Poetry Devices

1. Word Play

1.1. 39. Understatement – Achieves its effect through stating less than what is necessary. Example "I'm a little tried" after running a marathon.

1.2. 38. Tone – The narrator’s attitude towards the subject of the poem. Example Worried or Scared

1.3. 37. Syntax – the way words are put together to form a phrase. Example I need to rest before we go to the movies

1.4. 36. Symbol – Something that represents something else. Example Dove represents peace

1.5. 35. Repetition – Deliberately repeated words, sounds or phrases. Example Let it Snow by Sammy Cahn

1.6. 34. Paradox – A large oxymoron. Example Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes

1.7. 33. Oxymoron – Placing single word opposites beside each other for a dramatic effect. Example Hot ice

1.8. 32. Mood – The emotion of the poem. The atmosphere. Example Calm, Cheerful, Cranky

1.9. 31. Literal Language – Literal meaning of the poem. Example the toast jumped put of the the toaster

1.10. 30. Imagery – Poets create pictures in the readers mind. Example Where the ocean kissed the southern shore

1.11. 29. Hyperbole – A deliberate exaggeration to make a point. Example Im so hungry I could eat a horse

1.12. 28. Figurative Language – Imaginative language that that makes a poem rich. Example the sky misses the sun at night

1.13. 27. Denotation – literal meaning of a word. Example Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall

1.14. 26. Connotation – Unspoken, unwritten series of associations made with particular word. Example Slim, Skinny, Slender, Thin

1.15. 25. Cliché – Phrase, line or expression that has been over used. Example A waste of time

1.16. 24. Apostrophe – A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person. Example the nurseru ryhme The Star

1.17. 23. Allusion – A reference in one piece of literature to something from another piece of literature. Example Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her

2. Verse Forms

2.1. 45. Verse – A paragraph of writing in a poem

2.2. 44. Stanza – Another word for verse

2.3. 43. Sestet – Six lines of poetry that have a rhyme scheme. Example When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be by John Keats

2.4. 42. Quatrain – Four lines of poetry that have a rhyme scheme. Example Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

2.5. 41. Octave – Eight lines of poetry that have a rhyme scheme. Example Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

2.6. 40. Couplet – Two lines of poetry that rhyme. Example Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are

3. Rhythm & Rhyme

3.1. 50. Rhyme Scheme – The pattern of rhyme in a poem, indicated with letter of the alphabet. Example Neither Out Far nor in Deep by Robert Frost

3.2. 49. Rhythm – A pattern of sounds in a poem. Example Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton

3.3. 48. Rhyme – When sounds match at the end of lines of poetry. Example Humpty Dumpty

3.4. 47. Iambic Pentameter – An iamb is two symbols

3.5. 46. Blank Verse – Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example Mending Walls by Robert Frost

4. Type of Poems

4.1. 11. Sonnet – A fourteen line lyric written in iambic pentameter . Example Rest well by Leon Enriquez

4.2. 10. Ode – Very serious form of lyric. Example Ode to a Grecian Urn - John Keats

4.3. 9. Narrative – A poem that tells a story, may or may not rhyme. Example Flicker o hope bu Torytocaa Camacho

4.4. 8. Lyric – A short poem of intense feeling or emotion. Example I feh a furneral in my brain by Emily Dickinson

4.5. 7. Free Verse – Morden poetry that has no regular pattern of rhythm, rhyme or line length. Example Fog by Carl Sandburg

4.6. 6. Epigram – Very short witty poems that make a pithy pronouncement about something. Example Hero and Leander by John Donne

4.7. 5. Epitaph – Poems that are written about the dead usually short and found on tombstones. Example Robert Frost’s Epitaph

4.8. 4. Epic – Very long narrative poems that tell a story. Example The Iliad

4.9. 3. Elegy – Particular type of lyric that is written to mourn the passing of something or someone. ExampleO Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

4.10. 2. Concrete – Poetry that heavily relies on visuals or phonetic to get across the mean. Example Silence by Eugen Gomringer

4.11. 1. Ballad – A long poem that tells a story, usually a folk’s tale or legend, in rhyme. Example Bridal Ballad - Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

5. Sounds

5.1. 17. Onomatopoeia – Words that sound like what they mean. Example buzz, boom, pow

5.2. 16. Euphony – Sounds that are very pleasant to the ear. Example Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

5.3. 15. Consonance – Repeating consonant sounds in the middle of words. Example Sent and went

5.4. 14. Cacophony – Sounds that are unpleasant and harsh to the ear. Example I detest war because cause of war is always trivial

5.5. 13. Assonance – Repeating vowel sounds in the middle of  a word. Example Men sell the wedding bells

5.6. 12. Alliteration – Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of a series of words. Example I sell sea shells by the sea shore

6. Comparisons

6.1. 22. Synecdoche – occurs when the significant part is used for the whole. Example nited States won a gold medal

6.2. 21. Simile – A comparison between to dissimilar items using like or as. Example as playful as a kitten

6.3. 20. Personification – A comparison between a non-human item and a human. Example Lightning danced across the sky.

6.4. 19. Metonymy – A type of metaphor in which a reference point is substituted for the thing to which. Example Crown - in place of a royal person

6.5. 18. Metaphor – A direct comparison between to dissimilar items. The snow is a white blanket