Comparative Devices
Example of this device, "I slipped my feet into them as though into two cases knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin."
What is a simile?
And God said
let there be overflow
sent sound in all directions
pin drops & children's laughter
phones ringing & plates clattering
and it was kind of good but too much at times
What is an auditory image?
Example: "their blond legs burn like brush."
What is alliteration?
What is a recipe poem?
When the author references something/someone/some place outside the poem: "I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky."
What is allusion?
What is a metaphor?
The sweet ceylon cinnamon,
The Licorice-laced star anise,
The gentle chicory kick,
The woody nutmeg trace,
Like kind words on the lips.
What is a gustatory image?
Example: "I had a sublime time working with you all during this unit!"
What is rhyme?
A poem that raises something lowly to a loftier place. Example:
You raise yourself sharp fanged, clawed, scarred,
patched dark—because of this alone they should
love you.
What is an ode?
A phrase or opinion that is overused and lacks originality.
What is a cliche?
When a thing (noun) can represent many other things. When a thing (noun) has many meanings.
What is a symbol?
An image that appeals to the nose.
What is an olfactory image?
Example: "I don't know their song / the way I know your scuttling between walls."
What is Onomatopoeia?
An example of this device: "Because you are not the admired nightingale. Because you are not the noble doe. Because you are not the blackbird, picturesque ermine, armadillo, or bat."
What is anaphora?
A thing/noun that is not concrete. You cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, feel, or see it.
What is an abstract noun?
Poets use this device to make an inanimate object more relatable to humans.
What is personification?
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
What is a visual image?
An example: "With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near..."
What is consonance?
A type of poetry that is so "TMI."
What is confessional poetry?
A way of giving thanks to those who took care of this beautiful place before we got here.
What is a land acknowledgement?
Poets use this device to show an interesting relationship between two (or more) seemingly different things.
What is juxtaposition?
When an image appeals to the skin. To touch.
What is a tactile image?
And example: "Some day, when trees have shed their leaves / And against the morning’s white/ The shivering birds beneath the eaves."
What is sibilance?
When the comparison goes on for the entire poem.
What is an extended metaphor?
When the artist/poet explains their work to the audience.
What is an artist statement?
Writers use this to show contrast between two seemingly different words, "We're alone, together."
What is an oxymoron?
Example: "the fragrance of the earth lives in your crystalline nature."
What is an olfactory image?
When several words or lines are highly appealing to the ear in a melodious way.
What is musicality?
A type of poem that is rather "sequential" in nature.
What is a list poem?
What is caesura? Or, what is enjambment?
This device pairs two radically, completely different ideas. After thinking about these ideas, they "make sense" together. Eg. "The best thing to come from hate is love."
This device is often combined with imagery to make a big impression on the reader. Example: "Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. /I have been eating poetry."
What is hyperbole?
Ms. Thompson's favourite type of poetry to write.
What is lyric poetry?
The various lengths of these highly influence how the reader reads the poem.
What is a line break?
An example of this device, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
What is chiasmus?