Literary techniques are the tools writers use to create meaning beyond the literal content of their words. If you are studying English at any level, you need to be able to identify these techniques in the texts you read and, more importantly, explain what effect they create. This guide lists the most important literary techniques separated into two categories: basic techniques that you should be confident with from KS3 onwards, and advanced techniques that become important at GCSE and essential at A-Level. Each entry includes a definition and an example.
These are the foundational techniques. If you are studying at KS3 or beginning your GCSE course, make sure you can identify and explain all of them before moving on to the advanced list.
A comparison between two things using "like" or "as". A simile makes an abstract quality concrete by linking it to something the reader can visualise. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says Juliet "hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear". The simile compares Juliet to a jewel, emphasising her brightness and value against a dark background.
A comparison that states one thing is another, without using "like" or "as". Metaphor is stronger than simile because it asserts identity rather than resemblance. In Macbeth, Macbeth calls life "a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing". Life is not being compared to a meaningless story; it is declared to be one.
Giving human qualities to something non-human, whether an object, an animal, or an abstract concept. In Shelley's "Ozymandias", the statue's pedestal reads "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" The desert around the ruins is described with the verb "stretch", giving the emptiness an almost deliberate presence. Personification allows writers to make settings and objects feel active rather than passive.
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words. Alliteration creates rhythm and can draw attention to a particular phrase. In Macbeth, the witches chant "Double, double, toil and trouble". The repeated "d" and "t" sounds give the line a percussive, spell-like quality.
A word that imitates the sound it describes, such as "buzz", "crash", "hiss", or "murmur". Onomatopoeia makes writing more sensory by allowing the reader to hear the scene. Wilfred Owen uses onomatopoeia in "Anthem for Doomed Youth" when he writes of "the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle". The words replicate the sound of gunfire.
The deliberate reuse of a word or phrase for emphasis. Repetition can reinforce an idea, create rhythm, or build intensity. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens describes Marley as "dead as a doornail" and then repeats "dead" several times in the opening paragraph to make the point unavoidable. When Scrooge later sees Marley's ghost, the reader's shock is amplified because the narrative insisted so firmly on his death.
A question asked for effect rather than to elicit an answer. Rhetorical questions engage the reader by making them think, or they express a point so obvious that the question answers itself. In An Inspector Calls, the Inspector asks, "But don't forget there are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us." The implied question, what will you do about it, is never spoken but is felt.
Language that appeals to the senses: sight (visual), sound (auditory), touch (tactile), taste (gustatory), or smell (olfactory). Imagery makes the reader experience the text rather than just understand it. In "Bayonet Charge" by Ted Hughes, the soldier's terror is conveyed through visual and tactile imagery: "bullets smacking the belly out of the air". The reader can see and almost feel the violence of the scene.
A type of personification in which the weather or natural environment reflects the mood of a scene or character. In Macbeth, a storm rages on the night Duncan is murdered. The unnatural weather mirrors the unnatural act. In Jane Eyre, the chestnut tree splits in two on the night Rochester proposes, foreshadowing the disruption to come. Pathetic fallacy is the single most common technique students are asked about in relation to setting and atmosphere.
A hint or indication of something that will happen later in the narrative. Foreshadowing creates suspense and, once the reader recognises it, adds layers of meaning to earlier scenes. The Prologue of Romeo and Juliet tells the audience that the lovers will die, which means every moment of hope in the play is shadowed by the knowledge of its futility.
A gap between what is said or expected and what is actually meant or happens. Verbal irony is when a character says the opposite of what they mean. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something a character does not. Situational irony is when events turn out contrary to expectation. In An Inspector Calls, Mr Birling's confident assertion that the Titanic is "unsinkable" is dramatic irony: the audience knows it sank.
These techniques are expected at GCSE for the highest grades and become essential at A-Level. They often involve structural or more nuanced language analysis.
A metaphor that is sustained across several lines or an entire text, developing the comparison in detail. In Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" the comparison between the beloved and summer is extended throughout the poem, with each line exploring a different aspect of the analogy before concluding that the beloved's beauty, unlike summer, will never fade because it is preserved in the poem itself.
The use of an object, character, or event to represent a larger idea or theme. In Lord of the Flies, the conch shell symbolises order and democratic authority. As the conch degrades and is eventually destroyed, so too does the boys' civilisation collapse. Symbolism is not the same as metaphor: a symbol recurs and accumulates meaning across a text, whereas a metaphor is usually contained within a single passage.
Placing two contrasting things side by side to highlight the differences between them. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens juxtaposes the warmth of the Cratchit family's Christmas dinner with the cold isolation of Scrooge's home to emphasise what Scrooge's wealth cannot buy. Juxtaposition can operate at the level of words, scenes, or entire characters.
