School of Writing, Literature, and Film

In the Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms, our professors define common literary devices and offer short lessons on how to use them in essays and other forms of literary criticism. The series is designed to be a free, online resource for high school and college English teachers and students, offering them tools to engage meaningfully with challenging literary texts.

To support teachers as they transition to distance learning platforms during the current COVID-19 crisis, we've added a few suggestions at the end of each transcript for further thinking and reading. To support dual language instruction, we are beginning to add Spanish as well as English subtitles to our videos. If you would like to read the English or Spanish transcripts of our videos, please click on their titles and you will be directed to pages dedicated to each term.

If you enjoyed our videos, show us some love by subscribing to our YouTube channel; liking, sharing, and commenting on our videos; or contributing to our English Fund to help us keep the series going. And if you'd like to take a remote course from us, check out our fall schedule, which is now open to non-degree-seeking students. Stay healthy, everybody!

"What is Figurative Language?" (Spanish Subtitles Available)

What is a Narrator?

What is a Vehicle and a Tenor?