Poetic Conventions Display

1. POETIC
CONVENTION
S similes, metaphors,
personification, assonance &
alliteration, repetition,
onomatopoeia, imagery,
rhyme, rhythm.

2. SIMILIES
Comparing two things using the
words “like” or “as”
“cutting, swift as an executioner”
“Keith walks inside like a defeated soldier”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 34)

3. METAPHORS
Comparing two things without using
the words “like” or “as”
“the battlefield we call a playground”
“the moon is a shiny silver fingernail”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 34, 179)

4. PERSONIFICATIO
N
Giving human feelings to
something that is not alive
“the branches scrape their fingers down
my window…”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 79)

5. ASSONANCE &
ALLITERATION
Assonance: repetition of the same vowel sound in words
close together
‘fly high’
Alliteration: repetition of same letter to start two or more
words in a row
‘cool, calm and collected’

6. REPETITION
Repeating the
same word or
phrase to
draw
attention to it.
“Mrs Appleyard says...
Mrs Appleyard says...
Mrs Appleyard says...
Mrs Appleyard says...
Mrs Appleyard.
Mrs Appleyard.
Go and get stuffed.”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 23)

7. ONOMATOPEAIA
A word that sounds like the
word it represents.
“lightning snaps electricity”
“Dad slams our shutters”
“raindrops pound the chook shed”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 149)

8. IMAGERY
Descriptive language used to show what
is physically happening, particularly
using the five senses
“All I can hear are frogs, rhythmic and low, and
my heart, beating, waiting for Johnny”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 160)

9. RHYME
Using words that sound alike
“as we hide,
eyes wide”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 101)

10. RHYTHM
Using syllable
length and
stress to create
a beat or pace
in poetic lines.
“’NO!’
I shout again, ‘NO!’
I pick up a rock,
hurl it blind,
turn and run,
Keith fast behind
as the glass shatters
and doors bang.
I don’t stop
until bedroom safe”
(Herrick, S. By the River, page 100-1)