1. The Sounds of Words Alliteration
Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.
Example: fast and furious

2. The Sounds of Words Assonance
Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.
Example: He’s a bruisin’ loser.

3. The Sounds of Words Consonance
Repeated consonant sounds at the ending of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.
Example: boats into the past

4. The Sounds of Words Onomatopoeia Words that sound like their meanings.
Examples: boom, buzz, crackle, gurgle, hiss, pop, sizzle,
snap, swoosh, whir, zip

5. The Sounds of Words Repetition
The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism.
Example: Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward…

6. The Sounds of Words Rhyme
This is the one device most commonly associated with poetry by the general public. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme.
Example: Hickory, dickory, dock
The mouse ran up the clock.

7. The Sounds of Words Rhythm
The organization of speech rhythms (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables.
Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUSsy CAT.

8. William Shakespeare Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:    And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare    As any she belied with false compare.

9. Edgar Allan Poe The Bells

10. The Meanings of Words Allusion
A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, or Biblical or mythological situation or character.
Example: Am I my brother’s keeper?
That was his Achilles heel.

11. The Meanings of Words Connotation
The emotional, psychological, or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning.
Example: If I said you had a beautiful body,
Would you hold it against me?

12. The Meanings of Words Denotation
The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations or connotations.
Example: If I said you had a beautiful body,
Would you hold it against me?

13. The Meanings of Words Hyperbole
An extreme exaggeration used for effect.
Example: My cat weighs a ton!

14. The Meanings of Words Metaphor
A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other.
Example: He’s a zero.
The clock is a ticking time bomb.

15. The Meanings of Words Oxymoron
A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.
Example: bittersweet
icy hot

16. The Meanings of Words Personification
Giving human qualities to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
Example: The wind danced in the trees.
The summer days crept by slowly.

17. The Meanings of Words Simile
A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Example: He’s as big as an ox.
Her eyes are like comets.

18. The Images of Words Imagery
The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well.
Example: Sight: Smoke poured out of the chimney.
Sound: He could hear a faint but distinct thump, thump, thump.
Touch: Dan’s legs are as smooth as a baby’s behind.
Taste: A salty tear ran across her lips.
Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.