Poetic Devices (Definitions with Examples) and Rhyme

Poetic Devices (Definitions with Examples) 

Allegory: a story in which the characters, settings, and events stand for abstract or moral concepts. 

Example: The morality play “Everyman” deals with the death of a character that represents himself and every human being. 

Example: Pilgrim’s Progress: Garth telling Bellicent the tale of a youth who wanted to climb a tree to get a golden egg laid by a royal eagle (a story told in symbols). 

Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds. 

Example: “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought / I summon up remembrance of things past” (Shakespeare, “Sonnet 30”). 

Allusion: reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or popular culture. 

Example: He had the patience of Job. 

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which the speaker directly addresses an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something nonhuman as if it were present and capable of responding. Example: “And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer / Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure / Instruct me… (Milton, Paradise Lost). 

Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together. 

Example: “My words like silent raindrops fell…” (Paul Simon, “Sounds of Silence”). Example: “Thou foster child of silence and slow time” (John Keats, “Ode to a Grecian Urn”). 

Conceit: a fanciful and elaborate figure of speech that makes a surprising connection between two seemingly dissimilar things. 

Example: John Donne’s comparison of separated lovers to the legs of a compass. 

Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds. This repetition is not limited to initial consonant sounds. 

Example: “…and high school girls with clear skin smiles…” (Janis Ian, “At 17”). 

Dissonance (cacophony): a harsh, discordant combination of sounds. It is usually created by the repetition of harsh consonant sounds. 

Example: “…sheer plod makes plough down sillion / Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, / Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Windhover”). 

Epigram: short, condensed, polished, pointed phrases often ending in surprising or witty turns of thought. 

Example: “Swans sing before they die – t’were no bad thing / Should certain people die before they sing” (Coleridge, “On a Volunteer Singer”). 

Clichéd example: “A stitch in time saves nine.” Clichés are worn out and overused, and should be avoided.

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Euphemism: a pleasant way of stating an unpleasant truth (usually to be avoided). The euphemism is vague and less direct especially when used in reference to death, irreligious references to God, and discreet references to body parts and functions. 

Example: “Comfort station,” “to pass away,” “Gosh darn!” (Poets will avoid these!).