Poetry devices

Blank Verse

Blank Verse

Verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Each line usually contains ten syllables and every syllable is stressed

Couplet

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Free verse

Poetry that has no fixed meter or pattern and that depends on natural speech rythm

Haiku

A Japanese poem style that describes a single image in three lines and 17 syllables(575)

Limerick

A humorous five line poem ( there once was a man from Nantucket)

Sonnet

A fourteen line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter

Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme

Abab cdcd efef gg

Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme

Abbaabba cdcdcd

Miltonic sonnet rhyme scheme

Abbaabba cdecde

Stanza

A group of lines forming a unit poem

Tercet

A three line stanza

Quatrain

A four line stanza

Cinquain

A five line stanza

Sestet

a six line stanza

Verse

Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme

Alliteration

The repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants or consonant clusters, in a group of words

Assonance

In poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible

Meter

A generally regular pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word whose sounds in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning (crash, bang, bam, slam)

Rhyme

A repetition of sound in two or more words or phrases that usually appear close to each other in a poem.

Rhyme scheme

Is the pattern that the rhymes at the end of the lines create for a poem.

Rhythm

The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern

Allusion

A reference in one work of literature to a person, place, or even in another work of literature or in history, art or music

Figure of speech

A term applied to a specific kind of figurative language, such as metaphor, simile, or personification

Hyperbole

An obvious exaggeration not meant to be taken literally; exaggeration for effect

Imagery

Language that appeals to any combination of senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)

Irony

A difference or inconsistency between what is stated and what is really meant(verbal) or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen(situational), or when the audience knows some the that chacacters do not

Metaphor

a direct comparison between two unlike things with the Intent of giving added meaning to one of them

Oxymoron

Figure of speech in which opposite ideas are combined. Thunderous silence, jumbo shrimp

Paradox

a statement that seems untrue but may be true

personification

A figure os speech in which an animal, an object, a natural force, or an idea is given personality, or is describes as if it were human

Simile

A comparison between two dissimilar things through the use of a specific word of comparison such as like, as, that, or resembles

Symbol

Any object, person, place, or action that has meaning in itself, such as quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value

Connotation

The emotion or association that word or phrase may arouse; the implied meaning of a word

Denotation

The literal or “dictionary” meaning of a word

Diction

The specific choice of words for a poet/writer, often to create a certain ton or writing style

Audience

Who the poem is meant for

Speaker

The narrating voice in a poem; often referred to as the “persona” when “i”/ first-person point of view is used

Theme

The poets message

Tone

The attitude that a writer takes towards his or her subject, characters, and readers

Voice

how a speaker/persona presents themself writhing a text