Poetic Devices

Categories of Poetic Devices

There are two main categories of poetic devices:

A) The sound of wordsB) The meaning of words

The following definitions are some of the more common examples.

A) The Sound of Words

1. ALLITERATION – The repeated consonant sound at the beginning of words that are placed near or beside each other.

eg. Fast and furious Peter and Andrew patted the ponies as Ascot. (both the p and t sounds count here)

A) The Sound of Words

2) ASSONANCE: The repeated vowel sounds at the beginning of words that are near each other.

Eg. He’s a bruisin’ loser.The previous example: Andrew,

patted, Ascot

A) The Sounds of Words

3) CONSONANCE – the repetition of the sounds at the end of words placed near each other. It’s almost a rhyme

Eg. Cool soul

A) The Sounds of Words

4) ONOMATOPOEIA – Words that sound like their meaning.

Eg. The tick of the clockboom, buzz, crackle, gurgle, hiss,

pop, sizzle, snap, swoosh, whir, zip

B) The Meaning of Words

1) IMAGERY – The use of vivid descriptions to create a physical and emotional centre.

Eg. Tends to use the 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste.

B) The Meaning of Words

2) HYPERBOLE – an outrageous exaggeration used for effect.

Eg. He weighs a tonne.

B) The Meaning of Words

3) IRONY - A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.

Eg - Wow, thanks for expensive gift...let’s see: did it come with a Happy Meal or the Burger King equivalent?

B) The Meaning of Words

4) METAPHOR - A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other.

Eg - He’s a zero. Eg - Her fingers danced across the

keyboard.

B) The Meaning of Words

5) OXYMORON - A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.

Eg - a pointless point of view; bittersweet

B) The Meaning of Words

6) PERSONIFICATION - Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.

Eg – the trees whispered to each other gleefully.

B) The Meaning of Words

7) PUN - Word play in which words with totally different meanings have similar or identical sounds.

Example: Like a firefly in the rain, I’m de-lighted.

B) The Meaning of Words

8) SIMILE - A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”

Eg - He’s as dumb as an ox.Eg - Her eyes are like comets.

B) The Meaning of Words

9) SYMBOL - An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.

Eg - a flag to represent a countrya lion to represent couragea wall to symbolize separation.

ACTIVITYTASK: Find ONE example of EACH poetic device

using poetry from any of the class textbooks.PROCESS:- Select your first poem, read it, then quote an

example of a poetic device.

- The table of contents will list which are poems.

Textbook Poem Title Author Poetic Device

Quotation

Crossroads

“Superman’s Song”

Brad Roberts

Simile “…dumb as an ape…” (10)

Work Cited Poetic Devices http://

www.chaparralpoets.org/devices.pdf