Elements of Poetry
Figurative Language
Examples
FINAL JEOPARDY
100

Words with the same ending sound at the end of lines or stanzas.

Rhyming Words

100
A comparison of two things using "like" or "as"

Simile

100

He was as mad as a tea kettle blowing steam out of his ears.

Simile

100

Little Things
by Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

What two things is the poet comparing to time?

drops of water and grains of sand. (The poet is saying that every moment is part of the eternity of time.)

200

A pattern of stressed syllables that create a beat.

Rhythm

200

A comparison of two things by saying one thing is another thing.

Metaphor

200

A blanket of silver sequins spread across the sky.

Metaphor

200

Fog
BY CARL SANDBURG

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.


What two things is the author comparing?

fog and cats

300

Words that create images that appeal to the senses.

Imagery

300

Gives human qualities or characteristics to an animal or object.

Personification

300

The cold blue water splashed onto the white sandy beach.

Imagery

300

Almost Eleven Years
By Larry Levy

She no longer sat at the kitchen door.
When put out, she mostly slept
under the lilac, under the step.

No gift of rodent anymore
lay waiting for us in the dawn,
a trophy from her midnight hunt.

A foundling, a long-haired runt
we’d bathed until the fleas were gone.               

Now she didn't speak, didn’t complain.
She ignored the nuggets in her dish.

We tried beef, a bit of fish.
Both ended in the compost bin
and in a week were gone to dust,

and when she died, as all things must,
we shoveled through the crust
of ice, and lay her, weightless, in.

Next morning I expected her
to greet me coming down the stairs
or later curled on my chair,

a cloud of gray, electric fur.

A: What is the poet writing about?
B: What is the tone of this poem?

A: his cat getting sick and dying 
b: sad / grief / longing / sorrow 

400

The same sound or letter at the beginning of words or lines.

Alliteration

400

Words that appeal to the five senses.

Sensory Language

400

I can't quite hear the caterpillar chewing... can you?.

Alliteration

500

A word that imitates the sound it represents, like buzz or thud

Onomatopoeia

500

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or form of art.

Allusion

500

The book fell with a loud WACK!

Onomatopoeia