english Poetic Devices

Question 1

Simile

Answer 1

A comparison made using the words “like” or “as”.

Question 2

Onomatopoeia

Answer 2

Word which imitate sounds

Question 3

Alliteration

Answer 3

A repetition of consonant sounds

Question 4

Assonance

Answer 4

A repetition of vowel sounds

Question 5

Sibilance

Answer 5

Repetition of ‘s’ sounds-often harsh, smoothly or sickly

Question 6

Plosive

Answer 6

Repetition of ‘b’, ‘p’, ‘d’ or ‘t’ sounds-often harsh, aggressive

Question 7

Personification

Answer 7

giving inanimate objects human characteristics

Question 8

Imagery

Answer 8

Visually descriptive language

Question 9

Metaphor

Answer 9

A direct comparison

Question 10

Anaphora

Answer 10

Repetition of line openings

Question 11

Juxtaposition

Answer 11

Two things placed close together for contrasting effect

Question 12

Oxymoron

Answer 12

Two opposing words next to each other. Example: pretty ugly

Question 13

Semantic field

Answer 13

A group of related words

Question 14

Hyperbole

Answer 14

Extreme exaggeration

Question 15

Litotes

Answer 15

Extreme under-exaggeration

Question 16

Irony

Answer 16

A use of words which mean something different from what they appear.

Question 17

Pathetic fallacy

Answer 17

Where weather represents mood

Question 18

Speaker

Answer 18

The voice of the poem

Question 19

Mood/tone

Answer 19

Mood/tone of the speaker

Question 20

Internal rhyme

Answer 20

Rhyme in the middle of a line

Question 21

Enjambent

Answer 21

The running over of a sentence from one line/stanza of the poem to another

Question 22

Caesura

Answer 22

A stop or pause in a line of poetry caused by punctuation

Question 23

Volta

Answer 23

A turning point in the line of thought or argument in a point