Figurative Devices

Poetic Devices and Forms
Line - equates a spatial measure or words or sounds, a fundamental conceptual unit.
Stanza - a grouping of two or more lines of a poem in terms of length, metrical form, or rhyme scheme.
Figurative language - Expressions or statements that are intentionally not literally true.
Metaphor - A comparison between two objects with the intent of giving deeper meaning to the second. Forms of the "to be" verb are often used; "is" or "was". All the world’s a stage And men and women merely players
Personification - Endowing inanimate objects (an idea, object, or animal) with human traits or abilities. The wind stood up and gave a shout.
He whistled on his fingers and
Kicked the withered leaves about Simile - A comparison of two things, using the word like or as.
Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.
Imagery - Sensory words or phrases that appeal to the senses or any combination of senses. It is written so that the reader can literally hear, feel, taste, touch, smell, see what the author is describing.
Point-of-view - The vantage point of the speaker, or "teller", of the story or poem.
1st person: the speaker is a character and speaks from his/her perspective (uses "I").
3rd person limited: the speaker is not part of the story yet speaks about the characters but is limited to what one character sees and feels.
3rd person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to "know" and describe what all characters are thinking.
Symbolism - When a concrete object is used to stand for a larger idea. Whitman, Emerson and Henry David Thoreau use natural objects to discuss life and infer meaning in much of their work. Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts.
Alliteration - The repetition of initial consonant sounds. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free.
Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds. knee deep in the salt marsh left my necktie Rain has fallen all the day
Onomatopoeia - The use of words which imitate sound or suggest meaning. hiss, buzz, zip, bang, sizzle, slap
Repetition - The use of any element of language more than once (i.e. the repeating of words, phrases, lines, or stanzas). The skies they were ashen and sober: The leaves they were crisp and sere— The leaves they were withering and sere
Rhyme - The repetition of the terminal sound of words (ending vowel-consonant combinations are identical or have a similar sound). fan, ran; tap, slap, map; hold, mold, told
Rhyme scheme - The pattern in which rhyme occurs in a stanza. The first end sound represented as "a", the second "b", etc. (i.e. ababbcc, aabbaacc, ababbcbcc)
Rhythm - The passage of regular time intervals between events or specific sounds. In English poetry it is often the established by the number of syllables in a line or stanza.