Poetic Devices
● Poetic devices are tools used by poets to
make their work more interesting and
effective.
● Quite often poetic devices can convey
emotions and feelings more effectively and
in a more relatable way than literal
language.
Allusion
• a reference, within a literary work, to another
work of fiction, a film, a piece of art, or even a
real event or person. An allusion draws on outside
sources to provide greater context or meaning to
the selection.
• Allusions can often (but not always) be spotted by
the use of proper nouns.
Anachronism
• something that is mistakenly associated with
or put in a time where it does not belong in a
story, movie, poem, etc.
• For example, discussing the use of guns in a
story that was set before guns were invented.
Apostrophe
• a figure of speech in which someone absent,
dead, or nonhuman is addressed as if it were
alive and present and could reply.
• For example, in Macbeth, Macbeth says to the
stars, “Stars, hide your fires.”
Atmosphere
• the feeling surrounding a literary work.
• For instance, the atmosphere in the witches’
scene (Act 1) in the play Macbeth is quite dark
and ominous.
Catharsis
• the cleansing of emotions of a character(s) or
author; an empowering release. It can also be
any other radical change that leads to
emotional transformation of a person.
Connotation
• the connotation of a word involves the attitudes and
feelings associated with a word. These associations
can be negative or positive, and have an important
influence on style and meaning.
• For example, the word mother calls up strong
positive feelings and associations - loving, selfsacrificing, always there for you, understanding; the
denotative meaning, on the other hand, is simply "a
female animal who has borne one or more children."
Connotative meanings do not necessarily reflect
reality.
• Couplet - two successive rhyming lines in a verse of
poetry.
• Quatrain - a four-line stanza in a poem.
• Sestet - a six-line unit of verse constituting a stanza
or section of a poem.
• Octave – a eight-line unit of verse.
Diction
• the choice and selection of words in a literary work.
• A work's diction is one of its most important literary
elements. Writers use specific words to convey
action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify
themes, and suggest values.
Dominant impression or image
• in descriptive writing, the one dominant aspect or
overall feeling that stands out more than others.
• For example, terror, beauty, etc.
• The dominant image or impression may be the same
as the tone or mood, but they are not necessarily
the same.
Enjambment
• the continuation of a sentence without a
pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or
stanza.
Figurative language
• a form of language use in which writers and
speakers convey something other than the
literal meaning of their words.
• Examples include hyperbole or exaggeration,
understatement, simile and metaphor, to name
a few.
Metaphor
• a comparison between essentially unlike things
without an explicitly comparative word such as like
or as.
• For example, “My love is a red, red rose.”
• Extended metaphor - a metaphor that is used
throughout a work or is continued for a few lines
of a selection.
Simile
• is a figure of speech involving a comparison
between unlike things using like, as, or as
though.
• For example, My love is like a red, red rose.
Symbolism
• when an object or action in a literary work
means more than itself, and stands for
something beyond itself.
• For example: In Macbeth, the blood of Duncan
symbolizes guilt as well as betrayal.
Hyperbole
• intended exaggeration used to create a
desired effect such as humour or sarcasm.
• Example: “You’re as slow as cold molasses.”
Imagery
• language which describes something in
detail, using words to substitute for and
create sensory stimulation. One or more
of the senses is used to create imagery.
Motif
• a recurring important idea or image. A
motif differs from a theme in that it can
be expressed as a single word or
fragmentary phrase, while a theme
expressed as a complete sentence.
• A recurring image in Macbeth is blood, for
example.
Personification
• involves giving an inanimate object or an
abstract idea, human traits.
• For example, the window winked at me.
Mood and Tone
• Mood - the overall feeling a reader gets from a text. Most
pieces of literature have a prevailing mood, but shifts in this
mood may function as counterpoint, provide comic relief, or
echo the changing events in the plot.
• For example, the prevailing mood throughout Act 5 of
Macbeth is desperate and hopeless.
• Tone - is the implied attitude of a writer toward the subject
and characters of a work. The tone of a selection may be
serious, humorous, sarcastic, etc.
Theme
• the message an author wishes to convey in
through a work. A theme should not be written
as merely one word; it is a statement. It should
not be written as a cliché.
Refrain
• a phrase, verse, or group of verses
repeated at intervals throughout a song or
poem, especially at the end of each
stanza.
Speaker
• the voice in a poem. The speaker may be
the poet or a character created by the
poet. The speaker may also be an object
or an animal.
Literal meaning
• discussing the literal meaning of a selection
requires no interpretation on a figurative level.
• For example, giving the literal meaning of a
poem merely involves the retelling or
summarizing of what is happening on a literal
level.
Juxtaposition
• the arrangement of two or more ideas, characters,
actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or
in similar narrative moments for the purpose of
comparison, contrast, or character development.
• For instance, in A Separate Peace the characters of
Gene and Finny are set to be fairly equal in physical
appearance and skill, but opposites in personality.
Oxymoron and Paradox
• Oxymoron -- involves using contradiction in a manner that
oddly makes sense on a deeper level. Simple or joking
examples include jumbo shrimp, and sophisticated rednecks.
Shakespeare uses loving hate in Romeo and Juliet.
• Paradox -- an apparent statement of contradiction or
absurdity that is somehow true. Example: (1) In Macbeth,
the witches give paradoxical statements that are indeed
true; “fair is foul and foul is fair”, (2) The saying More
hurry, less speed is also paradoxical since more hurry would
typically bring more speed.
Language Styles
• Language styles are the characteristic ways that
an individual author uses language; includes word
choice, length and complexity of sentences,
patterns of sound, and use of imagery and
symbols.
Language style can be:
• formal - polite, respectful, and following particular conventions
of language. Used when writing a letter to apply for a job or
when you write an important speech.
• informal - has less strict grammar rules and often has
shortened sentences. Informal language is mostly used among
friends or co-workers. See characteristics of informal language
on the next slide.
• colloquial - language characteristic of everyday informal speech; For
example, You’re getting on me nerves!
• dialect - the way a language is spoken in a particular region or place.
For example, in Newfoundland, luh! is used for look, and me son for my
friend.
• euphemism - a less offensive or harsh way of saying something
negative; For example, pass away instead of die.
• jargon - words or expressions used by a particular group or
profession, such as medical jargon or computer jargon. For example,
btw (by the way), brb (be right back), AWOL (absent without leave).
• slang - an informal variety of speech characterized by newly coined
and rapidly changing words and phrases. For example goin’ for a razz
(driving around), that’s sick (awesome).
Clichés, Idioms, and Proverbs
• Cliché – a phrase or opinion that is overused and lacks
original thought. For example, “don’t judge a book
by its cover”.
• Idiom – an expression that cannot be understood from the
meanings of its separate words but that has a
separate meaning of its own. For example, “it’s
raining cats and dogs”.
• Proverb - a simple and concrete saying popularly known and
repeated, which expresses a truth, based on
common sense or the practical experience of
humanity. For example, “two wrongs don’t make a
right”.
More terms to know
• Point of view
• Purpose
• Poetic forms
• Contrast and Comparison
• Character
• Irony
• Sound devices
• Sarcasm
• Emphatic devices
• Bias
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Context
Setting
Flashback
Stanza
Stereotype
Title (significance)
Parallel structure/parallelism
Rhetorical question
Coherence and Unity
Protagonist and Antagonist
Conflict