Poetry Devices and Literary Terms: Definitions and Examples

Repetition

repeating of any sound or phrase

Refrain

repeating a certain word/s or phrases- main emphasis of the poem

Alliteration

repeating any sound at the beginning of words

Assonance

repeating a vowel sound anywhere in a word

Consonance

repeating of a consonant sound anywhere in a word

Onomatopoeia

spelling out a physical sound

Metaphor

compares two things directly

Simile

comparing using like or as

Personification

giving human qualities to nonhuman things

Symbols

using one thing to represent something else

Allusion

a reference to something in popular culture

Paradox

a statement, situation, or idea that seems to contradict itself or go against common sense

Oxymoron

two opposite or contradictory words next to each other.

Hyperbole

an exaggeration

Understatement

playing down the truth

Irony

when the opposite of what you expect happens

Metonomy

replacing the typical name for something with something closely related

Synecdoche

referring to something by part of the whole

Apostrophe

referring to someone who is not present