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.”