Literary Devices and Poetry

alliteration

repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words

onomatopoeia

words that imitate sounds

repetition

use of a word in a poem more than once

meter

pattern of accented and unaccented or stressed and unstressed syllables; ___________ creates rhythm

rhythm

sound pattern created by combining stressed and unstressed syllables

rhyme

a repeating sound in two or more words, as in bat, cat, hat or row, bow

rhyme scheme

pattern of rhymes, as in aabbaabb

chronological sequence

events in the order in which they occur

connotation

the feels and associations a word evokes; can be positive or negative

denotation

dictionary definition

sensory language

language that appeals to your senses

images

pictures poets create with their words

literal language

language that means exactly what it says

figurative language

language not meant to be taken literally

speaker

person that narrates the poem

tone

writer's attitude toward his or her subject (joyful, lonely, sarcastic)

hyperbole

an exaggeration

idiom

an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the literal meaning (break a leg, spill the beans)

personification

animal, object, or idea is given human qualities

simile

comparison using like or as to show a similar quality in two unlike things

metaphor

makes a comparison like a simile, but without using like or as

verbal irony

what is said is the opposite of what is meant

free verse

poetry written without rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, meter, etc.

haiku

a 3 line Japanese poem that is often about nature; the first and third lines contain 5 syllables, the second line contains 7 syllables

limerick

a poem of 5 lines; lines 1, 2, 5 rhyme with 3 beats; lines 3, 4 rhyme with 2 beats, always a lighthearted poem

narrative poem

tells a story in verse; similar to a short story

lyric poem

poem expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker in musical verse

concrete poem

poem is shaped to look like its subject; words create a picture on the page

stanza

a group of lines that work together to express a central idea; stanzas are like paragraphs

lines

groups of words that help create rhythm and emphasis