A Relatively Complete List of 70+ Literary Devices

Promising meaning and context in communication is often lost due to a lack of awareness of the subtle effect literary devices have.

It goes without saying that language is important. Ensuring that tone, mood, context, and delivery are correct can be challenging, especially when considering the abundance of literary devices that exist. However, I found more often than not that many devices are derived from a type of something else. Here is my attempt at making some sense of these main literary devices that you will likely encounter, along with well-known examples. 

Authorial Choices

• Simile - 'Like' comparison: 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.'
• Metaphor - 'As' comparison: 'Chaos is a friend of mine.'
• Allusion - Reference to real events or other artistic/literary works: 'Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.'
• Imagery - Visual description of stimulus that appeals to senses: 'The delicate scent of the pie filled up the tiny cottage.'
• Anachronism - Discrepancy in time, either a blunder or for humorous effect: 'The dinosaur used the microwave.'
• Zeugma - Use of one word to modify another: 'She broke his car and his heart.'
• Double Entendre - Double meaning where one is obvious and one where the author subverts it: 'Please respect the silence of the Church.'

• Flashbacks - Account of a past event
• Foreshadowing - Hinting at future events
• Anastrophe - Traditional sentence structure is reversed: 'Ready, are you?'

• Repetition - Repeating the structure of words, phrases, or sentences
• Anaphora - Repetition of words, phrases, or sentences beginning with the same letter or sound: 'Every day you let me down. Every day you make me mad. Every day you do silly things.'
• Epistrophe - Repetition of words, phrases, or sentences ending with the same letter or sound: 'I want the best, we need the best, we and we deserve the best.'
• Symploce - Repetition of both anaphora and epistrophe where beginning and end follow the same pattern: 'When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it.'
• Isocolon - Repetition of two or more phrases with similar structure, rhythm, and length: 'Veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.'
• Antanaclasis - Repetition of a word with a different meaning: 'Your argument is sound, nothing but sound.'
• Antistatis - An extreme antanaclasis with the opposite meaning: 'sorry, not sorry.'
• Tricolon - Repetition of 3 words/phrases/sentences for emphasis: 'buy! buy! buy!'
• Epizeuxis - Immediate repetition of a word for emphasis: 'O horror, horror, horror!'

• Parallelism - Positioning two phrases/sentences similar in grammatical structure together: 'Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't.'
• Chiasmus - An inverted parallelism and may involve repetition: 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.'

• Consonance - Repetition of consonant sounds in a series of words: 'Mike likes his new bike.'
• Assonance - Repetition of vowel sounds: 'Go slow over the road.'
• Alliteration - Repetition of initial letter sounds: 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.'

• Onomatopoeia - Words that describe sounds: 'Pop, buzz.'
• Symbolism - Objectifying an idea or concept: 'His dagger represented his worth. '
• Motif - A type of symbol that is recurring throughout the work for subtle emphasis: 'The flowers on the maids represent beauty.'
• Metonymy - A symbol that is an object symbolizing an institution: 'Crown represents monarchy.'
• Synecdoche - A metonymy that refers to a whole: 'Do you like my new wheels?'
• Hyperbole - An exaggerated statement (overstatement) of an actual fact: 'I haven't seen you in a million years!'
• Understatement - A downplayed statement of an actual fact to demonstrate modesty over arrogance: 'Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.'
• Litote - An understatement that uses a double negative to express sentiment: 'You're not wrong.'
• Euphemism - An understatement to correctly refer to sensitive topics: 'His mother passed away.'
• Allegory - Short story that has a deeper abstract meaning typically moral, philosophical, or political meaning: 'The Allegory of the Cave'
• Juxtaposition - Placing two contrasting ideas together to compare and contrast: 'Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.'
• Paradox - Juxtaposition to reveal a deeper hidden or unexpected truth: 'I hate and I love,' 'Less is more.'
• Antithesis - Juxtaposition of two opposites that convey the main message: 'Bulls do not fight because they are fearsome and aggressive creatures; rather, they fight because they are cornered into a fight for survival.'
• Oxymoron - Juxtaposition of contradicting and conflicting statements: 'deafening silence, alone together.'
• Foils - Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in harmony: 'The wealthy lawyer and the neighbourhood storekeeper walked into the distance.'
• Personification - Figurative application of human traits or qualities to non-human things: 'Doesn't your computer hate you?'
• Anthropomorphism - Literal application of human traits or qualities to non-human things: 'The dolphin succinctly wrote the letter in shorthand.'
• Zoomorphism - Application of animal traits to non-animal beings: 'The vampire turned into a bat.'
• Aphorism - Universally accepted truth statement expressed concisely: 'Not all that glitters is gold.'
• Archetype - Universally accepted symbol statement that brings familiarity: 'Superman has arrived.'
• Irony - Expression of a meaning that signifies the opposite
• Dramatic Irony - The reader knows something before the characters find out (usually tragic): 'It's so beautiful I could just die,' ship hits iceberg.
• Situational Irony - Reader expects a certain outcome that is subverted
• Verbal Irony - Person feigns ignorance as intended meaning is opposite of what is said.
• Sarcasm -Use of irony to mock or convey contempt: 'Thunberg can't even get you to abdicate your air- conditioning.'
• Innuendo - An indirect remark, gesture or reference implying something immoral or derogatory: 'I've found a way to get some extra help on the test.'

Textual Choices