The Poetic Devices You Know!
Name the device: Life is like a box of chocolates.
Simile
This poetic form spells out a word in a vertical line, most commonly using the initial letter from each line.
Acrostic Poem
a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse.
Stanza
The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. E.g., BANG!
Onomatopoeia
The recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity, as in “A blessing in disguise.”
Consonance
Comparing two unlike things.
Metaphor
Japanese poetry with no set rhyme scheme, but a specific shape: three lines composed of five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third line.
Haiku
A group of two lines that rhyme, may be repeated.
Rhyming Couplet
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe."
Assonance
A device in which normally unassociated ideas, words or phrases are placed side by side, creating an effect of surprise or emphasizing contrast. For example, when Juliet says “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” - it makes her happy and sad at the same time.
Juxtaposition
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. E.g., She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Alliteration
A five line poem with a rhyming pattern of AABBA, usually telling the tale of someone doing something or something happening to them in a humorous way.
Limerick
A poetry element that aids in the creation of a good and creative poem. It is the systematic regularity of a poem's tempo.
Rhythm
A figure of speech involving usually extreme exaggeration. E.g., I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!
Hyperbole
The juxtaposition of pleasant and agreeable sounds. Most sound devices and rhymes produce euphony. In music, the sound is pleasant, agreeable and harmonious.
Euphony
Giving non-human things human characteristics. E.g., The sky cried as he mourned.
Personification
This is the most open form of poetry, with no rhythmical, rhyme, or other requirements.
Free Verse
A four-line stanza in a poem, may be repeated.
Quatrain
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.
Allusion
A combination of harsh, discordant sounds e.g. “Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw”
Cacophony
What is the device? The emotional response that the writer wishes to evoke in the reader through a story response. E.g., calm, fer, or anger.
Mood
14 lines with a strict rhyme scheme.
Where one thing is meant to represent something else. E.g., the colour red representing love.
Symbolism
The deliberate combination of incongruous or contradictory words e.g. jumbo shrimp.
Oxymoron
A phrase which has a different meaning from what is said. Example: I had to pay an arm and a leg for this book.
Idiom