Figures of speech used in the poems

Figures of speech are tools that writers use to create images or paint pictures in your mind. These are the words which
mean something other than their literal meaning.
Following are the most commonly used figures of speech in poetry;
Good Timber (A poem by Douglas Ballouch)
1. Structure and Form of Good Timber
It is a four-stanza poem that is divided into sets of six lines or sextets. It follows a consistent and structured rhyme scheme.
The lines conform to a pattern of AA BB CC. • This was a common structure for Malloch. His rhyming pairs (the couplets)
give the poem a sing-song effect, resembling a song lyric.
2. Extended Metaphor:
An extended metaphor is a poetic device in which two unlike things are compared in a series of lines of a poem.
The whole poem “Good Timber” is an example of extended metaphor as the poet has skilfully compared good timber with
man. He is of the opinion that both timber and man have to go through tough times of life to become good and beneficial.
If they do not do so they would not be able to achieve anything significant in their life.
3. Style:
'Good Timber' by Douglas Malloch is a four stanza poem that is separated into sets of six lines or sextets. It is one of
Malloch's most well-known pieces and follows a consistent and structured rhyme scheme. The lines conform to a pattern
of aabbcc, alternating as the poet saw fit from stanza to stanza.
4. Imagery
Imagery is the use of words to create pictures or images in your mind. It appeals to the five senses:
e.g. The F-16 swooped down like an eagle after its prey.
The lake was left shivering by the touch of morning wind.
It is a construction of details used to create mental images in the mind of the reader through the visual sense as well as the
senses of touch, smell, taste or sound. When a writer uses imagery, the descriptive writing helps to create a picture or image
in your mind.
Imagery = Mental Image
This poem is full of visual imagery. Title of the poem Daffodils is an example for imagery. Through the title Wordsworth
creates an image of daffodils and advocates the imagery throughout the poem using visual images like fields, lakes, trees
and stars.
5. Alliteration
Alliteration [al‧lit‧er‧a‧tion /əˌlɪtəˈreɪʃən/] means the use of several words together that begin with the same sound or letter
in order to make a special sound effect, especially in poetry. Douglas Malloch makes good use of alliteration to add to the
musical spell of the poem. The alliteration of th, s, t, h, m, g, b and l sounds adds to the melody of the poem.
LINE # LINE
2 For sun and sky and air and light, 7 The man who never had to toil
9 Who never had to win his share 11 Never became a manly man
16 The more the storm, the more the strength. 17 By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
18 In trees and men good timbers grow. 21 And they hold counsel with the stars
22 Whose broken branches show the scars 23 Of many winds and much of strife.
24 This is the common law of life.

Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the subject. In this poem, tone of the poet is natural and positive.
8. Mood is the reader’s attitude toward the subject. In this poem, mood is positive and creates the feeling of happiness.
9. Rhyme scheme
‘Good Timber’ is one of the outstanding works of Douglas. It comprises of four stanzas, each having six lines. The
poem is well-structured and follows a beautiful, consistent rhythmic pattern. The rhyme scheme of the poem is
AABBCC.
10. Enjambment is a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a
grammatical pause.in this line
Enjambment is also an important technique to take note of in 'Good Timber'. Readers can look to the transitions between
lines one and two of the first stanza
 The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light
and lines three and four of the second stanza for examples.
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,

Mother to Son
by: Langston Hughes)
• Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “So boy, don’t you
turn back”.
• Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /t/ and /r/ in
"Where there ain't been no light".
• Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things with their five sense. For example, "Life for me ain't been
no crystal stair", "And places with no carpet on the floor" and "Don't you set down on the steps."
• Allusions: Allusion is a belief and an indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of a historical, cultural, political
or literary significance. He has used this device in the opening line of the poem such as, "Crystal Stair" refers to
Jacob's stair from the Old Testament in The Bible.
• Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature.
Langston has used an extended metaphor to compare the mother's life to a staircase throughout the poem.
• Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from
literal meanings. Similarly, "Staircase" symbolizes hardships. It also symbolizes the life that we spend.
• Enjambment: Enjambment refers to the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a
line, couplet or stanza such as,

“Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.”

Free Verse: Free Verse is a type of poetry that does not contain any specific patterns of rhyme or meter. "Mother to Son"
is a free verse poem which does not follow any rhyme scheme and stanza pattern.
Structure: The poem is a monologue by a mother. It has been written in free verse and has no rhymes or rhythmic pattern.
The poet uses imagery as he refers to the journey of life as climbing a staircase and says that it has never been a
beautiful crystal stair. It is indicative of the kind of poor and miserable lives the African Americans had in the early
20th century.
The poet has also used metaphor. He uses symbols like tacks, splinters, no carpet on the floor and darkness to describe
the difficulties that one faces in life. The staircase is also a metaphor for the struggles people face in their upward
journey of life. The upward journey refers to the journey to heaven or to a better place where one is free of all the
pain and suffering.
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair."

