Figures of Speech / Figurative Language

and Other Poetry Terms

(NOTICE how the following figures of speech are grouped according to similar kinds, or opposites.)
1. Literal language -- means exactly what it says, literally
2. Figurative language creatively makes a point, without literally meaning exactly what is said
3. Figure of Speech a word or phrase that uses creative, figurative language (not literal) to make a certain point
4. Aphorism a wise saying that offers advice and/or makes some clever observation about life
EXAMPLES: The early bird gets the worm.
Dont judge a book by its cover.
5. Idiom The meaning of the phrase (or group of words) cannot be understood by the meanings of the individual words;
A form of expression often used by people from a certain area/region.
EXAMPLE: Its raining cats and dogs.
6. Euphemism- Substitution of a less harsh, inoffensive term for one considered offensive and/or explicit.
EXAMPLE: saying that someone passed away instead of died
7. Pun - A play on words (or word play) that creates humor and/or irony when there are two or more different
meanings of the same word in the context it is being used, or sometimes because of the similar meaning or sound
of different words.
EXAMPLE: Im glad I know sign language. Its very handy.
8. Personification - A non-living object or abstract quality is given human qualities or abilities, like its a person.
EXAMPLE: The wind whispered through dry grass.

9. Hyperbole - An exaggerated statement used for emphasis or heightened effect. (EXAMPLE: Ive told you a million times!)
10. Understatement - A statement that deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
(EXAMPLE: A team loses 0 to 50 in a soccer match. In an interview afterward, the coach tries to downplay the severity of the loss
by saying, We did not do well.

11. Metaphor - A direct or implied comparison between two mostly unlike things to emphasize something they have in
common; Saying one thing is another.
(EXAMPLE: Young children are sponges when learning new things.)
12. Simile - A stated comparison between two things that are mostly unlike -- using the word "like" or "as" -- to make a
special point about something they have in common.
(EXAMPLE: He runs as slow as molasses.)

13. Oxymoron -Opposite or contradicting words used together (side by side) for special meaning.
(EXAMPLE: Graduation is bittersweet for most seniors because they are excited and sad at the same time.)
14. Paradox - A full statement that appears to contradict itself; (one or more sentences)
(EXAMPLE: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.)

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Poetic Devices,
Rhythm & Rhyme
(NOTICE how the following poetry terms are grouped according to similar kinds, or opposites.)
15. Prose written or spoken language in its normal, ordinary form -- without metrical rhythm or rhyme
(EXAMPLES: sentences, paragraphs, stories, articles, etc.)
16. Verse - the type of writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme -- NOT in sentence form
(EXAMPLES: poems, epic poems, songs)

Sound Devices
17. Alliteration - repetition of the same beginning sound in two or more words that appear close
together in a phrase or line(s) of poetry and arent an exact rhyme; Usually beginning
consonant sound, but not always
(EXAMPLES: knows nature ... summer smoke circled ... cold around the campfire)
18. Assonance - Repetition of the same vowel sound (short and long sounds of a, e, i, o, u) within (or inside) words that
appear close together in a phrase or line(s) of poetry and arent an exact rhyme
(EXAMPLE: sleep, bleeds, meat)
19. Consonance - Repetition of the same consonant sound (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l ...) within words that appear close together
in a phrase or line(s) of poetry and arent an exact rhyme
(EXAMPLE: The unleashed dog came crashing through the room.)
20. Onomatopoeia - A word that sounds like it is spelled or what it means; It imitates the sound associated with the
object or action it refers to.
(EXAMPLES: buzz, ring, pow)

21. Imagery descriptive, figurative language that appeals to any of our five physical senses; Imagery makes the reader
able to see, hear, smell, feel, or taste what it describes in our minds.
Morning fog swirled lazily among the trees in the thick forest. (see)

Squeals of laughter came from the playground. (hear)

We awakened to the warm, rich aroma of brewed coffee and frying bacon. (smell)
The satin fabric felt soft and cool to the touch. (feel)

The fresh, juicy orange was sweet on my tongue. (taste)

22. Foot - a group of syllables making up a metrical unit of verse/poetry, creating rhythm.

In ancient classical poetry, a foot consists of long and short syllables.

In English poetry (Shakespeare, for example), a foot consists of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter - 5 sets (feet) of unstressed followed by stressed syllables
23. Meter - the rhythm of a piece of poetry, determined by the number and length of feet in a line:
24. Rhyme Scheme the pattern of rhyme for words at the end of each line of poetry/verse. (The last word in the first line is
automatically labeled A, and the last word in the next line is labeled A if it rhymes with the first line or B if it does not ... and so
on. Next letters of the alphabet are assigned to all lines of the poem, depending on which previous word the line rhymes with, if any, in
order to determine the overall rhyme scheme/pattern. If the poem has more than 26 lines, you start using double letters, like AA, etc.)
(See example below)

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Rhyme Scheme
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
A
And sorry I could not travel both
B
And be one traveler, long I stood
A
And looked down one as far as I could
A
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
B
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

C
D
C
C
D

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

E
F
E
E
F

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

G
H
G
G

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