Poetic Devices | Alex Noudelman List and explanation for poetic devices. Excellent for poetry unit for reading and writing.

1. Poetic Devices
Definitions and Examples

2. Why use sound devices?
● Adds to the mood/tone of the text (think of
harsh sounds vs soft sounds)
● Draws attention to certain words and/or
parts of the poem
● Connects ideas
● Pleasing to the ear, musical
● To focus on an idea

3. Alliteration
Alliteration: a repetition of consonants, or consonant
sounds, at the beginning of words, not necessarily in
sequence.
From Poe’s “The Raven”: Once upon a midnight dreary
while I pondered weak and weary
*Note that the vowel sound “o” makes in the word
“once” sounds like a “w”

4. Consonance
Consonance: The repetition of final consonant sounds (or
consonant blends), not necessarily in sequence.
From Dylan Thomas’ “Quite Early One Morning” Some few
large men sat in the front parlors, without their collars,
Uncles almost certainly, trying their new cigars.
Note: Consonance can help to create the illusion of rhyme
(aka slant rhyme).

5. Assonance
Assonance: The repetition of internal vowel sounds in
neighboring words, not necessarily in sequence.
From James Joyce’s “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” Soft
language issued from their spitless lips as they swished in low
circles round and round the field.
Note: Not to be confused with rhyme. Rhyme illustrates matching
internal vowel sounds as well as final consonant sounds.

6. Rhythm
Rhythm: In poetry, rhythm is created with
patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.
These patterns are referred to as meter. Free
verse poems sometimes ignore the use of
rhythm.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html
http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/rhythm-in-poetry-the-basics/

7. Creating Rhythm
Two ingredients to create the meter of Rhythm:
Feet: the pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables
Meter: the number of times the pattern is
repeated

8. Rhyme
I don’t think I need to explain this, but what you do need to
understand is that it can get more complex than cat, hat,
mat:
End (words at the end of consecutive lines)
Slant/Imperfect (illusion of rhyme with assonance and consonance, heart and star or milk and walk)
Internal (rhyme occurring within a line)
Rich (homonyms)
Eye (words that look like they should but don’t - rough and bough)
Identical (repeating the same word)

9. Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia: A word created to imitate a
sound.
Like animal sounds- moo, meow, baaaa, neigh, ribbit etc.
Water sounds-drip, swish, splish, splash etc.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells”
http://poestories.com/read/bells

10. Cacophony and Dissonance
Cacophony and Dissonance: Very similar. Both
devices succeed in making the language in a
poem sound harsh and discordant.
From Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: Notice the single syllables or simple two
syllable words. Also, the combination of many different consonant sounds.
Th’expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action lust
Is perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;

11. Euphony
Euphony: A collection of pleasant harmonious
sounds put together.
Devices such as repetition, consonance,
alliteration and assonance help to create a
euphonious effect.

12. Why use devices that affect meaning?
Most words convey several meanings or shades of
meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to
find words which, when used in relation to other
words in the poem, will carry the precise intention
of thought. Often, some of the more significant
words may carry several layers or “depths” of
meaning at once.
http://www.chaparralpoets.org/devices.pdf

13. Portmanteau
Simply stated, this is the blending of two words
to create both a unique sound and a unique
meaning. Well known English examples
include:
Bionic= Biology + Electronic
Bollywood = Bombay and Hollywood
Frenemy = Friend and Enemy
Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky great example

14. Allusion
Allusion: A reference to a person, place, or
thing..often a proper noun.
From Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

15. Hyperbole
Hyperbole: The use of exaggeration to create
an enhanced effect.
From W.H Auden’s poem “As I Walked One Evening”
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry

16. Simile
The comparison of two unlike or unrelated things
using the words like or as to enhance meaning.
From Robert Burns’ “Red, Red, Rose”
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
like

17. Metaphor
The comparison of two unlike or unrelated things enhance
meaning (without the words like or as).
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
By Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

18. Personification
Giving an object or animal human-like characteristics.
The stars winked outside my window.
The sun shied away behind a cloud.
The sky wept.
The little car huffed up the mountain.

19. Cliche
Cliché: A figure of speech that was once clever
and original but through overuse has become
outdated.
Examples: busy as a bee, the grass is greener on
the other side, love is blind, cold as ice, better safe
than sorry...etc.

20. Irony

21. IMAGERy
Parts of a poem that evoke the senses: Sight, Sound,
Taste, Smell, Touch
They allow readers to connect on a more visceral
(feeling) level rather than simply intellectual.

22. ABSTRACTION
Something you cannot directly experience or
describe. You know it exists, but you cannot
directly see it, taste it, smell it, hear it
etc.
Love. Hate. Relaxation. Greed. Hope.
Desperation. Excitement.

23. Types Of Poetry
Variety = A Healthy Diet

24. ODE
Traditionally, Odes are formal, lyrical
(sometimes accompanied by music, melodious,
emotional, and often told in 1st person POV)
tributes to someone or something. John Keats,
early 1800’s, is famous for his odes (Ode to
a Nightingale, To Autumn, Ode to a Grecian
Urn). There are a few different kinds and all
have their own characteristics
Pindaric * Horatian * Sapphic

25. Contemporary ODES
Celebrate unexpected things and do not
necessarily follow a form, but do (usually)have a
rhyme scheme

26. EKPHRASIS POETRY
A vivid description
of a work of art
through poetic
expression. Example:
Anne Sexton’s poem a
“Starry Night”
inspired by Vincent
Van Gogh's painting
A Starry Night

27. Haiku
Traditional Japanese
Poetry. Usually uses
natural imagery and
juxtaposition to provoke
thought. Consists of 3
lines, with a 5, 7, 5
syllabic pattern.