Poetry Analysis - Literary Devices

Figurative language

Language that makes its point in an indirect or non-literal way.

Metaphor

An implied comparison in which a person, place, object, or idea gets equated to some other thing. Poets use this to give a fresh perspective on the first thing by imputing it with the qualities of the second thing.

Simile

A metaphor in which the comparison is made explicit through the use of words such as "like", "as", "similar to", or "resembles".

Extended metaphor

A metaphor that gets drawn out or extended through multiple comparisons.

Mixed metaphor

The use of two or more incongruous metaphors. While these are usually a sign of bad writing, talented writers occasionally use them to good effect.

Ex: O heart weighed down by so many wings.

Metonymy

Reference to a person, place, object, or idea using the word for something that is closely related or physically proximate to it.

Ex: The king is referred to by using the words "the crown"
Ex: Food is referred to as a "dish"

Synechdoche

Reference to a person, place, or idea using the word for a part of the whole.

Ex: Automobile is represented by the word "wheels"
Ex: Manual laborers are called "hired hands"

Symbolism

The use of a concrete object to represent an abstract quality or idea. Whereas an image is literal and a metaphor is figurative, a symbol has both a literal and figurative significance.

Personification

The attribution of human qualities to an object, animal, or concept.

Apostrophe

The act of addressing someone or something that is absent or dead as if it were present and alive.

Paradox

A contradiction that is somehow true.

Oxymoron

A compact paradox that consists of two successive words that seem to contradict each other, such as "cold fire" or "wise fool" or "deafening silence".

Hyperbole

Exaggeration or overstatement.

Understatement

A figure of speech in which one says less than one means.

Imagery

Use of vivid language to represent a sensory experience.

Synesthesia

Use of one of the five sense to describe an impression from a different sensory register.

Ex: The cilantro gave off a purple smell.

Auditory image

An image evoking sound.

Gustatory image

An image evoking taste.

Olfactory image

An image evoking smell.

Tactile image

An image evoking touch.

Visual image

An image evoking sight.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant or vowel sounds at the beginning of two or more words in close proximity.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in the middle of two or more words in proximity to one another.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of two or more words in proximity to one another.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that sound like the thing they describe.

Ex: Buzz, hum, thud, swish, clap, zoom, murmur

Couplet

A stanza consisting of two lines.

Tercet

A stanza consisting of three lines.

Quatrain

A stanza consisting of four lines.

Sestet

A stanza consisting of six lines.

Octave

A stanza consisting of eight lines.

Enjambed line

A line of poetry in which a sentence continues on to the next line without being stopped by a period or semicolon.

Ex: Shakespeare avoids the impediment of an end-stop by enjambing the following line: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments."

End-stopped line

A line of poetry which ends with a period or semicolon. An end-stopped line can be used to emphasize the finality of a decision or event: e.g. the finality of death.

Caesura

A pause in the middle of a line of poetry, often resulting from a comma or semicolon.

Ex: To err is human, to forgive divine.

Syntax

The ordering or arrangement of words in a sentence or poetic line.

Volta

The shift or point of dramatic change in a poem

Refrain

An entire line or phrase that gets repeated within a poem

Anaphora

Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of two or more successive lines or sentences.

Ex: MLK Jr uses anaphora in his "I Have a Dream" speech: "I have a dream that... I have a dream that..."

Parallelism

Repetition of the same syntactic structure.
Ex: ...Shall be your guide by day, your guard by night.

Chiasmus

Repetition of the same syntactic structure with the terms reversed; inverted parallelism.

Ex: These flowery waters and these watery flowers.
Ex: I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.

Hyperbaton

An intentional deviation from the standard ordering of words in a sentence; often used to emphasize a word by placing it at the beginning or end of a line or sentence.

Ex: I was in my life alone.