The World is Too Much With Us

by William Wordsworth
1. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in a verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over
to the next line. For Example,

“Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.”
2. Personification: Personification is to attribute human characteristics to non-human or even inanimate objects.
The poet has used personification at several places in this poem such as, “sea that bears her bosom to the moon”; “The
winds that will be howling at all hours” and “sleeping flowers.” All these expressions make nature possess human-like
qualities like yearning for love, sleeping and soothing.
 3. Allusions: Allusion is an indirect or direct reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural,
political or literary significance. This poem contains allusions to Greek mythology,

“Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”
4. Imagery: The use of imagery makes the readers visualize the writer’s feelings, emotions or ideas. Wordsworth
has used images appealing to the sense of hearing such as, “winds that will be howling “to the sense of touch as
“sleeping flowers;” and to the sense of sight as “Proteus rising from the sea.”
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ in “Have
sight of Proteus rising from the sea” and /f/ and /t/ sounds in “For this, for everything, we are out of tune.”
6. Simile: Simile a device used to compare something another thing to let the readers know what it is. There is only
one simile used in line seven of the poem, “And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;” The poet has linked the
howling of the winds with the sleeping flowers.
7. Metaphor: There are two metaphors used in this poem. One of the metaphors is in the tenth line, “Suckle in a
creed outworn.” Here creed represents mother that nurses her child.
8. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as /o/ sound in “Or hear old Triton
blow his wreathed horn”.
The careful glimpse of this analysis shows that the poet has skillfully projected his ideas using the above devices. The
universality of the subject is beautifully discussed under cover of these literary devices.
Analysis of Poetic Devices in “The World Is Too Much With Us”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic
devices used in this poem.
1. Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in with one idea flow throughout the text. There are many types of sonnets
such as Petrarchan or Shakespearean. This one is Petrarchan sonnet.
2. Octave: An octave is a verse form consisting of eight lines, which usually appear with iambic The first of the sonnet is
octave that starts from “The world is….and ends on “… out of tune.”
3. Sestet: A sestet is the six-line stanza of poetry. The term refers to the final six lines of a sonnet such as the second part
of this sonnet.
4. Rhyme Scheme: The whole poem follows ABBA ABBA rhyme pattern in the octave and CDCDCD rhyme scheme in
the sestet.
5. Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter consisting of five iambs. The poem comprises iambic pentameter such as,
“A Pagan suckled in a creed out.”

Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
1) Metaphor: There is one extended metaphor used in the poem. The statue of Ozymandias metaphorically
represents power, legacy, and command. It clarifies the meanings of the object and makes it clear that once the king was
mighty and all-powerful. It also shows that the sand has eroded the actual shape of the statue, representing the destructive
power of time.
2) Personification: Shelley has used personification that means to use human emotions for inanimate objects. He has
used personification twice in the poem. The fifth line “And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,” refers to the broken
head of the statue. However, the lifeless statue Ozymandias is referred to as a real person. The second example is in the
sixth line of the poem where “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read” shows as if the statue is commanding the
sculptor how to carve or express his emotions.
3) Imagery: Imagery is used to make the reader feel things through five senses. The poet has used images involving a
sense of sights such as two vast and trunk-less legs, shattered face, wrinkled lip and desert. These images help readers
visualize the status of the broken statue.
4) Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same lines of the poetry such as the use
of /c/ in “cold command”, the sound of /b/ in “boundless and bear” and the sound of /l/ in “lone and level.
5) Enjambment: The term enjambment refers to lines that end without any punctuation marks. Shelley has used
enjambments in the second and sixth line of the poem where it is stated, “Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone”
and “Tell that its sculptor well those passions read”.
6) Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds in the same line such as the sounds of /a/ in “stand and
sand” and sound of /e/ in “well and read.”
7) Irony: Irony is a figure of speech used to present the opposite meanings of the words. Ozymandias’s description
presents him as a mighty, great and fierce king but in reality, there is nothing but a broken, lifeless statue.
 8) Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as /s/ in “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose
frown”.
Concluding the literary devices, it can be stated that on the one hand, these literary devices have provided uniqueness to the
text, and on the other, they have opened up new vistas for interpretations. Moreover, Shelley has explored many
contemporary issues under these literary devices.
Analysis of Poetic Devices in “Ozymandias”
Although most of the poetic devices are the same literary devices, some poetic devices are used in poetry and not in prose.
The analysis of some of the prominent poetic devices in the poem is given below.
2) Rhyme Scheme: The whole poem follows ABBAABBACDCDCD. It is different from the traditional rhyme scheme.
Shelley has used the mixture of an octet and Shakespearian rhyme scheme. The purpose of this rhymes scheme is to show
the progress of time. As the poem progresses, the old pattern of rhyme is replaced with the new pattern which makes the
poem unique in its structure.
3) Meter: There is no specific meter throughout the poem. Although the poem is written in iambic pentameter in which
unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, as it is stated, “half-sunk, a shatt-er’d vis-age lies.” However, by the
end, Shelley has used trochee which means the line begins with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
The analysis shows that this poem, though, seems a simple description of a statue, deceptively points to the dark reality that
power corrupts humans. The statue, even after its ruination, displays harsh expressions to show that the king was not
benevolent during his regime. The ruins point out that nothing in the world is permanent.

