poetic devices

Alliteration

Using 2 or more connective words that begin with the same sound.

Example of Alliteration

Peter piper picked a peck.

Allusion

A reference to people or events that are well known from myths, literature, or history.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration used to create a mood or effect.

Example of Hyperbole

I am dead, dead to you as can be - Eminem.

Stanzas

A group of lines which form a division in a poem.

Rhyme

Repetition of sound.

Refrain

The repetition of whole words, phrases, lines or groups of lines according to some fixed pattern.

Couplet

Two lines or verses that usually rhyme and state complete ideas.

Persona

The viewpoint a writer adopts or the character they become to tell a story.

Paradox

Something that seems contradictory but has an element of truth.

Example of Paradox

The more you suffer, the more it shows you care.

Elegy

A poem of grief for someone’s death.

Ode

A serious poem addressed to a praised person or object.

Lyric

A short poem that seems especially musical and expresses the poet's emotions.

Sonnet

A lyric poem with a traditional form of 14 lines.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words where the sense of image is suggested by the sound.

Example of Onomatopoeia

Swish, bang, pow, sizzle.

Oxymoron

A short phrase that uses a contradiction.

Epic

Long story poem about the adventures of a hero.