This document provides definitions and examples of common literary devices including simile, metaphor, personification, speaker, alliteration, and assonance. It defines a simile as a direct comparison using "like" or "as" and provides examples from poems. Metaphors are implicit or hidden comparisons without using "like" or "as." Personification gives human attributes to non-human objects or ideas. Speaker refers to the narrative voice in a poem. Alliteration and assonance involve repetition of consonant and vowel sounds respectively.

1. Mohammad Jashim Uddin
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Northern University Bangladesh
Basic Literary Terms (Part I)
See in YouTube: https://youtu.be/jL-IDGPLrm8

2. Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that makes
a comparison, showing similarities
between two different things. Unlike a
metaphor, a simile draws resemblance
with the help of the words “like” or “as.”
Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

3. Common Examples of Simile
Our soldiers are as brave as lions.
Her cheeks are red like a rose.
He is as funny as a monkey.
The water well was as dry as a bone.
He is as cunning as a fox.

4. Examples of Simile in Literature
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
My heart is like a rainbow shell…
(“A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti)

5. Rossetti has used simile thrice in this part of the
poem, comparing her heart to a “singing bird”,
“an apple-tree”, and a rainbow shell.” The poet
makes comparison of heart to a happy bird in a
nest, an apple tree full with fruits and a
beautiful shell in the sea, full of peace and joy.

6. O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.

7. Metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an
implicit, implied, or hidden comparison
between two things that are unrelated, but
which share some common characteristics. In
other words, a resemblance of two
contradictory or different objects is made based
on a single or some common characteristics.

8. The phrase, “My brother is the black sheep of
the family,” is a metaphor because he is not a
sheep, nor is he black. However, we can use this
comparison to describe an association of a black
sheep with that person. A black sheep is an
unusual animal, which typically stays away
from the herd, and the person being described
shares similar characteristics.

9. Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison
that is different from a simile, in that we do not
use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a
metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or
hidden comparison and not an explicit one

10. Common Speech Examples of
Metaphors
My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he
was too angry.)
The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that
the assignment was not difficult.)
It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This
implies that clear skies are not a threat and life
is going to be without hardships)

11. Metaphor Examples in Literature
She’s all states, and all princes
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So
long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

12. Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in which a
thing – an idea or an animal – is given human
attributes. The non-human objects are
portrayed in such a way that we feel they have
the ability to act like human beings. For
example, when we say, “The sky weeps,” we are
giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a
human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky
has been personified in the given sentence.

13. Common Examples of Personification
Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn’t she?
The wind whispered through dry grass.
The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.
Time and tide wait for none.
The fire swallowed the entire forest.

14. Speaker
In writing, the speaker is the voice that speaks
behind the scene. In fact, it is the narrative voice
that speaks of a writer’s feelings or situation. It is
not necessary that a poet is always the speaker,
because sometimes he may be writing from a
different perspective, or may be in the voice of
another race, gender, or even a material object. It
usually appears as a persona or voice in a poem.
Read on to learn more about speaker in literature.

15. Alliteration
Alliteration is derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It
means “letters of alphabet”. It is a stylistic
device in which a number of words, having the
same first consonant sound, occur close
together in a series.

16. Consider the following examples:
But a better butter makes a batter better.
A big bully beats a baby boy.
Both sentences are alliterative because the same
first letter of words (B) occurs close together and
produces alliteration in the sentence. An
important point to remember here is that
alliteration does not depend on letters but on
sounds. So the phrase not knotty is alliterative,
but cigarette chase is not.

17. Alliteration Examples in Literature
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes;
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”
(William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”)
This is an example of alliteration with the “f” and
“l.” in words “forth, fatal, foes” and “loins,
lovers, and life”.

18. Assonance
Assonance takes place when two or more words,
close to one another repeat the same vowel
sound, but start with different consonant
sounds.

19. “Men sell the wedding bells.”
The same vowel sound of the short vowel “-e-”
repeats itself in almost all the words, excluding
the definite article. The words do share the
same vowel sounds, but start with different
consonant sounds – unlike alliteration, which
involves repetition of the same consonant
sounds. Below are a few assonance examples
that are common.

20. Common Assonance Examples
We light fire on the mountain.
I feel depressed and restle
Go and mow the lawn.
Johnny went here and there and everywhe
The engineer held the steering to steer the
vehicle.