Poetic Devices

Terminology to help us write and read poetry!

Figurative Language

Figurative language: writing not meant to beinterpreted literallyEx: My eyes are on fire!

Literal language: the explicit or primary meaning(surface level)Ex: My eyes are irritated.

More Figurative Language…

Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration oroverstatementEx: Her mouth was as big as the Grand

Canyon.Oxymoron: words used together thatactually contradict in meaning.Ex: jumbo shrimp, old news, freezer burn

More Figurative Language…Personification: giving human traits andqualities to non-human objects.Ex: The sunflowers stretched toward the sunand smiled happily.

More Figurative Language…

Simile: a comparison of two unlike things foran effect using like or asEx: He is as busy as a bee. She is as cute as a button.

They fought like cats and dogs.

More figurative languageMetaphor: a direct comparison of two unlikethings for an effect: “something issomething”

tenor: original idea/topic—what the writer is trying to make more understandable

The tenor is unfamiliar to reader. vehicle: the thing to which the tenor is being

compared The vehicle is familiar to reader.

Example: My love is a red, red rose. Tenor: love Vehicle: rose

Sensory Language

Sensory language: language that appealsto the five senses

Ex: The gravel crunched underneath my ragged, filthy sneaker. Blasts of acidic air pierced my nostrils, burning my throat and stifling my breath. I could taste the rancid garbage as I walked by the dumpster, where hungry dogs barked and growled. My frozen hand struggled to form a tighter grip around my bag.

More Sensory Language…Imagery: the use of pictures, figures of speech, ordescription to evoke actions, ideas, objects, orcharacters:

A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the Milky Way

Alliteration: repetition of initial/beginningconsonant soundsEx: We walked with Wes on Wednesday.

More Sensory Language…

Assonance: close repetition of similar vowelsounds within wordsEx: The flat slap of hands

Consonance: close repetition of consonantsounds in words Ex: pitter patter butter

More Sensory Language…

Onomatopoeia: a word whose soundsuggests its meaning; it imitates soundEx: Moo. Tick-tock! Buzz.

Lyric poetry: musical verse whichexpresses a single speaker’s thoughts orfeelings on a subject

Form/Structure

stanza: a group of lines in a poem considered as a unit (the poem’s version of a paragraph)

blank verse: poetry with a consistent meter (iambic pentameter) but no rhyme.

free verse: poetry with varying rhythm and rhyme

Form/Structure Concrete poetry: a poem with a shape that suggests its subject or

the movement of its subject

Dove

Enjambment: when the meaning extends from one line to the next.Ex. She walked upstairs and fell flat on the floor.

Form/Structure Refrain: stanza repeated for emphasis

(often in songs or lyric poetry) Haiku: three lined Japanese verse form

1st and 3rd lines – five syllables2nd line – seven syllables

Limerick: a short, usually comic, verse of five lines rhyming aabba1st, 2nd, and 5th lines have three stresses3rd and 4th lines have two stresses

Form-Structure

Sonnet: 14 line poem focused on a singletheme Shakespearean sonnet: 14 line poem with

three quatrains (four lines) a couplet (two lines)rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

Form/Rhythm and Rhyme

rhyme scheme: regular pattern of rhyming wordsin a poem (indicated by letter notation)Ex: Some say the world will end in fire, a Some say ice . b

From what I’ve tasted of desire a I hold with those who favor fire . a But if I had to perish twice, b

Form/Rhythm and Rhyme End rhyme: when rhyming words are repeated at the end of a line

Ex: Whose woods these are I think I know, His house is in the village, though.

Internal rhyme: when rhyming words fall within a line:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

Form/Rhythm and Rhyme

Half rhyme/Slant rhyme: Consonance of the last consonants of two words. Ex: Fill and shell.

Couplet: a pair of rhyming linesEx: Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Form/Rhythm and Rhyme

Rhythm: the pattern of beats, or stresses, in a line of poetry

Meter: regular or repeated rhythm pattern in a poem.

Form/Rhythm and Rhyme

Iambic pentameter: a line of poetry with five iambic feet, each with one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Ex: u / u / u / u / u / I went / up town / to buy / a loaf / of bread

Structured poems for portfolio

Haiku Concrete poem limerick sonnet

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,So do our minutes hasten to their end,Each changing place with that which goes before,In sequent toil all forwards do contend.Nativity, once in the main of light,Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow.   

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand   Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand

Responding to PoetryContext: the circumstances surrounding

the poem, such as: Information about the authorHistorical information relating to the poemThe time and place in which the poem was

written

allusion: a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Responding to Poetry

POINT OF VIEW: The position of the speaker in relation to the events, ideas, or details of the poem

Performing Poetry

PunchA punch is an extra stress or emphasis on a

particular word. Use this to add an extra “kick.”

The waves crashed on the shore.Her smile, tearing my heart

Performing Poetry

PauseA pause is a brief rest following a particular word. It

allows the previous word to set in and gives the listening time to think about its meaning.

EX: Sunrise fills me with hope (pause) Her eyes (pause), bright blue orbs shining down the hall

Performing Poetry

When to Pause?Line breaksPunctuations (periods, commas, dashes, etc.)Any place you’d like to add emphasis

PaintPainting is expressing a certain emotion that

fits with the meaning of the word, such as saying the word “fun” in a happy voice.

EX: Anger swallows meEX: Winning shot brings pure joy