Poetic Devices
Creative tools used by the poet to shape how the poem sounds through rhythm, highlight why the poem is important, and draw attention to tone or mood.
Poetic Device
The sequence of events inside a story which affect other events through the principle of cause and effect
Plot
The current literary period. It followed Modernism and is shaped by Expressionism. It often includes characters who are trying to find their identity.
Contemporary Literary Period
You can often identify these poems by their plain language, pessimism and focus on everyday items.
Modernist Poetry
A man concerned with civil rights who thought vocational training was more beneficial than higher education. W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed with him about this.
Booker T. Washington
A comparison between two dissimilar or opposing things that does not rely on the words like or as to make a meaningful connection
Metaphor
The central topic a text treats in contemporary literary studies
Theme
A process that involves throwing things that aren't usually associated with one another together. It may also involve mixing the past into the present time.
Juxtaposition
In this poem, a church offcial who supported prohibition dies from drinking too much as an alcoholic. He kept this a secret from everyone around him.
Deacon Taylor By Edgar Lee Masters
A sociologist who explored the idea of a double consciousness. He also founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
W.E.B. DuBois
The use of words that engage the five senses to create a vivid image or experience in the reader's mind.
Imagery
An open form of poetry
Free Verse
A non-linear novel written by William S. Burroughs. He used words that had been rearranged at random to convey the mental thought processes of an addict.
Naked Lunch
This poem contrasts the naturalness of love with the unnatural function of clocks and the way that they track time.
9 by E. E. Cummings
Zora Neale Hurston wrote this novel about a woman named Janie trying to find love. It deals with gender roles, much like Chopin's The Story of an Hour.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Identify the poetic device used below:
My mom was as angry for years and years when I lost my new cell phone.
Hyperbole
A device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink
Printing Press
A novel dealing with race written by Ralph Ellison. Because of the racism of those around him, this novel's protagonist is never given a name.
The Invisible Man
The rules of this poetry style include: 1. Direct words should be used in the poem, 2. Poets should only use the words they need to, and 3. New rhythms should be employed
Imagism
The main character of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her first two marriages don't work out because she's too headstrong to fit into the role demanded of her.
Janie
A rhythm in poetry where every third syllable is accented, even if the third syllable is found in a different word(s) from the first two e.g. in the BLINK of an EYE
Anapestic Meter
An American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period
Herman Melville
The mother of Tom and Laura in The Glass Menagerie. She wants a better life after being abandoned by her drunk husband.
Amanda
She pioneered confessional poetry and became one of the most famous poets to use this style, which focused on subject matter that was very personal.
Sylvia Plath
This poet was a vital part of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of this works dealt with the conflicting identities faced by African Americans. He wrote the poem Heritage.
Countee Cullen