Literary Devices Cheat Sheet: The Twenty That Actually Get Tested
May 9, 2026 · 6 min · literary devices · english literature · GCSE english
The list of literary devices in your textbook is overwhelming. The list that actually gets tested is much shorter. These twenty cover almost every English Literature exam.
Sound
- Alliteration — repeated consonant sounds: "Peter Piper picked"
- Assonance — repeated vowel sounds: "the rain in Spain"
- Onomatopoeia — words that sound like what they describe: "buzz", "crash"
- Sibilance — repeated 's' sounds, often soft and hissing
Imagery
- Simile — comparison using "like" or "as"
- Metaphor — comparison without "like" or "as"
- Personification — giving human traits to non-human things
- Imagery — descriptive language that appeals to the senses
Structure
- Foreshadowing — hints at what's to come
- Flashback — a scene set earlier than the main story
- Cyclical structure — ends where it began
- Volta — a turning point, especially in a sonnet
Sentence-level
- Repetition — repeating a word or phrase for effect
- Anaphora — repetition at the start of clauses
- Juxtaposition — placing two opposites side by side
- Caesura — a pause in the middle of a line of poetry
Meaning
- Symbolism — an object representing a bigger idea
- Motif — a repeated theme or image
- Allegory — a story where every element symbolises something else
- Irony — a gap between what's said and what's meant
How to use them in essays
Don't just spot the device. Explain what effect it creates.
Bad: "The poet uses a simile."
Good: "The simile 'like a tired soldier' makes the speaker feel weary and battle-worn, which suits the poem's exhausted tone."
The marks live in the second sentence.