Stylistic resources in literature

Writers have always tried to capture the attention of the author who reads (or listens, with audiobooks) their works. To achieve this, they resort to two basic and main methods: create a sexy story wake up interest of the reading public and use the the language in a special way that is attractive and makes the reader want to continue reading your work.

It is for this reason that there are a large number of stylistic resources in literature, that although many have been discontinued or at least are not seen as frequently, they still exist and have been used in literature for centuries. If you want to have a summary of all the stylistic resources, here you have it. We differentiate them into three categories according to which aspects of the language it affects.

Phonic resources

These resources are used to use sound to the language with an aesthetic and expressive sense, causing a certain sensation in the reader:

• Alliteration: Systematic repetition of a sound to produce certain sensory effects. In the example below, certain sounds are repeated to give the sensation of smooth movement.
• Onomayopoeia: Imitation of a real sound. Onomayopeya is sometimes achieved through alliteration. In the following verses, for example, the repetition of the "s" evokes the buzzing of bees.

Morphosyntactic resources

They occur by adding, deleting, or repeating words, or by altering the order of words in the sentence:

• Epithet: It consists of using an adjective that expresses a quality of the noun it is attached to.
• Synonymy: It is an enumeration of terms that have a common meaning.
• Asyndeton: It consists of omitting conjunctions to produce a speed effect.
• Polysyndeton: It is the opposite resource to the previously mentioned. It consists of the repetition of unnecessary conjunctions; it produces an effect of solemnity, intensity or slowness.
• Ellipse: It consists of the deletion of terms as they are considered to be understood.
• Anaphora: It consists of the repetition of one or more words at the beginning of several verses or sentences.
• Parallelism: It is the repetition of similar constructions in two or more verses or sentences.
• Hyperbaton: It consists of altering the logical order of the words in the sentence.

Semantic resources

These resources are what make the meaning of words change in the text:

• La paradox: Figure in which two ideas or concepts are related that seem opposite or contradictory but that in a deeper sense they are not.
• La antithesis: It consists of opposing words or phrases of opposite meaning.
• La irony: It consists of implying the opposite of what is said. The real meaning follows from the context.
• El simile: It is the comparison between two words or ideas.
• La hyperbole: It's an exaggeration.
• La metaphor (trope): It consists of naming a reality with the name of another with which the author establishes an identification by its similarity.
• La metonymy (trope): It consists of naming a reality with the name of another with which it maintains a close relationship, such as the one between the author and his work, the content and the container, the place and the product that comes from it, etc.
• La synecdoche: It is a particular type of metonymy that consists of designating the part for the whole or the whole for the part. Example: "He gathered more than three hundred heads."

Classification of stylistic resources of a semantic nature

The previously seen semantic stylistic resources are classified in turn into three different categories, being divided as follows:

• Semantic resources based on the opposition of ideas: In these would enter the irony, the paradox and the antithesis.
• Semantic resources based on similarity relationships: In this division would be the resources of metaphor (which we will see more and better explained below), image and simile.
• Semantic resources based on contiguity relationships: These would include the resources of metonymy and synecdoche.

Similarity-based resources

La metaphor it is a literary device based on resemblance. Example: «Take from your joyful spring / the sweet fruit, before the angry weather / cover the beautiful summit with snow» (verses by Garcilaso de la Vega). In this case, in addition, one can speak of a allegory because in the discourse there is a system of metaphors that work together to express the same idea: "The joyous spring" in this case it would be youth; "The sweet fruit"It would be the present present; "Angry weather or winter" it would represent old age; «The snow, the gray hair and the beautiful summit» it would be the head. However, the metaphor is not the only semantic resource that is created in response to this type of relationship. The simile and image they also have these characteristics. Below, with an example of the calls "Greguerías" by Ramón Gómez de la Serna we can see it:

• Simile example: Lava looks like an advancing crocodile / The frogs are thrown into the pond as if they were posted.
• Example of impure image or metaphor: 8 is the hourglass of numbers / The hunter is the spoon of shoes.

It is important to note that while in the metaphor one term (gray hair) is replaced by another (snow), in the simile and in the image the two similar realities are named (lava, crocodile, 8, hourglass).

As we can see, there are many concepts that are attributed to stylistic resources, therefore, the best way to learn, remember and identify them is by selecting an old poem or text and analyzing it.

Related article:

Background and form in literature. What we say and how we say it.