Poetic Devices - With Definitions & Examples

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Imagery

Definition: The use of vivid language that appeals to the reader’s five senses

Example: I once saw big, bright, blue tulip behind the red ones

Alliteration

Definition: Repeated starting consonant sounds

Example: Slithery, slimy, scaly old snake

Repetition

Definition: The intentional, recurring use of the same words, lines, phrases or stanzas

Example: “How it’s DONE, DONE, DONE!” (How It’s Done: K-Pop Demon Hunters)

Simile

Definition: A comparison stating that one thing is similar to another, using the words ‘as’ or ‘like’

Example: My love is like a prickly cactus

Sibilance

Definition: A literary device involving the close, intentional repetition of hissing ‘s’ (includes sh, ch and z)

Example: The shy snake slithered through the soft soil

Assonance

Definition: A vowel rhyme

Example: Clap your hands and stamp your feet

Consonance

Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words

Example: And the silken, sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.

Metaphor

Definition: Saying something is something

Example: The poisoned light dripped off everything it touched

Personification

Definition: Expressing an inanimate object with human traits

Example: The tree waved to us in the breeze

Symbolism

Definition: An object representing a deeper idea

Example: Birds representing freedom

Parallelism

Definition: Repeated sentence structure

Example: I came, I saw, I conquered

Cacophony

Definition: Harsh, unpleasant sound combinations

Examples: Mule-bray; pig-grunt; bawdy-cackles

Allusion

Definition: Reference to another text, event or figure

Example: Chocolate is my Achilles’ Heel.

Oxymoron

Definition: Contradictory words together

Examples: Deafening silence, sweet sorrow

Connotation

Definition: Emotional or cultural meaning of words

Examples:

Positive - Antique, Inexpensive

Negative - Decrepit, Cheap

Juxtaposition

Definition: Contrasting ideas that are placed together

Example: Order and Chaos in The Hunger Games