HL Lit Poetic Devices and Terminology
alliteration - the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginnings of words.
Ex: “We saw the sea sound sing, we heard the salt sheet tell,” from Dylan Thomas’s “Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed.”
allusion- a brief, intentional reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, event, or movement
ambiguity - a word, phrase, or statement containing more than one meaning. It refers to the openness of language to different interpretations
antithesis- a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in: Man proposes; God disposes. Antithesis is a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness.
cacophony - describes words that are harsh sounding
caesura- a pause, usually near the middle of a line of verse, often created by punctuation, and often greater than the normal pause.
For example, one would naturally pause after “human” in the following line from Alexander Pope:
To err is human, to forgive divine.
conceit - an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison. This may be a brief metaphor, or it may be consist in an entire poem.
connotation - the cultural or emotional meaning of a word; the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes
denotation - the dictionary definition of the word
diction- the use of specific word choice in a literary work. Diction may be described as formal (the level of usage common in serious books and formal discourse), informal (the level of usage found in the relaxed but polite conversation of cultivated people), colloquial (the everyday usage of a group, possibly including terms and constructions accepted in that group but not universally accepted), or slang (a group of newly coined words which are not acceptable for formal usage as yet).
didactic poem- a poem that is intended primarily to teach a lesson. The distinction between didactic poetry and non-didactic poetry is difficult to make and usually involves a subjective judgment of the author’s purpose on the part of the critic or the reader.
ekphrasis - a poem based on a picture or work of art. Though the term literally references the descriptive aspect of ekphrastic writing, the poet Alfred Corn states in his essay on the history of ekphrastic verse, "Once the ambition of producing a complete and accurate description is put aside, a poem can provide new aspects for a work of visual art."
elegy - a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death or another solemn theme.
em dash - a punctuation mark that can be used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons. In general, the em dash is seen as being more interruptive or striking than other punctuation, so it is often used stylistically to draw a reader’s attention to a particular bit of information. The em dash resembles a horizontal line (—) that is longer than both a hyphen (-) and an en dash (–).
end-stopped - a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
enjambment- the running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line to the next
envelope/envelope verse - a structural device in poetry, by which a line or stanza is repeated either identically or with little variation so as to enclose between its two appearances the rest (or part) of the poem: a stanza may begin and end with the same line, or a poem may begin and end with the same line or stanza.
epigraph- in literature, an epigraph is a quotation on the title page of a book, a motto heading a section of a work, a title of a chapter, or a part of a poem.
Often the epigraph is a source of inspiration for the work
Epigraphs frequently encapsulate theme/meaning
euphony - describes words that are pleasant sounding and melodious
extended metaphor - an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem. In “The Bait,” John Donne compares a beautiful woman to fish bait and men to fish who want to be caught by the woman. Since he carries these comparisons all the way through the poem, these are considered “extended metaphors.”
fixed form poem - poem that may be categorized by the pattern of its lines, meter, rhythm, or stanzas. A sonnet is a fixed form of poetry because by definition it must have fourteen lines. Other fixed forms include limerick, sestina, and villanelle. However, poems written in a fixed form may not always fit into categories precisely, because writers sometimes vary traditional forms to create innovative effects.
free form/free verse poem - nonmetrical, non rhyming lines that closely follow the natural rhythms of speech. A regular pattern of sound or rhythm may emerge in free-verse lines, but the poet does not adhere to a metrical plan in their composition.
hyperbole- a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect. Macbeth is using hyperbole in the following lines: “No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”
idiom - a short expression that is peculiar to a language, people, or place that conveys a figurative meaning without a literal interpretation of the words used in the phrase
imagery- language that appeals to the five senses. The five forms of imagery include: visual imagery (sight), auditory imagery (sound), tactile imagery (touch), olfactory imagery (smell), and gustatory imagery (taste)
intertextuality - the way that one text influences another. This can be a direct borrowing such as a quotation, or slightly more indirect such as through creation of parody, pastiche, or allusion.
irony - the contrast between the actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning. Irony is likely to be confused with sarcasm, but it differs from sarcasm in that it is usually lighter, less harsh in its wording though in effect probably more cutting because of its indirectness.
line break - is a poetic device that is used at the end of a line, and the beginning of the next line in a poem. It can be employed without traditional punctuation. Also, it can be described as a point wherein a line is divided into two halves. Sometimes, a line break that occurs at mid-clause creates enjambment.
lyric/lyrical poem- any short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings. Love lyrics are common, but lyric poems have also been written on subjects as different as religion and reading.
metaphor- a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like “as,” “like,” or “than.” A simile would say, “night is like a black bat”; a metaphor would say, “the black bat night.”
metonymy - a form of metaphor in which a word we associate with something is used in place of the actual word
Ex: The White House asked the television networks for air time on Monday night.
Ex: In this way we commonly speak of the king as the “crown,” an object closely associated with kingship.
mixed metaphors - the mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous. Lloyd George is reported to have said, “I smell a rat. I see it floating in the air. I shall nip it in the bud.”
mood - the atmosphere or feeling created in a work of literature by the author
narrative poem- a poem that tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or complex, long or short. Epics and ballads are examples of narrative poems.
onomatopoeia- the use of words whose sound suggests their meaning. Ex: “buzz,” “hiss,” or “honk.”
oxymoron- a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness.
Ex: “wise fool,” “sad joy,” and “eloquent silence.”
pantoum - a structured poem that comprises a series of quatrains, with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the next. The second and fourth lines of the final stanza repeat the first and third lines of the first stanza.
paradox- a situation or action or feeling that appears to be contradictory but on inspection turns out to be true or at least to make sense. The following lines from one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets include paradoxes: Take me to you, imprison me, for I Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
parallelism- a similar grammatical structure within a line or lines of poetry/when a writer or speaker expresses ideas of equal worth with the same grammatical form.
Ex: The statement, "Veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered) by Julius Caesar
Ex: Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them. Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
personification - giving inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.
pun- a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings. Puns can have serious as well as humorous uses.
refrain- a specific form of repetition, in which a group of words forming a phrase or sentence and consisting of one or more lines is repeated at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.
repetition - repeating a word, phrase, or sentence, within a single line or stanza, or throughout a poem. It is a rhetorical technique to add emphasis, unity, and/or power.
simile- a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with “like,” “as,” or “than.” It is easier to recognize a simile than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit: my love is like a fever; my love is deeper than a well. (The plural of “simile” is “similes” not “similies.”)
stanza - a division or unit of a poem (think “the paragraph of poetry”). Usually a repeated grouping of three or more lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme.
structure - the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. The most common units of structure in a poem are the line and stanza.
symbol- something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else. For example, winter, darkness, and cold are real things, but in literature, they are also likely to be used as symbols of death.
synecdoche - a form of metaphor which in mentioning a part signifies the whole. For example, we refer to “foot soldiers” for infantry and “field hands” for manual laborers who work in agriculture.
synesthesia - the blending of the senses. In poetry, synesthesia refers specifically to figurative language that includes a mixing of senses. For example, saying "He wore a loud yellow shirt" is an example of synesthesia, as it mixes visual imagery (yellow) with auditory imagery (loud).
syntax - the ordering of words into patterns or sentences. If a poet shifts words from the usual word order, you know you are dealing with an older style of poetry or a poet who wants to shift emphasis onto a particular word.
tone - the manner in which an author/speaker expresses their attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning.
understatement - the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is. For example, Macbeth, having been nearly hysterical after killing Duncan, tells Lenox,:”Twas a rough night.”