Poetic Devices
Poetry
• One of the three major genres (types) of
literature; Difficult to define; Language being
used in a special way; Art of playing with words
and emotions
Author’s Purpose
• A reason for creating a particular work
▫
▫
▫
▫
To entertain
To inform or explain
To express an opinion
To persuade
1. Figurative Language
• Writing or speech which is not meant to be taken
literally (word for word)
• Examples: metaphor, simile, hyperbole,
personification
2. Metaphor
• A figure of speech which makes a comparison of
two unlike things; saying something IS
something else
• Examples: Education IS a treasure, rich with
opportunity
3. Simile
• A figure of speech which makes a comparison of
two unlike things AND uses the words “like” or
“as”
• Examples: My puppy is like a hairy hurricane,
unpredictable and destructive.
The Lighthouse
The light house, the guardian angel of the night
She shines her light for all the lost sailors passing by
Her beam bright as the sun, flashing through the night sky
The lighthouse, a soldier during the storms
Standing tall, unafraid of the chaos
Her light piercing through the storm like sharp knives
The light house the night owl of the day
Sleeping and cozzed away until the night
Her beam off as silent as a deer not wanting to be found
By: Katherine Sessor
4. Hyperbole
• A figure of speech which uses exaggeration for
effect
• Examples: I have told you a million times not
to…; I have a ton of homework.
My Dog
His bark breaks the sound barrier
His nose is as cold as an ice box.
A wag of his tail causes hurricanes
His jumping causes falling rocks.
He eats a mountain of dog food
And drinks a water fall dry.
But though he breaks the bank
He’s the apple of my eye.
5. Personification
• A figure of speech which gives human qualities,
feelings, actions or characteristics to non-human
things
• Example: The leaves are dancing in the wind.
Dinnertime Chorus
The teapot sang as the water boiled
The ice cubes cackled in their glass
the teacups chattered to one another.
While the chairs were passing gas
The gravy gurgled merrily
As the oil danced in a pan.
Oh my dinnertime chorus
What a lovely, lovely clan!
6. Imagery
• Consists of words/ phrases that appeal to a
reader’s five senses; Sensory details help readers
imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound and
taste
7. Alliteration
• Repetition of initial consonant sounds: Used to
create a rhythmic effect
• Examples: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers
8. Assonance
• Repetition of vowel (a, e, i, o, u) sounds in the
middle of words
• Examples: moan, groan or spoon, moon
An excerpt from “Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe:
From the second stanza:
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
9. Onomatopoeia
• Words that sound like their meaning; Use of
words to imitate sounds
• Examples: crack, snap, roar, sizzle
Crack an Egg
Crack an egg.
Stir the butter.
Break the yolk.
Make it flutter.
Stoke the heat.
Hear it sizzle.
Shake the salt,
just a drizzle.
Flip it over,
just like that.
Press it down.
Squeeze it flat.
Pop the toast.
Spread jam thin.
Say the word.
Breakfast's in .
10. Rhyme
• Repetition of ending sounds (at the end of
words); Used to create a musical effect
11. Rhyme Scheme
• A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem;
Lower case letters are used to indicate the rhyme
scheme
12. Meter
• A poem’s rhythmical pattern, determined by the
number and types of stresses, or beats in a line
• ....1................... 2......................3................4................... 5
Shall.I..|..com.PARE..|..thee.TO..|..a.SUM..|..mer’s DAY?
13. Stanza
• A group of lines in a poem (such as a paragraph
in an essay)
14. Repetition
• The use (more than once) of any element of
language (sounds, words, a phrase, a line, etc.)
What Are Little Boys Made Of?
What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails,
And that are little boys made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice,
And that are little girls made of.
15. Refrain
• A regularly repeated line or group of lines in a
poem
Assignment
Using the song lyrics that you chose or
“O Captain! My Captain!” on page. 780:
• One paragraph written response
• RACER strategy
• Prompt: What poetic devices are used in your
lyrics?
• RACER Strategy
• R- Restate the question
• A- Answer the question
• C- Cite examples from the story
• E- Explain those examples (in your own words)
• R-restate the question AGAIN