Poetic Techniques

Alliteration

Repetition of the same beginning consonant sound in nearby words.
Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck.

Allusion

A brief reference to a well-known person, place, event, text, or idea.
Example: “He was a real Romeo.” (referring to Shakespeare’s character)

Ambiguity

When a word, phrase, or idea has more than one possible meaning.
Example: “I saw her duck.” (Could mean her bird or that she bent down.)

Anecdotes

Short stories about a real event or personal experience.
Example: “When I was younger, I once got lost in a shopping centre.”

Anthropomorphism

Giving human characteristics, behaviour, or emotions to animals or non-human things.
Example: “The rabbit put on his coat and walked to work.”

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Example: “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.”

Colloquialism

Informal, everyday language used in speech or writing.
Example: “That movie was really cool.”

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of nearby words.
Example: “The lumpy, bumpy road.”

Enjambment

When a line of poetry continues onto the next line without punctuation or a natural pause. Example: “The sun is shining / across the open sea.”

Elegy

A poem expressing sadness or mourning, usually for someone who has died.
Example: A poem written in memory of a dead friend or family member.

Exaggeration

Making something seem bigger, better, worse, or more extreme than it really is.
Example: “I’ve told you a million times.”

Imagery

Descriptive language that creates pictures, sensations, or feelings in the reader’s mind.
Example: “The warm, golden sunlight melted across the quiet fields.”

Simile

A comparison between two things using “like” or “as.”
Example: “Her eyes were like stars.”

Lyric

A short poem that expresses personal thoughts, feelings, or emotions.
Example: A poem describing the poet’s feelings about love or sadness.

Metaphor

A comparison where one thing is described as being another thing, without using “like” or “as.”
Example: “The classroom was a zoo.”

Narrative form

A way of writing that tells a story, usually involving characters, events, and a sequence of actions.
Example: “John opened the door, stepped outside, and began walking towards the forest.”

Personification

Giving human qualities or actions to non-human things.
Example: “The wind whispered through the trees.”

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate or resemble the sound they describe.
Example: “The bees buzzed around the garden.”

Oxymoron

Two words or ideas with opposite meanings placed together.
Example: “Deafening silence.”

Paradox

A statement or idea that seems contradictory but contains a deeper truth.

Example: “The more I learn, the less I know.”

Persona

Definition: The voice or character speaking in a poem. The persona is not necessarily the poet themselves.

Punctuation

commas, full stops, dashes and question marks,

Repetition

the deliberate repeating of a word, phrase, sound or idea to create emphasis, rhythm or meaning.

Example: “Never, never, never give up.”

Rhetorical question

A question asked to make a point rather than to receive an actual answer.

Example: “Who doesn't want to be loved?”

Sestina

complex 39-line poem made up of six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line ending called an envoi. The same six end-words are repeated in a specific order throughout the poem.

Stanzas

Groups of lines in a poem, similar to paragraphs in prose.

Example:

“I walk beneath the moon,
I hear the quiet rain.”

Structure

The way a poem is organised, including its stanzas, lines, rhyme, rhythm and the order in which ideas develop.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem that traditionally follows a particular structure and rhyme scheme.

Subject matter

What the poem is literally about—the person, situation, event, object or idea being explored.

Synesthesia

A technique where different senses are mixed together, such as describing a sound using words associated with taste or colour.

Example: “The music tasted sweet.”

Symbols

When an object, image or action represents something beyond its literal meaning.

ROSE could be love or beauty

Theme

The main idea, message or deeper meaning explored by a poem.

Tone

The attitude or emotional feeling conveyed by the speaker or poem.

Litotes

A form of understatement where something is expressed by saying what it is not, often to create emphasis.

Example: “That wasn't a bad day.”

Volta

A turning point or shift in a poem where the thought, argument, emotion or perspective changes.