Poetic Devices

Question 1

Irony

Answer 1

a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant (verbal irony)

OR

what is expected in a particular circumstance or behavior (situation),

OR

when a character speaks ignorance of a situation known to the audience or other characters (situational)

Ex. “Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea”

Question 2

Imagery

Answer 2

word or sequences of words representing a sensory experience (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory)

Ex. “bells knelling classes to a close” (auditory)

Question 3

Symbol

Answer 3

an object or action that stands for something beyond itself

Ex. white = innocence, purity, hope

Question 4

Alliteration

Answer 4

the repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginning of words

Ex. “….like a wanderer white”

Question 5

Assonance

Answer 5

the repetition of similar vowel sounds

Ex. “I rose and told him of my woe”

Question 6

Elision

Answer 6

the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line in poetry

“Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame”

Question 7

Onomatopoeia

Answer 7

the use of words to imitate the sounds they describe

Ex. “crack” or “whir”

Question 8

Allusion

Answer 8

a reference to the person, event or work outside the poem or literary piece

Ex. “Shining, it was Adam and maiden”