This document defines and explains various poetic terms and devices. It discusses poetic elements like stanzas, verses, rhyme, and rhyme schemes. It also defines and provides examples of common poetic devices including simile, metaphor, alliteration, hyperbole, imagery, personification, onomatopoeia, allusion, oxymoron, tone, repetition, symbolism, and theme.

1. POETRY

2. Poetic Terms
 Stanza: a group of two or more lines in a
poem ( a paragraph within a poem)
 Verse: a line
 Rhyme:The similarity of ending sounds
existing between two words
 Rhyme Scheme: The sequence in which
the rhyme occurs. The first end sound is
represented as the letter "a", the second is
"b", etc.

3. Poetic Devices - Language
 Figurative Language
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Alliteration
 Hyperbole
 Imagery
 Personification

4. Poetic Devices – Language & Style
 Tone
 Voice
 Repetition
 Symbol
 Theme

5. Simile
A comparison between two objects using
a specific word or comparison such as
"like", "as", or "than".

6. Metaphor
A comparison between two objects with
the intent of giving clearer meaning to
one of them

7. Alliteration
 Repetition of the same letter of the first
word
 EX:
 sweet smell of success
 She left the Heaven of Heroes and came
down To make a man to meet the mortal
need A man to match the mountains and
the sea The friendly welcome of the
wayside well

8. Hyperbole
a figure of speech that uses an
exaggerated or extravagant statement to
create a strong emotional response.
 EX:
 They ran like greased lightning.
He's got tons of money.
Her brain is the size of a pea.
He is older than the hills.
I will die if she asks me to dance.
She is as big as an elephant!

9. Imagery
 Imagery is the use of vivid description,
usually rich in sensory words, to create
pictures, or images, in the reader's mind.

10. Personification
 isgiving human traits (qualities, feelings,
action, or characteristics) to non-living
objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas).
 For example: The window winked at me

11. Onomatopoeia
a word whose sounds seem to duplicate
the sounds they describe--hiss, buzz,
bang, murmur, meow, growl

12. Allusion
 Reference to an event, place, or
character from history.
 EX
 Waters of Babylon

13. Oxymoron
a statement with two parts which seem
contradictory;
 examples: sad joy, a wise fool, the sound
of silence, or Hamlet's saying, "I must be
cruel only to be kind"

14. Tone
 thewriter's attitude toward the material
and/or readers. Tone may be playful,
formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic,
outraged, baffled, tender, serene,
depressed, etc.

15. Repetition
 therepeating of words, phrases, lines, or
stanzas.

16. Symbolism
 anything that stands for something else

17. Theme
 the abstract concept explored in a
literary work;
 frequently recurring ideas, such as enjoy-
life while-you-can;