The Odyssey Literary Terms and Devices Review Selected from A Handbook to Literature, 8th Edition by William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman & Elements of Literature, Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Allusion Reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science or pop culture.

Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience or the reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know

Epic a long narrative poem that traces the adventures of an epic hero

Epic Hero a legendary figure of almost superhuman qualities whose adventures form the core of the epic poem. An epic hero embodies the goals and virtues of an entire nation or culture

Epithet adjective or descriptive phrase that is regularly used to characterize a person, place or thing

Homeric Epithet consists of a compound adjective that is regularly used to modify a particular noun examples: “wine dark sea,” “rosy fingered dawn,” “the gray eyed goddess Athena”

Extended Metaphor is a metaphor that is extended, or developed over several lines of writing or even throughout an entire poem

Flashback A flashback is a literary device in which an earlier episode, conversation, or event is inserted into the sequence of events. The flashback interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time. Often flashbacks are presented as a memory of the narrator or of another character.

Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story. Writers use foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare for what is to come.

Hero a character who exhibits extraordinary powers of strength, courage or intelligence

Homeric Simile an extended comparison, also called an epic simile, gets its name form Homer, the Greek poet

Imagery language use to appeal to the senses

Legend a widely told story about the past, one that may or may not have a foundation in fact

Metaphor Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing becomes another thing without the use of the word like, as, than or resembles

Myth traditional story that is rooted in a particular culture, is basically religious, and usually serves to explain a belief, a ritual, or mysterious natural phenomenon

Oral Tradition stories, songs, and poems about the history and heritage of a people that are passed from generation to generation by word of mouth

Personification kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human

Poetic Justice When a character gets what he/she deserves. When the most fitting reward or punishment is doled out to a character.

Symbolism person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well