Poetic Devices Examples

Exaggeration for dramatic effect. Example: I have a million papers to grade.

• Assonance

• Oxymoron

• Hyperbole

• End Rhyme

Use of words that resemble the sounds they mean Examples: Boom! Bang! Crash!

• Onomatopoeia

• Oxymoron

• Hyperbole

• Internal Rhyme

Rhyme in which the rhyming words occur at the ends of lines Example: Roses are red; violets are blue, Sugar is sweet and so are you.

• Internal Rhyme

• Assonance

• End Rhyme

• Metaphor

A direct comparison not using like or as when one thing is said to be another. Example: War is a game of checkers. He is a mammoth.

• Allusion

• Diction

• End Rhyme

• Metaphor

Internal "feel" of beat and meter perceived when poetry is read aloud. This device is measured in feet (measurement of stressed/ unstressed syllables) and meter (recurring pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables in lines of a set length.)

• Symbolism

• Theme

• Imagery

• Rhythm

Rhyme in which the rhyming words occur within a line or lines of poetry. Example: Mother Nature sends fresh showers for thirsty flowers.

• Personification

• Internal Rhyme

• End Rhyme

• Alliteration

A contradiction in two words put together. Examples: Jumbo Shrimp, Little Giants, Pretty Ugly.

• Hyperbole

• Allusion

• Diction

• Oxymoron

Anything that stands for or suggests something else. The use of an object to represent an abstract idea.

• Symbolism

• Allusion

• Consonance

• End Rhyme

A reference to a historical, literary or mythological person, place, thing, or event with which the reader is assumed to be familiar.

• Diction

• Oxymoron

• Allusion

• Metaphor

What is a comparison using like or as?

• smilie

• simile

• alliteration

• metaphor