• Program Objectives
• Instructions
• Figurative Language Devices
– Metaphor, Simile, Personification
• Sound Devices
– Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance,
Onomatopoeia,
• Imagery
• Practice
• Assessment
• Discussion Board

• The users will develop their comprehension of the poetic devices by identifying examples of the devices in practice exercises.
• The users will demonstrate their comprehension of the poetic devices by successfully identifying the device in sample poems with at least seventy percent efficiency.
• The users will evaluate their attitude towards poetry, based on success with manipulation of the poetic devices.

• Read the definitions and examples presented for each poetic device.
• Practice identifying the definitions of the poetic device by matching the device with the correct definition
• Assess your comprehension of the poetic devices with test where you select the correct device based on the sample line of poetry that is presented.

• Figurative Language is a word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken literally
• Figurative Language consists of poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole

Figurative language that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing becomes another thing without the use of the words
like, as, than, or resembles

All the world is a stage
-William Shakespeare
Hope is the thing with feathers.
-Emily Dickinson
Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly
-Langston Hughes

Figurative language that makes a comparison between two unlike things, using an explicit word such as like, as,
resembles, or than.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
-Langston Hughes
Life is like a box of chocolates.
-Forrest Gump
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human

This poetry gets bored of being alone…
- Hugo Margenat
Time, you old gypsy man,
Will you not stay?
-Ralph Hodgson
The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
- Robert Frost

Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia

Repetition of the beginning consonant sounds in words that are close together in a poem.

Success and emotional symmetry are simply hard to sustain .
-John Tolliver
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers .
-Anonymous
Doing her woman ’ s work was a hard art to practice when the summer sun would bar the floor I swept till she was satisfied .
-Julia Alvarez

Repetition of the vowel sound followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables

Thou foster child of silence and slow time
-John Keats

Repetition of the ending consonant sound, especially in words that are close together in a poem.

A think tank is the sound of wind, rushing and wishing.
- John Tolliver

The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.

Tick, tock, tick, tock the clock continues…
Boom! Cataclysmic explosion.
Chirp, chirp. Chirp, chirp. Happy birds on a summer ’ s day.

Is defined as language that creates a mental image by appealing to the five senses:
Sight
Sound
Smell
Touch
Taste

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…
- Robert Browning
Desolate and lone
All night long on the lake
Where fog trails and mist creeps,
The whistle of a boat
Calls and cries unendingly,
Like some lost child
In tears and trouble
Hunting the harbor ’ s breast
And the harbor ’ s eyes.
-Carl Sandburg

Directions: Type the letter of the correct definition beside the poetic device.

1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Onomatopoeia
4. Imagery
5. Personification
6. Alliteration
7. Assonance
8. Consonance
9. Figurative Language
A.
Repetition of the beginning consonant sound
B.
Comparison of two unlike things
C.
Words that appeal to the five senses
D.
Words that represent sounds
E.
Words or phrases not to be taken literally
F.
Repetition of the ending consonant sound
G.
Giving animals or objects human characteristics
H.
Repetition of vowel sounds
I.
Comparison of two unlike things using like, as, or resembles.

Armed with your knowledge of the poetic devices, you are now ready to analyze sample lines of poetry and determine which device they represent.

Which poetic device is the line of poetry which reads, “ princes and paupers are people a word apart ” an example of?
• A) personification
• B) alliteration
• C) metaphor
• D) simile

What poetic device is the line “ the hands of time molded my distaste ” an example of?
• A) personification
• B) alliteration
• C) metaphor
• D) simile

What poetic device is the line “ her smile is like the noon day sun ” an example of?
• A) personification
• B) alliteration
• C) metaphor
• D) simile

The line from Psalm 22 that reads “ I am poured out like water…my heart is like wax ” is an example of:
• A) Alliteration
• B) Simile
• C) Metaphor
• D) Personification

In “ Spring ” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the line which reads “ It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers ” is an example of
• A) Assonance
• B) Alliteration
• C) Personification
• D) Onomatopoeia

Percy Bysshe Shelley ’ s “ Ode to the West Wind ” contains a line that reads “ O wild west wind, thou breath of autumn ’ s being.
” This is an example of:
• A) Alliteration
• B) Assonance
• C) Consonance
• D) Onomatopoeia

In “ Summer Remembered ” by Isabella Gardner the line which reads
“ The pizzicato plinkle of ice in an auburn uncle ’ s amber glass ” is an example of:
• A) Assonance
• B) Consonance
• C) Onomatopoeia
• D) simile

Robert Frost ’ s “ Acquainted with the Night ” contains a line which reads “ I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet.
” This is an example of:
• A) Assonance
• B) Consonance
• C) Onomatopoeia
• D) Alliteration

The line which reads “ I was a lonely cloud ” is an example of:
• A) Simile
• B) Metaphor
• C) Alliteration
• D) Assonance

Emily Dickinson ’ s lines of poetry which read “ The Mountain sat upon the Plain/ In his tremendous Chair--/ His observation omnifold,/
His inquest, everywhere— ” This is an example of:
• A) Personification
• B) Metaphor
• C) Simile
• D) Alliteration

You have successfully completed the assessment page.
You answered the assessment questions with ___
% accuracy.

Check the response that pertains to you:
_____ I feel more confident in my ability to identify the poetic devices.
_____ I have a definite appreciation for poetry and feel more confident in my ability to process what I read based on my knowledge of the poetic devices.

Thank you for your participation in this program. Special thanks to the
Virginia Department of Education for the released Standards of Learning items that were used as samples for the poetry selections.