Poetic Devices

                                      Poetic Devices:

Similes: Figures of speech that compares two unlike things. "His feet as big as boats"

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"

Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two unlike things directly, without the use of like or as. "Her hair is silk"

Personification: Assigning human qualities to non-human things. "The tropical storm slept for two days"

Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds. "Boom Gurgle Plink"

Hyperbole: An expression of exaggeration. "I nearly died laughing"

Symbolism: Using an object to represent an idea. A symbol means what it is and also something more. "Lions often symbolize royalty"

Puns: Words with a humorous double meaning, a play on words. "A dog not only has a fur coat but also pants"

Idioms: Expressions that have a meaning apart from the meanings of the individual words. "It's raining cats and dogs"

Foot: The time period into which the best of the poetic line is divided. A foot is made up of several syllables, some long and some short.

Meter: Refers to how the feet are put together to form lines of poetry. The combination of long and syllables give poetry a musical feel.

Rhythm: The pattern of long and short syllables in a poetic line. In modern poetry. some words receive greater vocal emphasis than others.

Lyrics: What poets write, the actual words used to form the framework of rhythm and meter.
Mood: The overall feeling the poem creates. Mood, or tone, for example, can be playful, sad, angry, lonely or joyful.

Simile: When a poet or a writer compares one or more qualities of two things, it is called simile. For example: Ali is brave like a lion. Int his sentence only one quality that is bravery of lion has been compared with that of Ali. Here it is presented as a simile. A simile can be identified with the words of so, like and as.

Metaphor: When a poet or a writer completely matches two things in all their qualities, it is called metaphor. For example: Ali is a lion. In this sentence all the qualities of lion have been given to Ali. Here it has been presented as a metaphor. A metaphor can be identified with the words of is, are, am, was, were,etc.

Personification: When a poet or writer gives the quality of a human to a non-human (for example animal, birds, plants, non-living things, etc), it is called the use of personification. For example, "leaves drinking rain", mentioned by W.H.Davis in his poem: "The Rain", Drinking is an attribute of human beings, but here it has been awarded to the leaves which are drinking (absorbing) rain water.

Written By: Asad Hussain

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