November 2026 - Literary Devices Study Guide

Core ideas to know

Learn the relationships, not a string of isolated definitions. These are the facts that let you reason through unfamiliar wording.

• Simile compares unlike things with like or as; metaphor makes the comparison directly.
• Personification gives a nonhuman thing a human action, feeling or intention.
• Imagery uses sensory detail to make the reader see, hear, smell, taste or feel a scene.
• Irony creates a meaningful gap between expectation and reality; it is not simply an unfortunate event.
• Foreshadowing plants a clue that gains significance when a later event occurs.

A reliable way to answer

Use the same short process every time so the wording of the question does not decide your method for you.

1. Read the phrase literally first and notice what cannot be literally true.
2. Name the device from its construction, such as like/as for a simile or human action for personification.
3. Return to context and ask which quality the comparison transfers to the subject.
4. State the effect precisely: mood, emphasis, characterisation or a connection to the theme.

Distinctions that earn marks

Terms to know

Figurative language

Language whose intended meaning differs from its strict literal meaning.

Symbol

A concrete object, action or image that represents a larger idea.

Allusion

A brief reference to a familiar person, event, story or work.

Key points

• Identifying the device is only half the task; explain its effect in context.
• A symbol gains meaning through repetition or emphasis, not from the object alone.
• Choose the narrowest effect the passage actually supports.