conceptual devices

reference to a person, place, thing, concept, or other literary work that a reader is likely to recognize.

“The two knitting women increase his anxiety by gazing at him and all the other sailors with knowing unconcern. Their eerie looks suggest that they know what will happen (the men dying), yet don’t care.”

connects two seemingly unrelated concepts to show their similarities and expand on a thought or idea.

It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.” — P.G. Wodehouse

apply human traits or qualities to a non-human thing such as objects, animals, or the weather.

Beauty and the Beast, Mrs. Potts the teapot, Cogsworth the clock, and Lumière the candlestick are all household objects that act and behave like humans (which, of course, they were when they weren’t under a spell).

universally accepted truth stated in a concise, to-the-point way.

is a “universal symbol” that brings familiarity and context to a story.

saying or idea that is used so often it becomes seen as unoriginal

easy as pie” and “light as a feather.”

use of casual and informal language in writing, which can also include slang.

indirect, “polite” way of describing something too inappropriate or awkward to address directly.

exaggerated statement that emphasizes the significance of the statement’s actual meaning.

much like a rhetorical question, wherein someone asks a question that doesn't require an answer.

Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.”

saying that uses figurative language whose meaning differs from what it literally says.

“It’s raining cats and dogs”

appeals to readers’ senses through highly descriptive language.

In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff crystals, salted almonds, popsicles, partially gnawed ice cream cones and wooden sticks of lollipops.”

creates a contrast between how things seem and how they really are.

places two or more dissimilar characters, themes, concepts, etc. side by side, and the profound contrast highlights their differences.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness

compares two similar things by saying that one of them is the other.

like symbolism, but even more so. quit

crown

recurs throughout the novel and helps develop the theme of the narrative.

statements that don't logically follow what precedes them.

It was a spring day, the sort that gives people hope: all soft winds and delicate smells of warm earth. Suicide weather.”

means “beyond belief.” It’s a statement that asks people to think outside the box by providing seemingly illogical — and yet actually true — premises.

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” asked to create an effect rather than to solicit an answer from the listener or reader

uses human traits to describe non-human things.

Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin.”

asked to create an effect rather than to solicit an answer from the listener or reader

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” — The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

make fun of some aspect of human nature or society — usually through exaggeration, ridicule, or irony.

draws resemblance between two things by saying “Thing A is like Thing B,” or “Thing A is as [adjective] as Thing B.”

represent abstract concepts and ideas in their stories (tangible)

usage of a part to represent the whole.

“Stanford won the game” (Stanford referring to the full title of the Stanford football team) or “Nice wheels you got there” (wheels referring to the entire car)

when one word is used to ascribe two separate meanings to two other words. This literary device is great for adding humor and figurative flair as it tends to surprise the reader. And it’s just a fun type of wordplay.

Yet time and her aunt moved slowly — and her patience and her ideas were nearly worn out before the tete-a-tete was over.” — Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

when you take animal traits and assign them to anything that’s not an animal.