English 10 Literary Devices (Poetic Terms) and Forms
alliteration - repetition of initial (first letter) sound quickly following each other
e.g. “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds”
allusion - reference to history, religion, mythology, pop culture, people, et cetera.
e.g. “old Maeonides the blind” (person); “My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor” (place)
ballad – a poem that tells a story; rhyme structure and other song-like elements (a chorus,
refrain, etc.) “Refugee Blues” and The Cremation of Sam McGee” are two examples.
free verse – a type of poem with no discernible rhythm or rhyme (most poems in this unit)
hyperbole – exaggeration used to make a point e.g. “pack up the moon and dismantle the sun”
iambic pentameter - a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or
unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable
e.g. “Two households, both alike in dignity”
imagery – words that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) and emotion.
e.g. “Two words diverged in a yellow wood” (sight); “silence the piano with a muffled drum”
(sound)
lyric – a poem that appeals to the emotions; often based on the personal experience of a
writer; can be free verse or form poetry (e.g. ode, sonnet, etc.)
metaphor - implied comparison between unlike objects; without like/as
e.g. “I think you are a whole city”
mood (atmosphere) - the feeling in the poem, due to subject matter, diction, etc.
onomatopoeia (imitative harmony) – the poet’s use of the very sounds of the words to
emphasize his/her ideas; the sound suggests the sense.
e.g. “the bees buzzed”; “the ice cracked and growled”
personification - speaking of animals, things, or ideas as if they were people with human
emotions. e.g. “My heart leaps up when I behold”
rhyme - close similarity between stressed sounds, usually at line end; pronunciation, not
spelling, is the test.
e.g. “I shall be telling this with a sigh/“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I”
rhyme scheme – a set pattern of rhyme at the end of the line (AABB CCDD EEFF GG; ABAB
CDCD EFG EFG)
rhythm – the chief device that distinguishes poetry from prose; obtained by arranging words so
they form a regular beat.
simile - directly expressed comparison using like/as e.g. “took off like innocent fugitives”
sonnet - a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter contrasting 2 differing ideas; English (or
Shakespearean): 3 quatrains and 1 couplet; Italian (or Petrarchan): an octave (8 lines) followed
by a sestet (6 lines) e.g. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 ( “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”)
speaker – the “narrator” in the poem, NOT the author
stanza – the “paragraph” or group of lines in the poem
symbolism –use of symbols to represent abstract ideas; can be colours, people, settings, etc.
theme – the implied message in the poem (i.e. author doesn’t state it directly).
e.g. One theme of “The Road Not Taken” is that it is important to choose our own path in life.
tone – the author’s attitude towards the subject matter is the tone; expressed as an adjective
e.g. The tone of “Letter to Sir John A. MacDonald” is angry and bitter.
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