Poetic devices Flashcards
what is a simile?
Simile - direct comparison with ‘like’ or ‘as’
what is personification?
Personification - giving human characteristics to nonhuman things
what is a hyperbole?
Hyperbole - great exaggeration eg ‘i’m so hungry i could eat a horse’
what is repetition?
Repetition - repeated use of sounds, words, concepts used for emphasis
what is an onomatopoeia?
Onomatopoeia - word that sounds like what its describing/names
what is caesura?
Caesarea - natural pause at the end of a lin (no full stop + sentence carries over to next line)
what is enjambment?
Enjambment - pause where line carries over into the next stanza
what is tone?
Tone - implied attitude of writer toward a concept/thing
what is irony?
Irony - contrast between what is said vs what is meant
what is pathos?
Pathos - appeal made to an audience’s emotions in order to evoke feelings.
what is allusion?
Allusion - indirect reference to something
what is an anaphora?
Anaphora - describes a poem that repeats the same phrase at the beginning of each line.
what is ‘Apostrophe’?
Apostrophe - describes any instance when the speaker talks to a person or object that is absent from the poem. Poets employ apostrophes when they speak to the dead or to a long lost lover ( use apostrophe when writing an Ode to a Grecian Urn or an Ode to the Women in Long Island).
what is blank verse?
Blank Verse - Blank verse refers to poetry written without rhyme, especially if that poetry is written in iambic pentameter.
what is rhythm?
Rhythm - Rhythm refers to the pattern of long, short, stressed, and unstressed syllables in writing.
what is allegory?
Allegory - is a story, poem, or other written work that can be interpreted to have a secondary meaning
what is metonymy?
A figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested by the original.
ie “crown” to mean “king”
what is paradox?
One (such as a person, situation, or action) having seemingly contradictory qualities or phases.
ie ‘walking is dreaming’
what is an extended metaphor?
An extended metaphor is a version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry.
Extended metaphors build upon simple metaphors with figurative language and more varied.
what is anthropomorphism?
The attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object.
