Poetic Elements – Sound Devices
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Onomatopoeia
Alliteration
Alliteration – The repetition of
consonant sounds at the
beginnings of words
–Ex.) Manhattan’s sights and
sounds, her smells.
Assonance
Assonance – The repetition of
similar vowel sounds
–Ex.) The Soul selects her
own Society.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia – The use of a
word or phrase that actually
imitates or suggests the sound
of what it describes.
–Ex.) Bang! Bang! You’re
dead.
Poetic Elements – Rhyme
The repetition of the same
stressed vowel sounds
and any succeeding
sounds in two or more
words.
End Rhyme
End Rhyme – occurs at
the ends of lines of
poetry
Slant Rhyme
Slant Rhyme – occurs
when words include
sounds that are similar
but not identical
Barn/yard; wait/made
Internal Rhyme
Internal Rhyme – occurs
within a single line
Rhyme Scheme
–Rhyme Scheme – the pattern
that end rhymes form in a
stanza or poem; the rhyme
scheme is designated by the
assignment of a different letter
of the alphabet to each new
rhyme
Rhyme Scheme Practice
Helen, thy beauty is to me
___
Like those barks of yore,
___
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea, ___
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore___
To his own native shore.
___
Rhyme Scheme Practice
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those barks of yore,
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
a
b
a
b
b
Comparison using figurative
language
Words in a poem often invite the
reader to think of two things at
once: one thing literally, the
other figuratively. Comparison
is achieved by the use of
figurative language.
Figurative Language Devices
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Symbol
Simile
Simile – a figure of speech using a word
or phrase such as like or as to explicitly
compare or equate seemingly unlike
things.
– Ex.) When the evening is spread out
against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a
table …
Metaphor
Metaphor – A figure of speech that
implicitly compares two seemingly
unlike things; It implies a comparison,
instead of directly stating it as in a
simile; hence, there is no use of
connectives such as like or as.
– Ex.) She is the rose of the family and
I am the green thorn.
Personification
Personification – A figure of
speech in which an animal, an
object, a force of nature, or an
idea is given human
characteristics.
Ex.) Because I could not stop
for death He kindly stopped
for me
Symbol
Symbol -- Any object,
person, place, or experience
that exists on a literal level
but also represents
something more abstract.
Ex.) The flag stood as a
reminder to all of us …