Literary Techniques Cheat Sheet

Resource Description

Complete HSC English Literary Techniques Cheat sheet

Allegory – A story or narrative with two meanings; the obvious or literal meaning that is immediately clear, and a second, usually hidden meaning. The second meaning often acts as a commentary on real world events or issues or relates to a specific topic/theme being dealt with.
Example: Many people claim Lord of the Rings is an allegory for the World War I because it portrays war (and especially industrialisation for war production) negatively.

Alliteration – Repetition of consonants at the beginning of successive words or within sentences/phrases to create a sense of rhythm, though they can be overdone (as in tongue twisters). Also common in poetry.
Example: “Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

Allusion – A subtle or passing reference to an event, person, place, other text, etc. that is intended to be noticed by readers (though isn’t always picked up on). Religious allusions are some of the easiest to spot, especially Christian religious allusions due to the oversaturation of Christian imagery in texts and media.
Example: Remus Lupin in Harry Potter is named for Remus of ‘Remus and Romulus’, twins in Greek mythology who were raised by a wolf. This is a mythological allusion that ties into his being a werewolf.

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