Poetic Techniques Flashcards
Metaphor
An expression that is used to replace something it does not literally mean
Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs
Rhyme
Words that sound similar
Ex. I don t like your pie, because you are a guy
Simile
A figure of speech that compares two things
Ex. As black as coal
Limerick
A five lined poem that is usually humorous
Ex. The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
Rhythm
The basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music
Ex. The piece has a fast rhytme
Sonnet
A fourteen line poem
Ex.Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration
Ex. I could eat a horse
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowels
Ex. Angry ants
Onomatopoeia
Words that describe sound
Ex. BAM
Haiku
A three line poem with 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 more syllables
Ex.Green frog,Is your body alsofreshly painted?
Personification
Giving an inanimate object an action
Ex. The chair flew across the room
Acrostic
A poem with a word spelt vertically and lines coming out of each letter Ex, Shining on my skin Up in the sky Nice and warm
Pun
Play on words
Ex. The fruit farmer is berry competitive in his field.
Alliteration
Use of the same constant at the beginning of words in a row
Ex. Hungry hippo
Stanza
A verse in a poem Ex.I love to write Day and night What would my heart do But cry, sigh and be blue If I could not write