A Dream within a Dream

by Edgar Allan Poe
1. Metaphor: The whole poem is an extended metaphor as the speaker says that life is a dream. He explains how dream
enters our mind using a metaphor in line sixteen where it is stated as, “yet, how they creep” comparing the sand to a
creeping object.
2. Symbols: A symbol is a mark, sign or idea that is used as a conventional representation of something. Poe has used
symbols to make the meanings clear. For example, the fall of the grains of “sand” is a symbol of the passing time.
3. Imagery: The use of imagery makes the reader to visualize the writer’s feelings and emotions. Poe has used images
appealing to the sense of sight such as “kiss upon the brow”, “grains of golden sand” and “pitiless waves.” These
images help the readers to feel the same pain felt by the poet.
4. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same lines of poetry such as the use of
/d/ in “That my days have been a dream” and /g/ sound in “Grains of the golden sand ”.
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as the sound of /d/ in “I hold within my hand”
and /l/ sound in “While I weep – While I weep.”
6. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of Vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /i/ in “In a night, or in a
day” and /o/ sound in “Of surf-tormented”.
7. Personification: Personification is to attribute human characteristics to non-human things or objects. The poet has
personified hope in the sixth line where he says, “hope has flown away.” Here he gives a human quality to hope and
the ability to fly.
This literary
leffective useanalysis
of theseshows that with the help of the above devices, Poe has made his thematic strand of the transient

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “A Dream within a Dream”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic
devices used in this poem.

• Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This poem consists of two stanzas with twelve lines in each stanza.
• End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make a stanza melodious such as in the first, second and third line of the first
stanza the rhyming words are “brow”, “now” and “avow.”
• Repetition: There is the repetition of the verse, “But a dream within a dream.” Poe has enhanced the musical quality of
his poem with the help of repetition.
• Refrain: The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called refrain. Similarly, the title of the poem,
“A dream within a Dream” is repeated with the same words in first and second stanza respectively; it has become a
refrain.
 The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
1. Metaphor: There are many metaphors in the poem like road, fork in the road and yellowwoods. The road in the poem
is the metaphor of life, while the fork on the road metaphorically represents the choices we make to determine the course
of our lives. Similarly, yellow woods are the metaphor of making decisions during the hard times of a person’s life.
These metaphors used in this poem emphasize the importance of different decisions we make in different situations and
their impacts on our lives.
2. Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers feel things through their five senses. The poet has used images of the
sense of sights such as leaves, yellowwoods and These images help readers to actually perceive things they are reading.
The image of the road helps readers to visualize the road providing a navigation route to the traveler.
3. Simile: A simile is a device used to compare things with familiar things to let the readers know it easily. There is one
simile used in the second stanza such as “as just as fair”. It shows how the poet has linked the road less taken to the easy
way through life.
4. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds such as the sound of /a/ and /o/ in quick succession in “though
as far that the passing” and in “Somewhere ages and ages hence.”
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as /d/ in “two roads diverging in a yellow wood”
and /t/ sound in “though as far as the passing there.”
6. Personification: Robert Frost has personified road in the third line of the second stanza. Here, it is stated “Because it
was grassy and wanted wear” as if the road is human, and that it wants to wear and tear.
7. Parallelism: Parallelism is the use of a source of words, phrases or sentences that have similar grammatical forms. Frost
has used Parallelism in the poem such as;
“And sorry I could not travel both”
“And be only one traveler long I stood”
“And looked down once as far as I could”
Analysis of Poetic Devices in “The Road Not Taken”
Although most of the poetic devices are part of literary devices, some devices are only used in poems. The analysis of some
of the major poetic devices used in this poem is given here.
• Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of a fixed number of lines. In this poem, there are four stanzas with each stanza having
five verses or lines.
• Quintain: A quintain is a five-lined stanza borrowed from Medieval French Poetry. Here, each stanza is a quintain such
as the first one or the second one.
• Rhyme Scheme: The whole poem follows ABAAB rhyme scheme. There are four beats per line, employing iambic
tetrameter. The rhymes in “The Road Not Taken” are end rhymes which are also perfect rhymes.
• Trochee: Trochee means there is a one stressed and one unstressed syllable in a line such as “Two roads diverged in
a yellow wood.”
• Anapests: Anapests means there are two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable. The
above example is also an anapest.
This analysis shows that this poem, though, seems a simple and innocent composition, points to the reality of making
decisions in complex situations. The point to remember is that the road has been emphasized in that it is the choice that
makes the road important for us. In other words, our preferences in life make us different from others.