Poetic+Devices

__ Hyperbole __ hyperbole is exaggeration or overstatement. Opposite of [|Understatement] e.g. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

__ Alliteration __ alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words. e.g. In cliches: sweet smell of success, a dime a dozen, bigger and better, jump for joy Wordsworth: And sings a solitary song That whistles in the wind.

__ Rhythm & Rhyme __ Rhythm: The dictionary tells us it is "a movement with uniform recurrence of a beat or accent." In its crudest form rhythm has a beat with little or no meaning. Children use them in games and counting-out rhymes. In poetry, rhythm, broadly speaking, is a recognizable pulse, or "recurrence," which gives a distinct beat to a line and also gives it a shape.

Rhyme is not only a recurrence but a matching of sounds. The pleasure of pairing words to make a kind of musical echo is as old as mankind. The child of this generation may be millions of years away from prehistoric man, but the lullabies and dancing games of today are not much different from those of the cave-dweller. As in the old days, there is a real connection between poetry and magic, between poetry and memory. Children begin with rhyme and rhythm; even before they can talk, boys and girls echo nursery rhymes and the jingles of Mother Goose. They learn their numbers painlessly by repeating such rhymes as e.g.

One, two, Buckle my shoe. Three, four, Shut the door.

A sunshiny shower Won't last an hour. __ Metaphor __

Metaphor the comparison of two UNLIKE things. Simile, personification, hyperbole, parable, fable, animism, analogy, anthropomorphism. Metaphors are used to help us understand the unknown, because we use what we know in comparison with something we don't know to get a better understanding of the unknown.

e.g. He is a pig. Thou art sunshine.

__ Analogy __ analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find. e.g. hot is to cold as fire is to ice OR hot:cold::fire:ice

__ Repetition __ A word repeated again in a sentence or phrase. e.g. __ Personification __ Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects. e.g. a smiling moon, a jovial sun

__ Allusion __ Allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or ficticious, or to a work of art. Casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. An allusion may be drawn from history, geography, literature, or religion. e.g. Stephen Vincent Benet's story "By the Waters of Babylon" contains a direct reference to Psalm 137 in the Bible. __ Oxymoron __ __ Euphemism __ Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener;[1] or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker.[citation needed] It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny. e.g. a commonly used term used to express a certain idea without bluntly declaring that idea) Ex: He kicked the bucket Ex: "If any of you so much as thinks the word 'parlay', I'll have your guts for garters." __ Imagery __ Imagery is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.  e.g.  It was apparently impregnated with an effervescent gas, for little bubbles were continually ascending from the depths of the glasses, and bursting in silvery spray at the surface. As the liqur diffused a pleasant perfume, the old people doubted not that is possessed its rejuvenscent power, they were inclined to swallow it at once.

__ Irony __ Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. e.g. "A fine thing indeed!" he muttered to himself. __ Malapropism __ Malapropism is an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the confusion of words that are similar in sound. e.g. __ Onomatopoeia __ Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents. also imitative harmony e.g. splash, wow, gush, kerplunk __ Satire __ Satire a literary term used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. e.g.

__ Simile __ Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using //like// or //as//. e.g. He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.

__ Symbol __ Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. e.g. the bird of night (owl is a symbol of death)

__ Theme __ Theme is the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express. All of the elements of [|literary terms] contribute to theme. A simple theme can often be stated in a single sentence. e.g. "After reading (this book, poem, essay), I think the author wants me to understand......."