A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. Romeo describes love as "O brawling love, O loving hate". The contradictions express the confusion and intensity of his emotions. An oxymoron compresses a conflict into the smallest possible space, forcing the reader to hold two opposing ideas simultaneously.
A group of words within a passage that relate to the same topic or theme. If a poet uses the words "cage", "chains", "trapped", and "bars" across a stanza, they are drawing on a semantic field of imprisonment. Identifying a semantic field allows you to discuss patterns of language across a passage rather than analysing individual words in isolation. This is a higher-order analytical move because it requires you to look at how words work together.
A pause in the middle of a line of verse, created by punctuation. In "Remains" by Simon Armitage, the line "And he's here in my head when I close my eyes, / he's here" uses a caesura after "eyes" followed by a short, blunt clause. The pause enacts the soldier's attempt to break away from the memory, and the continuation shows that he cannot. Caesura is a structural technique, and discussing it demonstrates awareness of how form contributes to meaning.
When a sentence or phrase runs over from one line of poetry to the next without terminal punctuation. Enjambment creates a sense of flow, urgency, or overflow. In "Storm on the Island" by Seamus Heaney, enjambment across several lines mirrors the relentless force of the wind. The lines do not stop where the eye expects, just as the storm does not pause.
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences. The Inspector's final speech in An Inspector Calls uses anaphora to build rhetorical force: "We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other." The repeated "We" insists on collective responsibility and gives the speech the quality of a sermon or political address.
The repetition of "s" and "sh" sounds. Sibilance can create a sense of menace, secrecy, or softness depending on the context. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking speech is marked by sibilant sounds that suggest the whispered, secretive nature of her guilt. Sibilance is a specific form of alliteration and naming it precisely earns more credit than the general term.
Hard consonant sounds produced by a sudden release of air: "b", "d", "g", "k", "p", "t". Plosive sounds create a sense of force, aggression, or abruptness. In "Bayonet Charge", Hughes writes "bullets smacking the belly out of the air". The plosive "b" sounds in "bullets", "belly", and the hard "k" in "smacking" give the line a violent, percussive quality that enacts the physical impact being described.
A turning point or shift in thought within a poem, most commonly associated with the sonnet form. In a Petrarchan sonnet, the volta occurs between the octave and the sestet (between lines 8 and 9). In a Shakespearean sonnet, the volta often appears at the beginning of the final couplet. The volta marks the moment where the poem changes direction: from problem to solution, from description to reflection, or from question to answer. Identifying the volta shows awareness of poetic structure.
A situation in which the audience knows something that a character does not. Dramatic irony creates tension, pathos, or dark humour depending on the context. In Macbeth, Duncan describes Macbeth's castle as a pleasant place with "a delicate air" as he arrives for the night during which he will be murdered. The audience knows what Duncan does not, and the contrast between his trust and the reality is the source of the irony.
A narrative in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities, creating a second level of meaning beneath the surface story. George Orwell's Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism. The animals represent political figures and social classes, and the events on the farm mirror historical events. Unlike symbolism, where individual objects carry meaning, allegory operates across the entire structure of the text.
A recurring element, image, or idea that develops significance across a text. In Macbeth, blood is a motif: it appears as a symbol of guilt, violence, and the irreversibility of action, from the "bloody man" in Act 1 to Lady Macbeth's imagined bloodstain in Act 5. A motif is more than a repeated image. It is an image that accumulates meaning each time it recurs, creating a thread of significance through the text.
The attitude or emotional quality conveyed by the writer's choice of language. Tone might be angry, reflective, sarcastic, mournful, celebratory, or detached, among many possibilities. Identifying tone is essential for close reading, but naming it is not enough. You need to explain how specific word choices, sentence structures, and techniques create that tone. Saying "the tone is angry" is a starting point. Showing how plosive sounds, short sentences, and imperative verbs create that anger is analysis.
Knowing the definition of a technique is the minimum requirement. To score well, you need to do three things: identify the technique, quote the specific example, and explain the effect it creates for the reader. The pattern is name it, show it, analyse it. A response that says "Shakespeare uses a metaphor" and stops there will receive little credit. A response that identifies the metaphor, quotes the relevant words, and then explains what the metaphor suggests about the character, theme, or situation will score well.
At A-Level, you are expected to move beyond identifying individual techniques and consider how they work in combination. A passage might use enjambment, a semantic field of entrapment, and a volta in the final couplet, and the essay question is asking you to explain how those features work together to create a particular effect. The advanced techniques in this guide are the tools that enable that kind of layered analysis.
A technique is not an answer. It is the beginning of an argument. Always move from identification to interpretation.