Fooling with words is

the play of poets.

- Bill Moyers

What devices do poets use?

She slithered into the room quietly and listened. After several days of observing, she finally uncoiled her long limbs, stretched her neck, leaned against the desk, and began speaking, swaying as she spoke. With those first words, she began to slowly poison their minds.

1.What two things are being compared?2.How is the woman described? 3.Why would the writer compare a woman to a snake?Metap

hor

Poetic Devices

• Assonance• Consonance• Euphemism• Hyperbole• Imagery• Onomatopoeia• Metaphor• Simile

• Assonance- the repetition of vowel soundsFleet feet sweep by sleeping geese.

Hear the mellow wedding bells.

• Consonance- the repetition of consonant sounds at the ends of words

Jack ran back to the shack.Dawn walks down the hill.

• Euphemism- substituting a harmless expression for a harsh or unpleasant one

The old man passed away.The felon was sent to a correctional facility.

• Hyperbole- extreme exaggerationHis eyes were glued to the ground.

She needs a sandblaster to remove her makeup.

• Imagery- descriptive language that appeals to the senses

The scent of fresh bread made the man hungry.The bright sun blinded the young driver.

• Onomatopoeia- words imitate soundsThe cow mooed when she saw the farmer.The basketball swished through the hoop.

• Metaphor- a comparison between two unlike things not using the words “like” or “as”

My teacher is such a monster!He has the heart of a lion.

• Simile- a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”

She drives like a bat out of hell.The man is as tall as a tree.

“Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers,always watered, fed, guarded, admired,

but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,clinging on cliffs, like an eagle

wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,to live, to feel exposed to the madness

of the vast, eternal sky.To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,

carrying my soul, my seed,beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and ifthen shunned by everyone,

than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,growing in clusters in the fertile valley,

where they're praised, handled, and pluckedby greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stenchthan of sweet, fragrant lilac.

If I could stand alone, strong and free,I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

Homework

• Highlight and label figurative language in at least five of your poems.

• (I would suggest using poems that you know will be included in your anthology.)