Poetry Literary Devices: Form, Sound, and Imagery Analysis

Form

The way a poem is laid out on the page

Alliteration (ex)

Repetition of consonant sounds at the start of words peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Assonance (ex)

Repetition of a vowel sound within non-rhyming words the best gesture of my brain is less then

Rhythm

Pattern of a sound created by arranging stressed and unstressed syllables

Onomatopoeia (ex)

Words whose pronunciations suggest their meaning buzz

Rhyme

Similar or identical sounds at the ends of two or more words

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme within a line

External Rhyme

Rhyme at the ends of lines

Personification

Attributes human qualities to an object, animal, or idea.

Speaker

Voice that speaks to the reader similar to narrator in fiction not always the poet

Imagery

Words that give a sensory description to what is being described

Diction

Purposeful word choices by a writer (formal, informal, slang).

Contrast

Writers identify differences or opposites between two subjects or nouns

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of end rhyme in a poem. Assigning a letter, starting with the letter A, to each line. Lines that rhyme are given the same letter.

Consonance (ex)

Repetition of consonant sounds at the middle and ends of words will never wholly kiss you

Figurative Language (ex)

Language beyond literal meaning of words (simile)