LITERARY DEVICES

MALAPROPISM

• The use of an incorrect word in place of a similar sounding word that results in a humorous expression.
• "I dropped a drum on my lap." (Crumb)

MEIOSIS

• An intentional understatement used to belittle a person or event. Opposite of hyperbole.
• Shakespeare's King Lear: "I fear that I am not in my perfect mind"

METONYMY

• Replaces a name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely related.
• "Let me give you a hand" (hand means help)

MOTIF

• An object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work.
• "Love" is a motif in the New Testament.

NEMESIS

• A situation where good is rewarded and evil is punished. Poetic justice.
• "The Chronicles of Narnia"