FRESHMEN POETRYLiterary Devices

ANALOGY

Makes a comparison between two or

More things that are similar in some

ways but otherwise unlike.

Hot is to cold as fire is to ice.

ALLITERATION

The repetition of initial consonantsounds.

DANCING DOLPHINSBY PAUL MCCANN

Those tidal thoroughbreds that tango through the turquoise tide.

Their taut tails thrashing they twist in tribute to the titans.

They twirl through the trektumbling towards the tide .

Throwing themselves towards those theatrical thespians

ALLUSION

A reference to a well-known person,

place, event, literary work, or work of

art.

ROMEO AND JULIET BY: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“At lovers’ perjuries/they say Jove laughs”

ASSONANCE

The repetition of vowel sounds followed

by different consonants in two or more

stressed syllables.

WEST BEAST EAST BEAST

Upon an island hard to reach, The East Beast sits upon his beach. Upon the west beach sits the West Beast. Each beach beast thinks he’s the best beast. Which beast is best?…Well, I thought at first That the East was best and the West was

worst. Then I looked again from the west to the east And I liked the beast on the east beach least.

BLANK VERSE

Poetry written in unrhymed iambicpentameter lines.

EXCERPT FROM MACBETHBY

AN EXCERPT FROM MACBETHBY: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing

CONNOTATION

The set of ideas associated with a word

in addition to its explicit meaning.

Lake: A vacation spot

COUPLET

A pair of rhyming lines, usually of the

same length and meter.

“HUSH LITTLE BABY, DON'T SAY A WORD,"Hush little baby, don't say a word,

Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird won't sing,

Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns to brass,

Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat.

And if that billy goat won't pull,

Papa's gonna buy you a cart and bull.

And if that cart and bull turn over,

Papa's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark,

Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town!

DENOTATION

A words dictionary meaning,independent of other associations

thatthe word may have.

Lake: A body of water

FREE VERSE

Poetry that is not written in a regular

rhythmical pattern, or meter. Seeks to

capture the rhythms of speech.

TEENAGERSBY: ALEXANDRA LAVERN NEUSEN

Surrounded by temptationpersuasion from your peersactions done on impulse the thoughts of distant yearsanger for no reasonand rage for silly thingsfeelings always flowing too many now to seizeyelling in frustrationat those who've done no wrongrestless and relentlessjust some wonderful teenage fun

HYPERBOLE

A deliberate exaggeration oroverstatement.

My heart broke in to a thousand pieces.

IMAGERY

A descriptive or figurative language

used in literature to create word pictures

for the reader. Created by details ofsight, sound, taste, touch, smell, ormovement.

WORD WARBY: BEVERLY A. MCCOLLEY

Far into the nightI wrestled with words,thrashing adjectives,stabbing adverbs,and piling deadparticiples.

IRONY

A general term for literary techniques

that portray differences betweenappearance and reality, or

expectationand result.

Water, water, every where,And all the boards did shrink;Water, water, every where,Nor any drop to drink

METAPHOR

A figure of speech in which one thing is

spoken of as though it were something

else.

Jim is a horse.

ONOMATOPOEIA

The use of words that imitate sounds.

BuzzPlopSplash

PERSONIFICATION

A type of figurative language in which a

nonhuman subject is given humancharacteristics.

The wind danced through my hair.

RHYMEINTERNAL

ENDRHYME SCHEME

The repetition of sounds at the ends of

words. Occurs when the rhyming

words appear in the same line. Occurs when the rhyming

words come at the end of lines. A regular pattern of rhyming

words in a poem.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,weak and weary, (Edgar Allan Poe)

Swans sing before they die—’twere no bad thingShould certain persons die before they sing(Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Bid me to weep, and I will weep While I have eyes to see; And having none, and yet I will keep A heart to weep for thee. (Robert Herrick)

SYMBOL

Anything that stands for or represents

something else. An object that serves as

a symbol has its own meaning, but also

represents abstract ideas.

THE ROAD NOT TAKENBY: ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.