Poetic Devices Worksheet

A Poet’s Guide to Poetic Devices

Poetic Device / Definition / Example / My Own Example
alliteration / the repetition of a sound at the beginning of a word in a sequence of nearby words / Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
(“The Raven,” Poe)
onomatopoeia / a word whose sound seems to resemble closely the sound it denotes
OR
sounds that imitate another sound / Moo, purr, quack, buzz, hiss, sizzle, etc.
OR
“…the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain…” (Poe)

Note how the “s” sound mimics the sound of satin curtains rustling

Understatement
(technically known as Meiosis or Litotes) / 1) a trope that deliberately understates, for comedic, ironic, satiric effect.
2) making an affirmative point by negating the opposite
3) the opposite of an hyperbole / “One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day”
(1980s bumper sticker)
Mercutio describing his fatal wound as “a scratch, a scratch”
(R & J, Shakespeare)
antithesis / A rhetorical figure in which two ideas are directly opposed / “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
(Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
Device / Definition / Example / My Own Example
metaphor / an implied comparison between things essentially unlike / That child is a mouse.
Last night, I plowed through a book…
Love is a long, long road (Tom Petty’)
synecdoche / Using a part to reference the whole, or adversely, the whole to reference the part / Examples of a part used to refer to the whole:

"The hired hands [workers] are not doing their jobs."
"His parents bought him a new set of wheels [car]."

Examples of the whole used to refer to a part:

"Use your head [brain] to figure it out."
"Hand me a Kleenex [tissue].”

symbol / a word or an image that signifies something other than what it represents, with multiple meanings and connotations / all I wanted was to be
one of those hybrid
ornamental plums
whose blossoms are sweet and glorious
but fall to the ground
without ever bearing fruit.
hyperbole / the use of exaggeration for effect / Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Device / Definition / Example / My Own Example
personification / an inanimate object or concept is given human characteristics or feelings / Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch,
Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,
metonymy / an object, place, or person is used to represent something with which it is closely associated
*similar to, but not to be confused with synecdoche* / Referring to someone’s handwriting as “his hand”
The monarch as “the crown”
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” (Richelieu, Edward Butler-Lytton)
allusion / a passing reference to a literary or historical person, place, or event, or to another literary work / I got into a thing
with someone
because I called her
miss ann/kennedy/rockerfeller/hughes
instead of ms.
oxymoron / Juxtaposing two opposite words to show an emphatic and dramatic contradiction / Defining slavery as “living death” (Life as a Slave Girl, Harriot Jacobs)
Jumbo shrimp; Great Depression; Original copy; Awfully good
Device / Definition / Example / My Own Example
imagery / Appealing to one of the five senses / Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each.
(“Meeting at Night,” Robert Browning)
aphorism / A concise, pointed, epigrammatic statement that reveals a truth or principle. / “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare)
“Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.” (Forrest Gump, 1994)
“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.” (John Keats)
assonance / the repetition of identical or similar vowels / Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
(“The Bells,” Poe)
consonance / the repetition of final consonant sound or sounds following different vowel sounds in proximate words / Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade
How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood;
Blue with all malice, like a madman’s flash;
And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.
(“Arms and the Boy” Wilfred Owen)