Poetic Devices
A series of words that begin with the same consonant sound (e.g., "O wandering water ever whispering?")
What is alliteration?
A three-lined poem (usually non-rhyming) that follows a specific syllable pattern (of Japanese origin)
What is haiku?
"To be, or not to be, that is the question"
(Name the play)
What is Hamlet?
"I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Who is Robert Frost?
"Quoth the Raven '_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ '"
- Edgar Allen Poe
What is Nevermore?
Describe something by comparing it to something else, specifically using "like" or "as" (e.g., streets that follow like a tedious argument)
What is simile?
What is free verse?
"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."
- Lewis Carroll
What is "Jabberwocky"?
"I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up--"
(Hint: children's poet!)
Who is Shel Silverstein?
"Shall I compare thee to a _ _ _ _ _ _ ' _ day?"
- William Shakespeare
What is summer's?
When you describe something by saying that it IS something else (e.g., love is a battlefield)
What is metaphor?
A classical 14 line poem that often follows a specific rhyme scheme. Popular examples are Italian and Petrarchan
What is a sonnet?
A poem written by Walt Whitman about the death of Abraham Lincoln
What is "O Captain! My Captain!"?
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddles masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
Who is Emma Lazarus?
"Because I could not stop for _ _ _ _ _ --
He kindly stopped for me-"
- Emily Dickinson
What is Death?
When inanimate objects, animals, or abstract ideas are given human qualities (e.g., "the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes")
What is personification?
A poem that spells a word with the first letter of each line
What is an acrostic?
An epic poem about the biblical fall of man by John Milton
What is Paradise Lost?
"You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise."
- from the poem, "Still, I'll Rise"
Who is Maya Angelou?
"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , burning bright,
In the forests of the night"
- William Blake
What is Tiger Tiger?
Words that when spoken out loud sound like their meanings (e.g., buzz, pop, sizzle, click)
What is onomatopoeia?
A funny poem with the rhyme scheme of AABBA
What is a limerick?
"I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox"
What is "This Is Just to Say"?
"No man is an island"
Who is John Donne?
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and _ _ _ _ _ _"
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
What is height?