Poetic Devices

What are the poetry terms I need to know for this unit?

Form

The arrangement, manner, or method used to convey the content.

Examples: Free verse, couplet, limerick, haiku, epic, acrostic…

Subject

The theme of a sermon, book, story, or poem.

Point of View

1st, 2nd, or 3rd period perspective.

Ex: I went to the store. (1st)

You went to the store. (2nd)

She went to the store. (3rd)

Personification

When an object or animal is given figurative human attributes.

Ex: The leaves danced in the wind.

Simile

A figure of speech invoking a comparison between unlike things using “like” or “as” or “as though”.

Ex: Pretty as a picture, sharp as a tack, ran as though being chased.

Symbol

An object of action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself.

Ex: Katniss Everdean is a symbol of rebellion for the rich, and hope for the poor

Imagery

Figurative language used to create a particular mental picture.

Ex: The clouds hung low like heavy wet blankets, and mist clung around the tall prarie grass blades like a baby clings to it’s mothers legs in a crowded room. The sun was just barely peeping out from underneath the gray, but already the buttery warm light seemed to ooze out like the yolk of eggs all over the breakfast dishes– oddly bright amongst the brown of dry toast.

Tone

The implied attitude of a writer or speaker toward the subject and characters of a work.

Ex: the tone of a high school senior in a research paper might be apathetic, where as the tone of a President’s speech might be passionate or motivated.

Ironic

Intentionally contrary to what was expected or intended.

Ex: When Tom the cat finally catches Jerry the mouse, all expected the cat to eat him up! But instead, he invited him to a party!

Metaphor

A comparison that does not use “like” or “as”, but simply exclaims that something is something else.

Ex: He was a brick wall.

The car has become a tomb.

Their stomachs were giant knots of nervousness and panic.

Diction

A poet’s distinctive choices in vocabulary.

Ex: At the sound of her daughter crying, the mother lazily sauntered on over to the crib VS. At the sound of her daughter crying, the mother careened violently across the room and to directly to the crib.

Paradox

An association of two completely different objects as being the same.

Ex: Nobody goes to that restaurant– it’s too crowded!

Don’t go near the water until you learn how to swim!

Night of the Living Dead

Rhythm

The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse.

Ex: It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

Mood

The distinctive emotional quality or character.

Ex: spooky, joyous, peppy, gentle, somber, melancholy…

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.

Ex: Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Onomatopoeia

“Sound echoing sense”; use of words resembling the sounds they mean.

Ex: Boom! Crash! Clang! Thump! Pop! Bang! Thwack! Zing!

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry.

Ex: I can tell, Mel would sell the welding bells well.

Meter

The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems.

Rhyme Scheme

A repeated pattern of end rhymes; usually marked with letters of the alphabet.Ex: When there is frost (A)

We can breath visible breath (B)When we count the cost (A)Of all we have left (B)And It’s so hard to say (C)What it is about the cold (D)Which makes us feel this way (C)About looking back on times of old (D)

Prose

A poem that has more grammatical or longer sentences and/or more of a narrative.

Ex: “The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and as I gaze into the mysterious depths of the forest, I feel like lingering here longer.”