Key Features of a Poem

Seite 1

What are the different types of imagery?

1. Literal

2. Sensory

3. Auditory

4. Olfactory

5. Kinesthetic

6. Tactile

7. Gustatory

Seite 2

What are the different types of sound?

1. Assonance

2. Consonants

3. Onomatopeia

4. Dissonants

5. Rhyme

6. Alliteration

Seite 3

What are the literary devices used?

1. Alliteration

⁃ The repetition of initial stressed, consonant sounds in a series of words within a phrase or verse line.

⁃ Eg. She sells seashells on the seashore.

2. Allusion

⁃ A brief intentional reference to a historical, mythic or literary person, place, event or movement.

⁃ Eg. Your backyard is a garden of Eden (Biblical allusion)

3. Ambiguity

⁃ A word, statement, or situation with 2 or more possible meanings.

⁃ Eg. Buckle (Can be meant as fall or crumple)

4. Anaphora

⁃ A repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

⁃ Eg. (I have a dream; repeated numerous times)

5. Anthropomorphism

⁃ A form of personification in which human qualities are attributed to anything inhuman, usually a god, animal, object or concept

⁃ Eg. Animals actually displaying human traits like speaking or wearing clothes.

6. Antithesis

⁃ Contrasting or combining 2 terms, phrases or clauses with opposite meanings.

⁃ Eg. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

7. Ellipsis

⁃ The omission of words whose absence does not impede the reader's ability to understand the expression.

⁃ Eg. She went to the mall on Monday, she on Tuesday.

⁃ OR the use of the series of 3 dots; indicates a mysterious or unfinished thought.

⁃ Eg. I thought we were meeting on Tuesday...

8. Enjambment

⁃ The run-on line of a sentence from one poetic line to the next without terminal punctuation.

⁃ Eg. The back wings// of the hospital

9. Hyperbole

⁃ A figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration.

⁃ Eg. I'm so hungry I could eat a cow.

10. Imagery

⁃ Elements of a poem that invoke any of the 5 senses to create a set of mental images.

⁃ Eg. Sound imagery etc.

11. Irony

⁃ A distance between what is said and what is meant.

⁃ Eg. It's so delightful to be home with a sick child.

12. Simile

⁃ a comparison that is made without pointing out a similarity by using words such as "like" or "as"

⁃ Eg. You eat like a pig.

13. Metonymy

⁃ A figure of speech in which something is called by a new name that is related to the meaning of the original concept.

⁃ Eg. The big house; refers to prison.

14. Onomatopoeia

⁃ A figure of speech in which the sound of a word imitates its sense.

⁃ Eg. Hiss, buzz

15. Oxymoron

⁃ A figure of speech that brings together contradictory words for effect.

⁃ Eg. Deafening silence.

16. Paradox

⁃ A figure of speech that is a seemingly self-contradictory phrase that illuminates the truth.

⁃ Eg. A male barber shaves all and only those men who don't shave themselves. Does he shave himself?

17. Personification

⁃ A figure of speech in which the poet describes a thing as if it were a person.

⁃ Eg. Her heart skipped a beat.

18. Pun

⁃ Wordplay to deliver 2 or more meanings at the same time.

⁃ Eg. Put that down, it's nacho cheese.

19. Caesura

⁃ A complete stop in a line of poetry.

⁃ Eg. Hey Jude/ don't make it/ bad

20. Metaphor

⁃ Comparison

⁃ Eg. Baby you're like a firework.

21. Synecdoche

⁃ A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole thing.

⁃ Eg. Ask for her hand; refers to asking a woman to marry.