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Introduction to LiteraturePoetic DevicesFigurative LanguageMetaphor: direct comparison of two things. Implies that one object is another object (doesnt use like or as) Ex. Life is a box of chocolates.Ex. Clare is a flighty sparrow.

Simile: uses like or as to make a comparison between two basically unlike ideasEx. Life is like a box of chocolatesEx. Clare is as flighty as a sparrow.

Personification:Atype of figurative language that gives human characteristics to non-human thingsEx. The wind whispered through the trees.

Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant soundEx. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Assonance: repetition of a vowel soundEx. On a proud round cloud in a white highnight.Ex. And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling, my darling, my life and my bride. (Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel Lee)

Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (especially near the end of a word)Ex. Clocks on fox tick. Clocks on Knox tock. Six sick bricks tick. Six sick chicks tock. (k, ks and x)Musical devices: devices that give a poem a melodious qualityOnomatopoeia: A word that imitates the sound(s) it represents Ex. buzz = sound of a beeEx. Sizzle, hiss, splash

Hyperbole- A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement.Ex. This poetry project is killing me. Ex. This class lasts forever. Repetition: the use of any element of language (sound, word, phrase, sentence) more than once.

Imagery: Descriptive or figurative language used to create word pictures for the reader.

Symbol: an object that represents something else.Ex: the color black- death, sadness, depression, etc.

Allusion: a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.

Rhyme: the repetition of similar sounds at the ends of wordsEx: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I could.- Robert Frost The Road Not Taken

Rhyme scheme: regular pattern of rhyming words that appear in a poem (AABB, ABAB, ABAA, etc.)-The example above is ABAAMeterMeter: the rhythmical pattern of a poem, determined by the number and types of stresses or beats, in each line.I wandered lonely as a cloud. most common is iambic pentameter (unstressed, stressed)All TYPES of different metersEx. Romeo and JulietTwo households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;