Every writer makes decisions about diction (word choice) and about the order in which to present information. A text might also include double meanings, surprising reversals, irony, or satiric arguments that undercut what it seems to claim. These choices shape how you experience the text as a reader.
This chapter covers the literary techniques you’ll be asked about on the test.
A word’s literal meaning is its denotation. Its connotations are the feelings, associations, and “shades of meaning” that the word suggests.
For example, the denotative meaning of “sunshine” is “light that emanates from the sun.” However, it often connotes warmth, light, and happiness because many people associate sunshine with those ideas.
Here’s another example: The denotative meaning of consequence is “something that happens as a result of something else.” This meaning is neutral: it doesn’t indicate whether the result is good or bad. However, the word has acquired negative connotations because it’s often used as a synonym for “punishment.”
Figurative language helps a writer “paint a picture” in your mind. It can include descriptive language, similes, metaphors, and imagery. On the test, you’ll be asked to identify and interpret figures of speech.
A simile is a comparison that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things. For example:
A metaphor is a comparison that does not use “like” or “as.” For example:
Alliteration occurs when two or more nearby words begin with the same sound. For example, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” is alliterative because most of the words start with the “p” sound. Writers use alliteration for emphasis and to create mood, tone, and musicality.
For example, here is the first sentence of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
Here, the repetition of the “d” sound in “dull, dark, and soundless” emphasizes the dreariness of the day and landscape. The mood is reinforced by the repetition of “dreary” later in the sentence.
Personification occurs when a writer gives human qualities to something that is not human.
For example:
The sun can’t literally smile, just as a house can’t shout. Telephone poles can’t jump, and raindrops don’t actually dance - they only look that way. In each example, the writer uses a human action to make the image more vivid and interesting.
Onomatopoeia occurs when a word sounds like the sound it describes. For example, you can hear buzzing when you say “buzz,” and you can hear hissing in the word “hiss.” Writers use onomatopoeia to make descriptions feel more immediate and lively.
Allusions are references, often to another text. They’re usually brief and point to something outside the text without naming or explaining it directly. Writers use allusions as shorthand to communicate complex ideas quickly.
Here are two examples:
Buried within the forest lay an Edenic garden complete with fruit trees, a waterfall, and wildflowers.
“Edenic” is an allusion to the Garden of Eden, a common image of perfection on earth. The word quickly suggests innocence and bliss without the writer having to spell out the idea.
The substitute teacher, who looked remarkably like Professor Snape, was nonetheless a genial guy who happily helped students with their assignments.
Professor Snape is the greasy,-haired, sallow-looking Potions teacher from the Harry Potter series, so alluding to him creates an immediate picture in your mind.
Analogies are comparisons between two things - usually a familiar thing and a less familiar thing. They help you use what you already know about the familiar thing to understand the less familiar thing.
For example:
Trying to get my teacher to give a simple answer is like hoping the sun won’t come up. In other words, since you know sunrise is inevitable, you should also assume that complex answers from this teacher are similarly unavoidable.
During his summer as a camp counselor, Mike learned that moving a group of ten-year-old boys from one place to another was like trying to herd cats. Here, the impossibility of herding cats, who are notoriously independent, creates an amusing image of the chaos caused by a bunch of little boys running in different directions. Her words were as comforting as a bowl of hot chicken soup. Chicken soup, a popular folk remedy for the common cold, suggests warmth and healing; the speaker’s words make her listeners feel similarly better.
Proverbs are short sayings that express wisdom, warnings, or morals. They’re generally old sayings and often include wordplay, as in “a stitch in time saves nine,” which uses rhyme and a sewing image to express the idea that dealing with small problems prevents them from becoming big ones. Proverbs are also often about animals, as in “the early bird gets the worm,” which encourages people to get up early.
Synonyms for proverb include:
Here’s an example:
The following passage is from “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” by Benjamin Franklin.
Which statement from the passage contains a proverb?
a. “But, dost thou love life?”
b. “Do not squander time…”
c. “How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep!”
d. “The sleeping fox catches no poultry.”
e. "There will be sleeping enough in the grave.
Answer: d. “The sleeping fox catches no poultry” is correct because it uses the image of a sleeping fox to warn against excessive sleeping. None of the other choices contain an image.
Idioms are phrases whose meanings are not logically connected to the literal words. For example, “It’s raining cats and dogs” means it’s raining very hard, not that pets are falling from the sky.
Here are a few of the most common idioms and their meanings:
| By the skin of one’s teeth | To just barely manage to do something in the nick of time |
| To let the chips fall where they may | To let things work themselves out |
| Every cloud has a silver lining. | You can always find something good, even when everything seems bad |
| To bite the bullet | To brace oneself for a difficult or painful task |
| To hit the sack | To go to bed |
| Costs an arm and a leg | Very expensive |
| To beat around the bush | To take a long time to make a point |
| To lose one’s marbles | To go insane |
| Straight from the horse’s mouth | To hear something directly instead of in a roundabout way |
| Up a creek without a paddle | To be stuck in a bad situation |
If you’re uncertain about your knowledge of English idioms, these websites provide extensive lists you can review:
There are three kinds of irony: dramatic, situational, and verbal. In each case, what you expect isn’t what happens. You can think of irony as a contrast between expectation and reality.
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more about the characters’ situation than the characters do. For example, in Shakespeare’s play Othello, the villain Iago announces his evil plan to make Othello mad with jealousy. Because the audience knows the plan, it can watch how Othello is tricked into distrusting his wife without being fooled themselves.
Situational irony occurs when the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what was intended. For example, in The Wizard of Oz, the characters travel to ask a wizard to grant them their heart’s desire; ironically, they learn that they already had it.
Verbal irony occurs when what is said is the opposite of what’s meant. For example, if Bill gets into a car crash and misses his job interview, he might say, “I had a great day,” when he means he had a terrible day.
An allegory is a story that contains a hidden meaning, usually moral, religious, or political. Allegories you may have read in school include:
Here’s an example:
What does the tortoise represent in the fable?
a. Arrogance
b. Perseverance
c. Turpitude
d. Dishonesty
e. Covetousness
Answer: b. The correct answer is perseverance because the tortoise keeps moving - slowly but without stopping - until it reaches the finish line.
a. Arrogance is incorrect because the tortoise is not over-confident of success. If anything, this quality could be attributed to the hare.
c. Turpitude is incorrect because it means “depravity” or “wickedness,” and there is nothing in the fable to suggest that the tortoise is wicked.
d. Dishonesty is incorrect because the tortoise is not dishonest in the fable.
e. Covetousness is incorrect because it means greed. There is nothing in the story that suggests the tortoise is greedy.
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