Comprehensive Guide to Literary Devices, Poetic Structure, and Forms
Comparison and Meaning
- Allegory: A story or description with a second, deeper meaning beneath the surface.
- Example: A journey through a storm could represent overcoming difficulties in life.
- Allusion: A brief reference to a famous person, event, story, myth, or Bible story.
- Example: "He met his Waterloo" refers to Napoleon's defeat.
- Apostrophe: Directly addressing someone absent, someone dead, or something nonhuman as if it could respond.
- Example: "O moon, guide me home."
- Extended Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things that continues through several lines or an entire poem.
- Example: A poem repeatedly compares life to a long road.
- Metaphor: An implied comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as".
- Example: "Time is a thief."
- Metonymy: Replacing something with the name of an object or idea closely associated with it.
- Example: "The crown" represents the king or monarchy.
- Personification: Giving human qualities or actions to an animal, object, or idea.
- Example: "The wind whispered through the trees."
- Simile: A direct comparison between two unlike things using "like", "as", or "seems".
- Example: "Her smile was as bright as the sun."
- Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which one part represents an entire thing.
- Example: "All hands on deck" uses hands to represent sailors.
Sound Devices
- Alliteration: The repetition of beginning consonant sounds in nearby words.
- Example: "Wild winds whistle."
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby important words.
- Example: "The slow road home."
- Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the ends of nearby words.
- Example: "Blank" and "think" repeat the "nk" sound.
- End Rhyme: Rhyme created by words at the ends of different lines.
- Example: "I saw the light / It shone so bright."
- Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a single line or between a word inside a line and a word at the end.
- Example: "I went to town to buy a gown."
- Onomatopoeia: A word whose sound imitates its meaning.
- Example: "Buzz", "hiss", or "crash".
- Rhyme: The repetition of similar vowel and ending sounds in important words.
- Example: "Light" and "night".
Structure and Movement
- Blank Verse: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
- Example: Lines have five iambs but no end rhyme.
- Couplet: Two consecutive lines of poetry, usually with the same meter and end rhyme.
- Example: "The sun is bright / It gives us light."
- Enjambment: When a sentence or thought continues past the end of one line and into the next without a pause.
- Example: "I walked into the night / hoping to find my way."
- Free Verse: Poetry without a regular meter, rhyme scheme, or established structure.
- Example: The poem uses natural pauses and line breaks instead of a fixed pattern.
- Meter: A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.
- Example: Iambic pentameter contains five iambs in each line.
- Rhyme Scheme: The organized pattern of end rhymes in a poem or stanza, labeled with letters.
- Example: ABAB means lines one and three rhyme, and lines two and four rhyme.
- Rhythm: The beat or flow created by repeated stressed and unstressed sounds in a poem.
- Example: Short, repeated sounds can create a fast rhythm.
- Sonnet: A fixed fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter with an Italian or English rhyme scheme.
- Example: A Shakespearean sonnet has three quatrains followed by a couplet.
- Stanza: A group of poetic lines separated from other groups of lines, similar to a paragraph in prose.
- Example: A poem may be divided into four-line stanzas.
- Syntax: The arrangement and order of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence.
- Example: Placing an important word at the end gives it emphasis.
Types of Poems
- Ballad: A short narrative poem that tells a story in songlike stanzas.
- Example: A poem tells the story of a legendary hero.
- Elegy: A serious and reflective poem that mourns someone who has died.
- Example: A poem remembers and grieves a deceased friend.
- Lyric Poem: A usually short poem that expresses the speaker's personal thoughts or emotions in a songlike way.
- Example: A poem expresses the speaker's loneliness.
- Metaphysical Poetry: Intellectual poetry known for unusual comparisons, complex ideas, paradoxes, and surprising imagery.
- Example: A poem uses an elaborate comparison to explore love, religion, or existence.
- Narrative Poem: A poem that tells a story using a narrator, characters, and events.
- Example: A poem tells about a sailor becoming lost at sea.
- Ode: A lyric poem that formally praises or addresses a person, object, place, or idea.
- Example: A poem celebrates autumn.
Language and Effects
- Diction: The poet's specific choice of words. It can be formal, informal, abstract, concrete, or conversational.
- Example: Using "residence" instead of "home" creates more formal diction.
- Hyperbole: A deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.
- Example: "I have told you a million times."
- Imagery: Descriptive language that appeals to sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or movement.
- Example: "The warm cinnamon filled the quiet kitchen."
- Irony: A difference between what is expected and what happens, or between what is said and what is meant.
- Example: A fire station burns down.
- Mood: The emotion or atmosphere that a piece of writing creates for the reader.
- Example: Dark imagery and silence create a frightening mood.
- Oxymoron: Two contradictory words placed together.
- Example: "Deafening silence."
- Paradox: A seemingly contradictory statement or situation that may reveal a deeper truth.
- Tone: The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience.
- Example: Word choices can create a bitter, humorous, admiring, or serious tone.
- Understatement: Deliberately making something seem less important or serious than it really is.
- Example: Saying "It is a little windy" during a major storm.