Creative Writing: High School: Literary Devices, List 1

If you need inspiration for your next story or poem, be sure to review this list of words related to creative writing. We won't keep you in suspense: you'll learn all about plot, characterization, dialogue, and more.

Here are links to our lists in the collection: General Terms, List 1, General Terms, List 2, Plot Development, List 1, Plot Development, List 2, Genres, List 1, Genres, List 2, Literary Devices, List 1, Literary Devices, List 2
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. literary
    relating to or characteristic of creative writing
  2. rhetorical device
    a use of language that creates a literary effect
  3. figure of speech
    language used in a nonliteral sense
  4. trope
    a common or clichéd plot device, idea, or theme in a creative work
  5. imagery
    the use of vivid sensory language in literature
  6. symbol
    something visible that represents something invisible
  7. symbolism
    the practice of investing things with arbitrary meaning
  8. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  9. figurative
    not literal
  10. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  11. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  12. repetition
    the continued use of the same word or word pattern
  13. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  14. irony
    incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
  15. dramatic irony
    when the audience understands something the characters don't
Created on Tue Jul 26 13:58:40 EDT 2022 (updated Tue Jun 03 09:36:04 EDT 2025)

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