A literary technique (also, literary device, procedure or method) is any element or the entirety of elements a writer intentionally uses in the structure of their work. Examples include an identifiable rule of thumb, a convention, a literary motif, an organization that is employed in literature and storytelling, or the absence of them. In the context of a play or motion picture, literary techniques or devices are referred to as dramatic.
"Literary techniques" is a catch-all term that may be distinguished from the term "devices".
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“Simile and Metaphor differ only in degree of stylistic refinement. The Simile, in which a comparison is made directly between two objects, belongs to an earlier stage of literary expression; it is the deliberate elaboration of a correspondence, often pursued for its own sake. But a Metaphor is the swift illumination of an equivalence. Two images, or an idea and an image, stand equal and opposite; clash together and respond significantly, surprising the reader with a sudden light.”
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