Poetry Notes

1
Poetry Notes

• There are many literary devices commonly used to
  enrich the meaning and sound of poetry.

2
These literary devices enrich meaning by giving
the reader several levels of connection

• simile
• a comparison of two unlike things which uses
  like or as.
• Example The compliment lifted her like
  invisible wings.
• metaphor
• a comparison of two unlike things which does not
  use like or as.
• Example Shadows stalked the night, a black cat
  on all fours.

3

• personification
• attributing human feelings, thoughts, or actions
  to non-human things.
• Example Slowly, silently, now the moon walks
  the night.
• symbol
• a person, a place or a thing that has meaning in
  itself, but that stand for something else as
  well.
• Example A flame burned between Romeo and
  Juliette as they sat around the fire.

4

• imagery
• concrete details that appeal to the senses by
  using specific images, an author establishes mood
  and arouses emotion in his readers creating a
  picture.
• Example Swamp by Vince Freeman
• hyperbole
• An obvious and intentional exaggeration an
  extravagant statement, not meant to be taken
  literally
  Example I waited an eternity.

5

• concrete poetry
• it visually presents something important about a
  poems meaning. Some poems are shapes filled in
  with words in other poems words may outline a
  shape or imitate a movement.

6
These literary devices enrich sound by giving
poetry a pleasing depth beyond the literal
meaning of the words.

• onomatopoeia
• The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest
  their meaning.
• Example buzz, rustle, boom, tweet.
• alliteration
• The repetition of consonant sounds in worlds
  that are close together.
• Example The sun was shining on the sea.

7

• assonance
• The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are
  close together.
• Example Two mules went through the food.
• rhyme
• The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all
  sounds following them in words that are close
  together in a poem.
• Example Do you see what I mean?
• There is a hole in the screen
• internal rhyme rhyme within lines.
• end rhyme rhyme at the ends of lines.

8
Rhyme continued

• types of rhyme
• couplet two lines that rhyme in one
• stanza
• triplet three lines that rhyme in one
• stanza
• Rhyme Example The Road Not Taken

9

• tone
• An authors attitude toward his subject as
  expressed in a literary work
• Example The tone of the Declaration of
  Independence is determined and confident.
• allusion
• A reference within a literary work to a
  historical, literary, or biblical character,
  place, or event.
• Example

10

• idiom
• A common expression that has acquired a
  meaning that differs from its literal meaning.
• Example Its raining cats and dogs or That
  cost me an arm and a leg.