What are Rhetorical or Literary Devices and How Do I Use Them?
A literary device is a tool used by a writer to evoke larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a piece of writing such as a novel, poem, or blog article.
What is the difference between a Rhetorical Device and a Literary Device?
In most cases these terms are used interchangeably, but they aren’t in fact, interchangeable terms. To be very technical, a rhetorical device is a verbal or written technique used in the service of convincing a reader of something, while a literary device is a verbal or written technique used in the service of expressing something.
As you can see, there’s likely overlap between these two!
Why should you care about rhetorical or literary devices?
When writing essays for school, college, or university, one way to display our best selves and get the best grades we possibly can is to showcase our comfort with the expected vocabulary for the subject matter, which includes naming things in the correct fashion.
This means that if we want to improve our grades and do well in courses like Calculus we need to feel comfortable talking about derivatives and integrals, and in Chemistry, we have to be familiar with molecules and atoms. But if we want to get better grades in our English and writing courses, not only do we have to display our abilities to read and analyze texts with a critical eye, but we also need to demonstrate that we are familiar with the key literary terms that form the foundation of any literary analysis.
This skill is definitely important for those writing standardized tests that have an essay component, such as AP exams, IP exams, or even the SATs.
The following should be your go-to list of common literary devices. Make sure you know them well and are able to spot them in any piece of writing or text you're asked to analyze.
- simile (explicit comparison)
- metaphor (implicit comparison)
- metonymy (where a related thing stands for the thing)
- synecdoche (where a part stands for the whole)
- personification (where an inanimate thing is given human characteristics)
Literary devices for sound
- onomatopoeia (word sounds like the sound)
- rhyme & slide rhyme (end of words echoing each other)
- alliteration (beginning of words with the same letter/sounds)
- cacophony (repetition of harsh sounds)
- sibilance (repetition of "s" and "sh" sounds)
If you want to find more English words and content, I do cameos on our TikTok account every now and then...you can check it out and have a laugh, oh, and you can learn something too!
And if you want to test your knowledge of poetry and poetic literary devices, our friends at Wizeprep have these two online poetry quizzes that let you see how much you know about all this literary vocabulary!
Check out these articles for more tips on writing and analysis:
Looking to take notes efficiently? This video will help you take great notes online using Google Docs!
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