Poetic Device Terms and Examples

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the BEGINNING of words.

Alliteration example:
Super Samson Simpson by Jack Prelutsky
I am Super Samson Simpson,
I'm superlatively strong,
I like to carry elephants,
I do it all day long,
I pick up half a dozen
and hoist them in the air,
it's really somewhat simple,
for I have strength to spare.

Figurative language: language employing one or more figures of speech (simile, metaphor, imagery, etc.)

Form: What a poem looks like.

Form example: epic, rhyme.
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration.
Hyperbole example: I've told you a million times.

Imagery: Words and phrases that appeal to the five senses.

Imagery example:
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (sight, smell, touch, taste)
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
and before the street begins,
and there the grass grows soft and white,
and there the sun burns crimson bright,
and there the moon-bird rests from his flight
to cool in the peppermint wind.

Lines: phrases or words in a stanza.

Metaphor: comparison not using like or as.

Metaphor example:
He was a stainless steel ruler, tall, straight and always measured in response.
Onomatopoeia: the use of words that imitate sounds.
Onomatopoeia example:
KABOOM!
Kaboom!
Ka-blast
Way in the past
the miners mined for ore.
They searched for copper, iron and salt,
for that and much, much more.

Personification: A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.
Personification example:
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
The ocean danced in the moonlight.

Repetition: repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis in a poem.
Repetition example:
Twaddletalk Tuck
by Jack Prelutsky
I'm Twaddletalk Tuck and I talk and I talk
and I talk when I run and I talk when I walk
and I talk when I hop and I talk when I creep
and I talk when I wake and I talk when I sleep
and I talk when it's wet and I talk when it's dry
and I talk when I laugh and I talk when i cry
and I talk when I jump and I talk when I land
and I talk when I sit and I talk when I stand
and I talk and I talk into anyone's ear
and I talk and I talk when there's nobody near
and I talk when I'm hoarse and my voice is a squawk
for I'm Twaddletalk Tuck and I talk and I talk.
-by Jack Prelutsky

Rhyme scheme/rhyme: The pattern in which rhyme sounds occur in a stanza.

Example- the pattern ababbcbcc."

Rhythm: The beat of a poem.

Rhythm example: poem/song with a beat

e.g. We Will Rock You by Queen

Simile: comparison using like or as.
Simile example: as fast as lightning.
...
Sound: The poet uses rhyme, rhythm, and/or repetition to help the listener to hear the poem.
Sound example: Drip Drop by Bruce Lansky
Drip drop, drip drop,
darned rain won't stop.
Dropping on my windowpane,
it is driving me insane.
.
Stanza: The division in a poem named for the number of lines it contains.
Stanza example:
Super Samson Simpson (two stanzas)
by Jack Prelutsky
I am Super Samson Simpson,
I'm superlatively strong,
I like to carry elephants,
I do it all day long,
I pick up half a dozen
and hoist them in the air,
it's really somewhat simple,
for I have strength to spare.

My muscles are enormous,

they bulge from top to toe,
and when I carry elephants,
they ripple to and fro,
but I am not the strongest
in the Simpson family,
for when I carry elephants,
my grandma carries me.

Theme: The main idea or meaning of a text. Often, this is an insight about human life revealed in a literary work.
Theme example:
Growing up Whatif by Shel Silverstein.
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?