Poetic Devices

Theme
 The main idea or meaning of a text. Often, this is an insight
about human life revealed in a literary work
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3_Bb9wGObY
 Imagery
 Words and phrases that appeal to the five senses
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4LVTn4d_-Q
 Sound
 The poet uses rhyme, rhythm, and/or repetition to help the
listener to hear the poem.
 Rhythm
 The beat of a poem
 Lines
 Phrases or words in a stanza
 Form
 What a poem looks like
 Figurative Language
 Language employing one or more figures of speech (simile,
metaphor, imagery, etc.)
 Simile
 Comparison using like or as
 Metaphor
 Comparison NOT using like or as
 Personification
 A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given
human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naoBkJ4r7Zg
 Hyperbole
 Extreme exaggeration
 Rhyme Scheme/Rhyme
 The pattern in which rhyme sounds occur in a stanza.
 Example: ababbcbcc
 Alliteration
 The repetition of consonant sounds at the BEGINNING or
words
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJu6LzUfYM
 “Betty Botter bought some butter, but, she said, the
butter’s bitter; if I put it in my batter it will make my
batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my
batter better.” (Betty Botter, Mother Goose)
 Onomatopoeia
 A word that represents a sound
 Stanza
 The division in a poem named for the number of lines it
contains.