POETIC DEVICES

& THINGS RELATED TO POEMS

Related:

Sonnet; short fourteen-line poem

Ballad; tells a story, usually based on a legend
Ode; short lyrical poem written in praise of
something
Couplet; a pair of successive rhyming lines,
usually of the same length
Free/Blank Verse; a poem that does not have
a regular rhythm or rhyme

Devices:

Personification: assigning human traits to a

non-living thing. could also be assigning
human pronouns to an animal or a non-living
thing
Simile: comparison of one noun with another
noun/object using the words “as” or “like”

Metaphor: comparison, consideration of one

noun with another without using as or like.
Things aren’t alike but have something in
common, not meant to be taken literally.

Enjambment: when an idea carries on for more

than one line in a poem. it is considered from
line to line

eg in the first and second lines

In the second and third lines, etc

Note that there are no punctuation marks at the

end of any of the lines, in order to not break
the continuation of the idea

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of

specific consonant sounds in close proximity.
Note that the vowel sounds before the
consonant are generally different.
Assonance: Repetition of any specific vowel
sounds in close proximity

Alliteration: Repetition of a consonant sound

at the beginning of multiple words in a series

Letters are usually not considered in this case,

as T and Th, etc have different sounds.

Allusion: indirect reference to something

“The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers,

and the crash hit them hardest.”

- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Lee isn’t speaking of a literal crash—she’s

referencing the stock market crash of the late
1920s, which left many people without money.
Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird’s narrator,
references the stock market crash in a way
that’s appropriate for her context, which
readers can gather from the novel’s setting.

Allegory: An allegory is a story, poem, or

other written work that can be interpreted to
have a secondary meaning.

Irony: the most common is the use of tone or

exaggeration to convey a meaning opposite to
what's being literally said. A second form of
irony is situational irony, in which a situation
or event contradicts expectations, usually in a
humorous fashion. A third form is dramatic
irony, where the audience of a play, movie, or
other piece of art is aware of something that
the characters are not.

Basic irony, where what someone says doesn't

match what they mean. Difference between
surface meaning of something that is said from
its underlying meaning.

Anaphora: a word or group of words is used

repeatedly at the beginning of sentences or
clauses for effect or emphasis

Symbolism: use of symbols to signify ideas or

qualities by giving them symbolic meanings
that are different from their literal sense.

Imagery: mental pictures or images which are

evoked in a reader’s mind

Repetition: repeated use of single words,

phrases, lines and sometimes even stanzas for
music effect or emphasis

Oxymoron: two contradictory words or ideas

are put together (quiet rage for eg)
Transferred Epithet: an adjective is used not
with a noun which is normally qualifies but
with some other noun

Paradox: figure of speech in which a statement

appears to contradict itself but when studied
deeper, the statement seems true and
contradiction is resolved.

Poetic License: poet takes liberty with

language - changing the spellings or violation
grammatic rules for the purpose of rhyme
scheme, rhythm, lyricism, etc.

Humour: poet tries to making the writing witty

by provoking laughter (with exaggeration,
understatement, imagery, irony, satire, etc.)

Pun: poet plays on words using it to mean

different things at the same time for
humourous effect
Metonymy: Metonymy is a figure of speech in
which a word is substituted for another word
that it is closely associated with. For example,
“the White House” is often used as a
metonymy for the presidential administration.

Synecdoche: Synecdoche is a figure of speech

in which you use a part of something to stand
for the whole thing. If your parents buy you a
car and you say that you just got a new set of
wheels, you're using synecdoche — you're
using the wheels, which are part of a car, to
refer to the whole car.

Difference between Synecdoche and

Metonymy: If the word being used is
referencing a concept, then it's metonymy, if
the word is a part of the whole that is being
referenced then it's a synecdoche. Or, the other
way around, if a word is referencing a whole,
but is meant to reference a part then it is a
synecdoche as well.

Onomatopoeia: words describing sound

Ambiguity: Ambiguity happens when a

statement’s structure or substance leaves room
for alternative interpretations and obscures its
intended meaning.

Hyperbole: A hyperbole is a figure of speech

that consists of an exaggeration. It is the usage
of exaggerated terms in order to emphasise or
heighten the effect of something.

https://leverageedu.com/blog/poetic-devices/