Poetic Elements & Terms

English 9 Mr. Goatseay

Figurative Language

The way an author uses words in order

to describe something by comparing it
with something else.

Examples: metaphor, simile, personification

Similie
A comparison of two unlike things using
like or as
Examples:

The sun is like a yellow ball of fire

in the sky.
He was as strong as an ox.

Metaphor
A comparison of two unlike things where
one is described directly as the other
WITHOUT using like or as
Examples:

A spider is a black dark midnight sky.

Its web is a Ferris wheel.
It has a fat moon body and legs of dangling string.
- Spider by Anonymous

Imagery

Language that provides a sensory experience

using sight, sound, smell, touch, taste
Examples:
Soft upon my eyelashes
Turning my cheeks to pink
Softly falling, falling
Not a sound in the air
Delicately designed in snow
Fading away at my touch
Leaving only a glistening drop
And its memory
- Crystal Cascades by Mary Fumento

Personification
A metaphor in which human qualities are
given to non-human things
Examples:

The wind whispered through the trees.

The moon danced on the water.
The stuffed bear smiled as the little boy hugged
him close.

Hyperbole
An intentional exaggeration or
overstatement, often used for emphasis
Examples:

My bookbag weighs a ton.

Im so tired, I could sleep for a year.
I have a million things to do before vacation.

Symbolism
Using a word or object to represent a
deeper meaning than the words
themselves. It can be a material object or
a written sign used to represent
something invisible.
Examples:

The American flag represents freedom

A wedding ring represents love and marriage

Allusion
A reference to well-known characters or
events from literature, or history.
Examples:

He has the Midas touch when picking stocks.

(King Midas was a famous character from
Greek Mythology whose touch turned items
into gold.)
When your parents learn about your new plan
to raise money, it's going to sink like the Titanic.
(referring to the famous ship that sank)

Sound Devices
Techniques used to give poetry a
musical quality that specifically deal with
how the words sound.
This is why poetry is meant to be
READ ALOUD!
Examples: rhyme, onomatopoeia, rhythm

Rhythm
The beat created by the sounds of the
words in a poem. Rhythm can be created
by using meter, rhymes, alliteration, and
refrain.
Example:

My mother ate an apple and my father ate a

pear. (my MOTH-er ATE an AP-ple AND my
FATH-er ATE a PEAR).
Every other syllable is accented (stressed).

Rhyme
Words that share the same sound (i.e.
lamp and stamp)
END RHYME (words that rhyme at the
end of lines)

He collected bits of string

And rusty bells that would not ring

INTERNAL RHYME (words that rhyme

within the same line
Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December

Repetition
The repeating of a word or phrase to add
rhythm or to emphasize an idea
Example:

And the highwayman came riding

Ridingriding
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inndoor.
Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman

Assonance
Repeated VOWEL sounds in nearby words
Examples:

Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese (long E)

Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among
the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man
knows how and why the first poems came.
(long O)

Consonance
Repeated CONSONANT sounds in
nearby words
Examples:

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each

purple curtain (S sound)
Norm, the worm, took the garden by a storm this
morn. (M sound)

Onomatopoeia
The use of words whose sound makes
one think of its meaning
Examples:

Ding-dong went the clock

Crash! Splat! Pow!
Bees buzzed about
snap, crackle, pop

Stanza
A group of lines arranged together
Poetrys version of a paragraph
Examples: couplet, quatrains, cinquains

I had no time to hate, because

The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample It
Could finish enmity.

Stanza of
four lines

Couplet
A stanza made up of two lines
Examples:

True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Quatrain
A stanza made up of four lines
Example:

Gleaming in silver are the hills!

Blazing in silver is the sea!
And a silvery radiance spills
Where the moon drives royally!

Alliteration (ADD THIS ONE!)

Another sound device!
Repeated consonant sounds at the
beginnings of nearby words
Examples:

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
(repeated P sound)
So they fluttered and flew up a flaw in the flue.
(repeated F sound)