Poetic Devices
Year 10 Poetry
Structuring a response
Remember to use:
S
tate the technique
Give an
E
xample from the text
x
E
plain the effect of the technique. How does
it achieve the composer’s purpose
Structuring a response cont.
The poet/(Poet’s surname) uses name of
technique in give example. This shows/
conveys/ emphasizes/ suggests that/ implies/
promotes/ illustrates/ highlights/ draws attention
to explain image/message/emotion/or sense
the poet is appealing to
For example:
In “Beach Burial”, Slessor uses alliteration in the
title “Beach Burial” to draw attention to the “b”
sound which echos the sound of guns going off.
In doing this, Slessor conveys that there has
been a gun battle at a beach which has resulted
in death.
Poetry
• Remember that the purpose of poetry is to
create imagery through the use of language
devices.
• When you analyse poetry, you must explain
how these techniques are used to convey a
particular image.
TECHNIQUES
IMAGERY TECHNIQUES
SOUND TECHNIQUES
• Metaphor
• Alliteration
• Simile
• Assonance
• Personification
• Onomatopeia
• Symbolism
• Rhyme
• Rhythm
OTHER
• Tone
METAPHOR
• Comparison that asks us to picture one as if it is
another
• Requires an explicit comparison to be made
FOR EXAMPLE
The moon’s a balloon.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon
cloudy seas.
That old clean bone, the moon.
Metaphor
The beach is a quarter of golden fruit,
a soft ripe melon
sliced to a half-moon curve,
having a thick green rind
of jungle growth;
and the sea devours it
with its sharp,
sharp white teeth
By William Hart-Smith
Simile
Comparison using like, as or than.
FOR EXAMPLE
“O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:”
From “A red, red rose” by Robert Burns
This cold grey winter afternoon
The starlings
On the television aerial
Look like sultanas on a stalk
By Lucy Hosegood
Simile
The cloud tonight
is like a white
Persian cat –
From “Summer full moon” by James Kirkup
Personification
• A type of metaphor in which non-living (inanimate) things
are given human qualities
FOR EXAMPLE
The wind is angry –
he’s been in a rage all night
stamping his feet, bellowing
and finally breaking out.
From “The wind is angry” by Adrienne Brady
“Slowly, the fog
Hunch-shouldered with a grey face”
From “The fog” by F. R. McCreary
Symbolism
• The use of a concrete object to represent an
abstract idea. Your words or phrases can have
a double meaning.
• Symbolism occurs when an image represents a
wider concept. It is subtler than a metaphor (no
direct comparison)
FOR EXAMPLE
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
From “A road not taken” by Robert Frost
Alliteration
• The repetition of the same consonant sound.
FOR EXAMPLE
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew
The furrow followed free;
From “The rime of the Ancient Mariner” by
Samuel Coleridge
Assonance
• The repetition of the same vowel sound.
FOR EXAMPLE
The cloud tonight
is like a white
Persian cat –
From “Summer full moon” by James Kirkup
Onomatopeia
• Words that echo the sound of the action.
FOR EXAMPLE
The hail
tinkles onto
the tin roof
a tiny timpani
of tintinnabulation
Rhyme
• When the endings of words or lines sound the same.
FOR EXAMPLE
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change but cannot die.
From “The cloud” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
When vile men jeer because my skin is brown,
This I live down.
But when a taunted child comes home in tears,
Fierce anger sears
From “Colour Bar” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Rhythm
• The pattern of heavy and weak (stressed and un stressed)
syllables in a line.
FOR EXAMPLE
x
/
x
/
x
/
x
/
The wind and rain and sleet and hail
/
x
/
x
/
x
/
Lashed the boat and ripped the sail
Won’t somebody listen,
listen to us please,
give us what we ask for,
give us what we need.
Tone
• The mood or emotion of the poem.
• Created by language techniques, word choice,
sentence length and imagery.