, phrase, image, or idea that is repeated throughout a work, sometimes using a variety of related but distinct phrasings. The purposes of motifs are diverse (to develop a theme, to establish a mood, to act as symbolism, etc.) and they often intersect with other narrative techniques. Plot device: any technique used to help move a story's plot forward. Story within a story: a particular narrative that is presented by characters inside the context of a second narrative. If an entire story is largely framed within another, this is a frame story. For example, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein uses the adventures of a sea captain as a frame story for the famous tale told of the scientist and his creation.
Poetic and sound-based devices
Sonic language, the communication of content more complexly, quickly, or artistically through a reliance on sound or through evoking sounds in the imagination, is often a defining feature of poetry. It delivers messages to the audience by prompting specific reactions through auditory perception. Here are some examples: Alliteration: the repetition of the sound of an initial consonant or consonant cluster (potentially, also initial vowels) across multiple words or syllables. (Example: "Small showers last long but sudden storms are short." from Shakespeare's Richard II 2.1.) Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds inside of neighbouring words. (Example: "Flow slowly, you rosy glowing ocean!" repeats the "oh" vowel sound multiple times.) Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds across words. It is different from alliteration as it can happen at any place in the word, not just the beginning. (In the following example, the k sound is repeated four times: "with streaks of light,/ And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels" in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 2.3.) Cacophony and euphony: the use of a series of phonemes regarded as either pleasant or unpleasant. Cacophony is the use of perceptually less pleasant, more strident, or subjectively harsher linguistic sounds, such as the Plosive consonants k, g, t, d, p and b, the hissing sounds sh and s, and also the affricates ch and j, in rapid succession in a line or passage, creating a harsh and discordant effect. (Example: "Hear the loud alarum bells/ Brazen bells! What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!/ In the startled ear of night/ How they scream out their affright!/ Too much horrified to speak,/ They can only shriek, shriek..." from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells".) Euphony, on the other hand, is the use of linguistic sounds that are considered pleasant, warm, musical, beautiful, etc. Onomatopoeia: wording that attempts to emulate a sound. When used colloquially, it is often accompanied by multiple exclamation marks or written in all caps. Beyond narrative writing, it is common in comic strips and some cartoons. (Some examples: smek, thwap, kaboom, ding-dong, plop, bang and pew.) Rhyming: the repetition of identical or similar sounds at the ends of words, and often at the ends of lines of prose or poetry. The effect is to make lines more memorable, catchy, or musical.
Rhetorical and argumentative devices
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; so, strictly speaking, rhetorical devices or figures are language techniques employed in order to persuade people."31 Useful Rhetorical Devices". Merriam-Webster. Accessed February 2026. Traditionally, three broad classifications of rhetorical devices by what they appeal to include: emotions, logic, or the presenter's own credibility (i.e. pathos, logos, and ethos, respectively). In the following list, rhetorical device is used narrowly to mean any such device at the phrase- or sentence-level, which according to literary critic M. H. Abrams, departs from ordinary or literal language "mainly by the arrangement of their words to achieve special effects, and not [or not merely], like metaphors and other tropes, by a radical change in the meaning of the words themselves".Abrams, M. H.; Harpham, Geoffrey Galt (2011). A Glossary of Literary Terms: 10th Edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, p. 345.Cuddon, J. A. (2013). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory: 5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 606. Often they relate to how new arguments are introduced into the text or how arguments are emphasized. Amplification/Pleonasm: Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail, to emphasise what might otherwise be passed over. This allows one to call attention to and expand a point to ensure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion. (Example: "But this revolting boy, of course,/ Was so unutterably vile,/ So greedy, foul, and infantile/ He left a most disgusting taste/ Inside our mouths..." in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) Pleonasm involves using more words than necessary to describe an idea. This creates emphasis and can introduce additional elements of meaning. Example: "Swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter or other circumstance" in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure 4.2. Antanagoge: the "placing [of] a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point". Example: "Within the infant rind of this weak flower/ Poison hath residence, and medicine power" in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 2.3. One scenario involves a situation when one is unable to respond to a negative point and chooses instead to introduce another point to reduce the accusation's significance. Example: "We may be managing the situation poorly, but so did you at first". Antanagoge can also be used to positively interpret a negative situation: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Apophasis: the bringing up a subject by denying that it should be brought up.Baird, A. Craig; Thonssen, Lester (1948). "Chapter 15 The Style of Public Address". Speech Criticism, the Development of Standards for Rhetorical Appraisal. Ronald Press Co. p. 432. It is also known as paralipsis, occupatio, praeteritio, preterition, or parasiopesis. (Example: "There's something tells me, but it is not love,/ I would not lose you; and you know yourself,/ Hate counsels not in such a quality" in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice 3.2.) Aporia: a rhetorical expression of doubt. (Example: "To be or not to be, that is the question" in Shakespeare's Hamlet 3.1.) When the rhetorical question posed is answered, this is also an instance of hypophora. Diasyrmus: rejecting an argument through ridiculous comparison.Silva Rhetoricae, Diasyrmus, accessed 13 November 2020