Techniques: Poetry and Non-Fiction

Allusion

Reference (usually indirect) to a person, text or event. Biblical, mythological, intertextual.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of consecutive sentences.

Antithesis

Two sentences with contrasting meanings in close proximity to one another.

Caesura

A grammatical pause or break in a line of poetry. Can be indicated by –

Colloquial language

Informal language.

Disjunction

A conjunction that dramatically interrupts rhythm in a sentence (e.g. but or yet).

Ellipsis

… dramatic pause that suggests words can’t be spoken or creates tension.

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences or verses.

Figurative language

a statement or phrase not intended to be understood literally — is figurative (your hands are frozen).

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration.

Free Verse

Poetic style that lacks a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Sound imagery

Auditory

Taste Imagery

Gustatory

Smell Imagery

Olfactory

Feel imagery (physical)

Tactile

Feel imagery (emotional)

Visceral

Sight Imagery

Visual

Direct Statement

Declarative sentence type

!

Exclamatory sentence type

Command

Imperative sentence type

Question

Interrogative sentence type

Question that doesn’t require an answer

Rhetorical question

Alliteration

Repetition of a letter at the start of consecutive words.

Onomatopoeia

Written sound

Anecdote

A relevant and personal story.

Didactic

Deliberately meant to deliver a moral message or purposefully teach.

Flashback (analepsis)

A literary device where a past event is narrated at a point later than its chronological place in a story.

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration.

Juxtaposition

Dramatic contrast

High modality

Words conveying certainty (must, essential, definite).

Low modality

Words conveying uncertainty (possibly, perhaps, might).

Statistics

Numerical data to support an argument.

Coda

A coda is a separate passage at the end of something such as a book or a speech that finishes it off.

Narrative Voice

Narrative voice is the writer's or narrator's use of language, including tone, diction, and word choice.

Narrative Perspective or Point of view

The narrative perspective is another term for point of view. It is the perspective from which the story is told. To determine the narrative perspective, ask the question, "Who is telling the story?" Is it a character in the story or an unnamed narrator? 1st person, unreliable, omniscient etc.

Rhetorical devices

Ethos - About Establishing your authority to speak on the subject
Logos - Your Logical argument for your point
Pathos - Attempt to Persuade an audience to feel a certain way emotionally.

Ethos

About Establishing your authority to speak on the subject.

Logos

Your Logical argument for your point.

Pathos

Attempt to Persuade an audience to feel a certain way emotionally.