POETIC TERMS

A reference to a historical figure, place,

or event.

The teams competed in a

David and Goliath struggle.

A broad comparison between two basically different things

that have some points in common.

Aspirations toward space are

not new. Consider the worm that becomes a butterfly.

A direct comparison between two basically different things. A simile is introduced by the

words “like” or “as”.

My love is like a red, red

rose.

An implied comparison between two basically different things. Is not

introduced with the words “like” or “as”.

His eyes were

daggers that cut right

through me.

A great exaggeration to emphasize strong

feeling.

Human characteristics are given to non-human

animals, objects, or ideas.

My stereo walked

out of my car.

An absent person or inanimate object is directly spoken to as though s/he

or it were present.

O Romeo, Romeo,

wherefore art thou Romeo?

A part stands for the whole or vice versa.

The handsthat created the work of

art were masterful.

I will love you until all the

seas go dry.

Hints given to the reader of what is to

come.

And we mean well in going to this mask;

But ‘tis no wit to go.(Romeo; he has a feeling that

something bad is going to happen if he goes to the masquerade ball…)

The use of concrete details that appeal to

the five senses.

Cold, wet leaves floating

on moss-colored water.

A contrast between what is said and what is meant, or when things turn out differently from what is

expected.

“I am the greatest, able to do least.”

-Friar Laurence

The overall atmosphere or prevailing emotional

feeling of a work.

“It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times.”

A seemingly self-contradictory

statement that still is true.

The more we learn, the less

we know.

The repetition of identical sounds at the ends of lines of poetry.

“I’ll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray,

That thou consent to marry us to-day.”

-Romeo.

The repetition of identical sounds within

a line of poetry.

“We three shall flee across the sea to Italy.”

A slant rhyme or half rhyme occurs when the vowel sounds are not

quite identical.

“And on that cheek and o’er that brow”

A mind at peace with all below”

The time (both the time of day and period in history)

and place in which the action of a literary work

takes place.

“Tiger! Tiger! burning bright

In the forests of the night”

The repeating of a sound, word, phrase, or more in a given literary

work.

“Unseemly woman in a seeming man,

Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!”

Friar Laurence

The repetition of sounds at the

beginnings of words.

“Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship”

The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant.

“. . .But old folks, many feign as they were dead.

The repetition of consonant sounds that

are preceded by different vowel sounds.

“With twenty hundredthousand times more joy…”

The use of words whose sounds suggest the sounds

made by objects or activities.

Buzz like a bee

Whoosh

Crack

Other examples:

hum, kiss

Something concrete, such as an object, action, character, or

scene that stands for something abstract such as a concept or an

idea.

“Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

-Dylan Thomas

Both phrases are symbols that

stand for death.

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.

Racism

Judgment

Loneliness

One word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

(“crown” for “royalty”)

“Only through the sweat of your

brow can you achieve success”

“Sweat” stands for hard work.

A pair of rhymed verse lines that contain a complete thought.

“For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”