Poetic Devices
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using "like" or "as."
What is a metaphor?
A figure of speech that makes a comparison using "like" or "as," such as "as brave as a lion."
What is a simile?
A contrast between expectation and reality, such as saying "What a pleasant day!" during a storm.
What is irony?
A group of lines in a poem is called this.
What is a stanza?
Words that imitate sounds, such as "buzz," "hiss," or "clang."
What is onomatopoeia?
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in close proximity, such as in "sweet silent thought."
What is alliteration?
A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work, like "He had the patience of Job."
A mild or indirect word substituted for one considered harsh, like "passed away" for "died."
What is an euphemism?
A stanza with two lines is called this.
What is a couplet?
The correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry
What is rhyme?
Giving human qualities to non-human things, as in "Death stands above me whispering low."
What is personification?
A play on words that exploits multiple meanings, such as "In a geometry class, a student asks the teacher, "Why is the obtuse angle so sad?" The teacher replies, "Because it's never right".
A phrase that is overused and lacks originality, such as "time heals all wounds."
What is cliche?
A stanza with four lines is called this.
What is a quatrain?
A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness
What is satire?
An exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally, for example, "I cried a river."
What is hyperbole?
A statement that seems contradictory but reveals a truth, like "Less is more."
What is a paradox?
A figure of speech in which two words are combined in order to form a poetic expression that refers to a person or a thing.
What is a kenning?
This type of narrative poem is meant to be sung, often tells a tragic story, and uses quatrains with an ABCB rhyme scheme.
What is a ballad?
The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms, like "deafening silence."
What is an oxymoron?
The choice of words and style of expression that an author uses in writing, affecting tone and meaning.
What is diction?
A literary device used to split up the current scenes in a story and look back to something that has happened in the past
What is a flashback?
This kind of poem is a serious reflection on death or loss.
What is an elegy?
A break in the flow of sound in the middle of a line of verse
What is a caesura?