Poetic Devices
DEVICE DEFINITION EXAMPLE
I'll never get this fishing
A figure of speech which uses extreme line untangled in a million
Hyperbole exaggeration. Made emphatic through years!
overstatement. Though have cleft my
heart in twain.
Visual: appeals to our
sense of sight. The
crimson apple glistened in
her hand.
The mental impression summoned up by a
Imagery word, phrase or sentence. It suggests to the Auditory: appeals to our
reader what to think and feel. sense of sound. The
roaring thunder frightened
the little boy.
Life is a banana cream pie.
A figure of speech that compares two or more
All the world’s a stage.
Metaphor things with a similar quality and does not use
“like” or “as”. One thing is said to be another. All the men and women
are players.
“You're a snake!
Extended A comparison between two unlike things that Everything you hiss out
continues throughout a series of sentences in a of your mouth is a lie.
Metaphor paragraph, or lines in a poem. You frighten children,
and you have no spine.”
Ms. Smith always tries to
“act naturally,” especially
when her students are
being “seriously funny.”
A device where seemingly opposite words are
Oxymoron
placed together for effect. She accepted it as a kind
cruelty.
So innocent arch,so
cunningly simple
The leaves “danced” in the
When an inanimate/non living thing object or
Personificati wind. The tree “screamed”
abstract image is given human/living thing
on under the saw blade. It was
qualities or abilities.
a “strutting” sort of blue.
Simile A figure of speech that compares two things He was as excited as a kid
at Christmas. He looked
by using “like” or “as.” like a Jack-in-the-box the
way he kept jumping up.
For example, the color
white stands for purity,
The use of symbols that represent other black represents evil, roses
Symbolism concepts or ideas in order to convey a deeper stand for romance, a
meaning. butterfly symbolizes
transformation and a dog
can represent loyalty.
Give us this day our daily
is a figure of speech in which a “part” of bread(food)
Synecdoche something is used to represent its “whole.” Or
the whole as part, England(Cricket Team)
won the match.
"O Romeo, Romeo,…..
An address to a dead or absent person or Sweet Auburn!
abstract who is not physically present, An Milton! Thou shoul’st
Apostrophe
apostrophe is often introduced by the be….living at this hour
exclamation "O,"
Roll on,though deep and
dark ocean-roll
Take him and cut him out
in little stars,
And he will make the face
When a line of poetry carries its idea or of heaven so fine
Enjambment thought over to the next line without a That all the world will be
grammatical pause.
in love with night
And pay no worship to the
garish sun.
The use of words to express something other
No doubt but you are the
than and especially the opposite of the literal
Irony people, and wisdom shall
meaning, typically for humorous or emphatic
die with you.
effect.
DEVICE DEFINITION EXAMPLE
Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds in Ms. Smith's English class
adjacent or closely connected words. causes her confusion.
Assonance Repetition of the same vowel sound anywhere She lived in the hills.
in adjacent words or in a line of poetry. It is
often used to slow the pace of poetry.
Consonance In consonance, the repetition happens at the The first and last brush
end or anywhere in closely connected, sweeps fast and best.
following, or adjacent words in a sentence.
He said he would come
home hot and on foot
The use of a word that imitates the natural The bees “buzz” the clock
Onomatopoe sounds of a thing. These words look like they “tick tocks” the snake
ia sound. “hisses”
Hiss,
Satire a way of criticizing people or ideas in a Where in one Emperor
humorous way, art of making someone or lost his Life, and another
something look ridiculous, raising laughter in his Crown.
order to embarrass
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or
ridicule to criticize something or someone.
Public figures, such as politicians, are often
the subject of satire
Elision removal of an unstressed syllable, consonants, Having commenc’d, be a
or letters from a word or phrase, for the divine in show,
purpose of decreasing the number of letters or
Sweet Analytics, ’tis thou
syllables when mixing words together. The
hast ravish’d me!
missing letter is replaced by an apostrophe.
Generally, the middle or end letter or syllable
is eliminated, or two words are blended
together, and an apostrophe is inserted.
Anaphora A figure of speech in which words repeat at In every cry of every Man,
the beginning of successive clauses, phrases,
In every infant's cry of
or sentences.
fear,
In every voice, in every
ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles
I hear
Polysyndeton A literary technique in which a conjunction appears As Dian’s visage, is now
over and over again to join different thoughts in one begrimed and black
sentence or line. As mine own face. If there be
cords or knives
Refrain A line or group of lines which are repeated in the On a crowded hill surrounding
course of a poem (usually at the end of each stanza) a mill,
Across a shallow stream,
nearer they seem,
They will be waiting.
On a quiet hill near the
whining mill,
They will be waiting.
Rhyme Two words which end with identical sounds (rhyme Crime/rhyme/slime/time
depends on sound, not spelling)
Types of Couplet: stanza of two lines
Stanzas
Tercets: stanza of three lines
Quatrains: stanza of four lines
Quintets: stanza of five lines
Sestets: stanza of six lines
Octave: stanza of eight lines
Strophe:Division of a poem containing stanzas of
varying line length
Allusion a reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, Is there an Einstein in your
event, or other literary work with which the reader is physics class? (Albert
presumably familiar. Einstein)
If I’m not home by midnight,
my car might turn into a
pumpkin. (Cinderella)
deliberately repeating sounds, words, and phrases Let it snow, let it snow, let it
within a piece of literature for the purpose of creating snow.
Repetition an intended effect.
pun also known as a “play on words.” Puns involve words The tallest building in town is
with similar or identical sounds but with different the library — it has thousands
meanings. Puns are generally intended to be of stWhy do amphibians take
humorous, but they often have a serious purpose as the bus? Because their cars are
well in literary works. always getting toad.
Witty verbal exchange Is life worth living?-It depends
upon the liver
Her cat is near the computer to
keep an eye on the mouse
Transferred A term used to characterize a person or thing He passed a sleepless nights.
Epithet
Term transferred from its proper word to another The ploughman homeward
closely associated with it in a sentence(Adj) polds his weary war
Types of Poems
1. Narrative: The story-line of the poem. A narrative poem is a
poem written to tell a particular story. IE: ballad, tale, romance,
epic
2. Ballad: A narrative poem, originally composed to be sung. A
ballad often tells of a single dramatic episode. Sentimental or
romantic poem in short stanzas.
3. Fable: A fictitious(imaginary) narrative, intended to enforce
some useful truth usually with animals as characters.
4. Parable: A short narrative illustrating a moral or religious
lesson.
5. Limerick: A humorous, five-line poem (usually lines 1, 2, & 5
rhyme and lines 3 & 4 rhyme. (rhyming: aabba)
6. Lyric: A short poem expressing a personal feeling, emotion, or
attitude about some topic.
7. Elegy: A song or poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation,
usually for one who has died.
8. Parody: A comic imitation of a serious poem.
9. Ode: A poem on an exalted theme, expressed in a dignified,
sincere language, serious in tone, and usually in praise of
something or somebody.
10. Epic: Extended narrative poem in dignified language
celebrating the feats (difficult accomplishment) of traditional
hero,
11. Sonnet: A fixed verse form consisting of 14 lines. First
stanza is octave and next is sestet.
Types of Verse
1.Blank Verse A form of verse which is not rhymed.
This form is common in Shakespeare.
1.Soliloquy: The act of a character speaking to himself
to reveal their thoughts to the audience.
2.Monologue: A long speech by one person in a play
(Soliloquy). Sometimes spoken to other characters.
3.Dialogue/ Colloquy: A conversation between two or
more individuals. Opposite to monologue or
soliloquy.
