Allegory.
An allegory is a story that has a deeper or more general meaning in addition to its surface meaning. A Christmas Carol is an example of an allegorical tale.
Alliteration.
Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.
Allusion.
Allusion is used by an author to help to associate a character, scene, or object in a story to another character, scene, or object from another literary work.
Anaphora.
An anaphora is a literary technique involving the repetition of words at the beginning of two or more successive lines or sentences. The technique is commonly used in poetry and speeches, but we can find it in fiction as well. The technique has its roots in Biblical Psalms when it was used to emphasize certain words or phrases.
Antagonist.
In a literary work, the antagonist represents the opposite of the protagonist, typically an adversary.
Anthropomorphism.
Anthropomorphism is a literary device in which human characteristics and qualities to humans, gods, and other objects. The technique is the opposite to that of zoomorphism, which is the attribution of animal characteristics and qualities to humans, gods, and other objects.
Bildungsroman.
A bildungsroman is a type of novel that tells about the early moral, psychological, and intellectual development of the main character. Examples of a bildungsroman in the works of Charles Dickens are David Copperfield and Great Expectations.
Capitalisation.
Capitalisation (British English) or capitalization (North American English) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction. Generally, the first word of a new sentence is always written in capitals. Capitalisation of words is sometimes used by authors of fiction for words the middle of a sentence as a form of literary device to strengthen a point or emotional reaction from their readers.
Chremamorphism.
A literary technique where the qualities of inanimate objects are attributed to humans or animals (as opposed to human qualities attributed to animals and objects (Personification), or animal qualities attributed to humans and objects (Zoomorphism)).
Flashback.
A literary technique in which an author introduces a scene that enacts something that happened in the past or a character recalls a memory of a past event.
Foreshadowing.
A literary technique in which an author indirectly hints at what is to come later on in the story. This may be through the dialogue, a description, or the actions of a character and is often used to introduce tension to a narrative.
Juxtaposition.
A literary device that shows the comparing and contrasting of two or more different (usually opposite) ideas, characters, objects, etc. It is often used to help create a clearer picture of the characteristics of one object or idea by comparing it with those of another.
Literary Device.
A literary device is a technique an author uses to add meaning or interest to a text. Examples include metaphors, similes or alliteration.
Motif.
A motif is a repeated symbol or idea, usually within a theme. Examples of motifs include weather, sounds, time, and behaviour.
Onomatopoeia.
The sounds of words to express or underline their meaning.
Personification.
Used to give human-like characteristics or traits to something that is not human. The technique is similar to Anthropomorphism in which human qualities are applied to an object, whereas Personification is used by writers to give human emotional characteristics or feelings to an object.
Protagonist.
A protagonist is the chief character in a literary work. Examples of the protagonist in the works of Charles Dickens include Oliver Twist (Oliver Twist), Pip (Great Expectations), and Scrooge (A Christmas Carol).
Simile.
A figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes are a form of metaphor that explicitly use connecting words (such as like, as, so, than, or various verbs such as resemble), although these specific words are not always necessary.
Symbolism.
A powerful and common literary technique in which an author uses of objects, characters, ideas, actions, events or situations to represent something else. Like a metaphor, this is typically a broader message or deeper meaning to the literal meaning.
Trope.
A trope is a term for any figure of speech that alters the literal sense of a word or phrase. Metaphors, similes, and allegory are all examples of tropes.
Victorian Gothic.
Gothic was one of the most popular literary genres dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples include Vathek (1786), The Monk (1796) and Frankenstein (1818). Gothic elements were subsequently integrated into mainstream Victorian fiction and known by the term Victorian Gothic. Charles Dickens incorporates a number of elements of gothic writing into some of his works, including A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and Bleak House.
Zoomorphism.
Zoomorphism is a literary technique in which animal qualities, characteristics, or behaviours are attributed to humans. The technique is the opposite of Personification, in which human qualities, characteristics, or behaviours are attributed to non-humans.