Literary Devices Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RL 8.3, W.8.1.C

Core Standard

Literary Devices relates to the any technique that an author uses to communicate their overall message to their audience. When used in concert with a well-developed idea, the proper device can really heighten a body of work and help audience grow a high level of affinity for it. In most cases the use of the device is to put a cherry on top. The thoughts could easily be transferred to the readers through straight simple sentences, but when a device is used appropriately it makes a tremendous difference and helps make the words come alive for readers. A quick way to observe this is by using the example sentence, "Nick's yellow shirt was bright." A few literary elements will help the readers really grasp your point. Here is the same message, but jazzed up with a few literary tweaks, "Nick's loud yellow shirt was like staring at the sun during a solar eclipse in January." We a few changes it went from being a shirt that might annoy you to a shirt that may melt your eyes out of your head. This series of worksheets will help you explore commonly used literary devices as well as help you explore specific devices and techniques in depth.