Poetic devices

1. Poetic Devices
Taken from
Write Source 2000

2. Elements of Poetry
Understanding the elements and devices
of poetry will help you better comprehend
the meanings of poems.
Remember, often in poetry, the meaning
of the words isn’t literal. It’s figurative.

3. Understanding Internalizing
As you already know, figurative language
and symbolism are very important to
poetry. However, there are other
elements that help create images,
rhythm, and meaning.

4. Alliteration
The repeating of beginning consonant
sounds
Ex: “creamy and crunchy”
Ex: “nodded nearly napping”
–
“The Raven”

5. Assonance
The repetition of vowel sound
Notice the repetition of the long “i” sound in the
following example
Till the shining scythes went far and wide
And cut it down to dry.
- “The Hayloft” by R.L. Stevenson

6. Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds
(differs from alliteration because the
sounds can be anywhere within the word,
not just the beginning)
The sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.
- “Singing”

7. End Rhyme
The rhyming of words at the end of two or
more lines of poetry
She always had to burn a light
Beside her attic bed at night.
- “The Night Light” by Robert Frost

8. Rhyme Scheme
A pattern of lines that rhyme in poetry
There are many different common rhyme
schemes: AABB, ABAB, and AAAB (to name a
few)
I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere
ages and ages hence:
two roads
diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one
less traveled by,
and that has made
all difference
- “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
A
B
A
A
B

9. Internal Rhyme
The rhyming of words within one line of
poetry
Jack Sprat could eat no fat
Peter Peter pumpkin eater

10. Onomatopoeia
The use of a word that sounds like what it
means
buzz, gunk, gushy, swish, zigzag, zip

11. Repetition
The repeating of a word or phrase to add
rhythm or to emphasize an idea
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door –
- “The Raven” by E.A. Poe

12. Refrain
Line, lines, or stanza repeated throughout
a poem (like a “chorus” in a song)
Quote the raven, “Never more.”
- “The Raven” by E.A. Poe

13. Stanza
A group of lines within a poem that go
together
Stanzas may consist of anywhere from
two or more lines

14. Quatrain
A four-line stanza
Common rhyme schemes in quatrains are
AABB, ABAB, and AAAB
I wish I had no teachers.
That’s what I’d like to see.
I’d do whatever I wanted to,
And nobody’d yell at me.