Literary Devices: A Tale of Two Cities

Allusion

“He added, in a jesting way, that perhaps George Washington might gain almost as great a name in history as George the Third.”

(80)

Antithesis

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”

(13)

Personification

“There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none.”

(16)

Imagery

“The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled.”

(37)

This image of wine will foreshadow the eventual violence and gory of the revolution.

Allieration
“Not a word was spoken, not a sound was made.  She stood, like a spirit, beside him…”

(51)

Repetition

“Kiss me, kiss me! O my dear, my dear!”

(53)

Simile

“His cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lighted it as though it were the light of Freedom shining on him.”

(53)

Metaphor

“of the rest and silence into which the storm called Life must hush at last…”

(54)

Foreshadowing

“The beach was a desert of heaps of sea and stones tumbling wildly about, and the sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction.  It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs, and brought the coast down, madly.”

(28)

Symbolism

“‘You are right, Jacques,’…this third interchange of the Christian name was completed at the moment when Madame Defarge put her toothpick by, kept her eyebrows up, and slightly rustled in her seat.”
(42)

The name Jacques is immediately associated to a hidden scheme brewing in the background of the plot, essentially symbolizing the growing seeds of the approaching outbreak of betrayal.