Name: ___________________________________________________ Period: ___________ Date: ______________
Poetic Devices—Pre-Test
Match the word, the definition and the example. These are things you need to know about poetry.
Words:
Alliteration
Synecdoche
Simile
Imagery
Metaphor
Irony
Hyperbole
Personification
Rhyme
Assonance
Paradox (oxymoron)
Repetition
Metonymy
Onomatopoeia
Symbol
Definitions:
1) ______________________________: repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words
2) ______________________________: the recurrence of words and phrases for effect
3) ______________________________: words that sound like their meanings
4) ______________________________: repeated vowel sounds
5) ______________________________: a comparison using “like” or “as”
6) ______________________________: exaggeration used for effect
7) ______________________________: a direct comparison
8) ______________________________: treating a non-human thing with human characteristics
9) ______________________________: substituting one word or phrase for another that is closely related
10) _____________________________: a seeming contradiction (that may actually be true).
11) _____________________________: a part represents the whole.
12) _____________________________: an object that represents something else.
13) _____________________________: something said that is opposite its intended meaning.
14) _____________________________: word endings that sound alike including at least the final vowel sound
15) _____________________________: the use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke emotion via the
five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell (identify each in the examples)
Examples:
a) ______________________________ Fast and furious
b) ______________________________ He’s a bruisin’ loser
c) ______________________________ I was so so so so glad
d) ______________________________ Swoosh, Zip, Gurgle
e) ______________________________ He’s as dumb as an ox
f) ______________________________ The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully
g) ______________________________ The White House stated today that…
h) ______________________________ he weighs a ton
i) _______________________________ She is a blank white paper
j) _______________________________ The football player is hanging up his spikes
k) _______________________________ A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of John’s death
l) _______________________________ The faster I go the more behind I get (or Jumbo Shrimp)
m) ______________________________ Wow, thanks for the expensive gift…let’s see: did it come with a
Happy Meal or the Burger King equivalent?
n) _______________________________ Time, slime, mime
o) _______________________________ Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown’s ears
p) _______________________________ Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but
distinct thump thump thump.
q) _______________________________ The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s cheek
r) _______________________________ A salty tear ran across onto her lips
s) _______________________________ Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils