Structure of Poem & Poetic Devices

Tone/Mood

Imagery

Definition: The poet's attitudes toward the poem's speaker, reader and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader.

Example: happy, anxious, sad, exciting.

Definition: Figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of impressions.

Example: The autumn leaves are a blanket on the ground.

Simile

Definition: A phrase that uses comparison to describes.

Example: As hot as hell.

Hyperbole

Definition: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Example: I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse.

Repetition

Definition: When poets repeat words, phrase or lines in a poem.

Example: Rise up and hear the bells; Rise up – for you the flag is flung- for you the bugle trills.

Metaphor

Definition: Make comparisons between things by stating that one thing is literally something else.

Example: Their cheeks were roses.

Rhyme

Definition: Repetition of ends sounds.

Example: Roses are red, violets are blue, / Sugar is sweet, and so are you.

Personification

Definition: Giving human qualities and feelings to non-human things, like animal or things.

Example: The sun smiled down to us.

Assonance

Definition: Involves internal vowel sounds

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Example: She seems to beam rays of sunshine with her eyes of green.

Stanza

Definition: A series of line

Example: Examples: Couplet, Tercet, Quatrain, Quintain, Sestet, Septet, Octave

Theme

Definition: The theme of a poem is its central or main idea, the lesson or message of the poem.

Examples: Love, Death, Spirituality, Nature, Aging.

Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme Scheme can be determined by marking similarly rhyming lines of the poem with a letter of the alphabet.


Example: AABB, BABA, ABAB

Onomatopoeia

A word formed through a sound is called Onomatopoeia.

Example: Tick-Tock! Time is running out.

Consonance

Definition: Consonance involves the repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words, especially at the end of words.

Example:Blank and Think, Strong and String.

Allitiration

Definiton: Alliteration involves the repetition of the initial consonant sound of a series of words.

Example: The green grass grew in the graveyard