1. Poetic Devices “All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.”
William Shakespeare
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2. What is the difference between poetry and prose?
Poetry has a more musical quality and is written in lines.
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall…
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum
from Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
by Shel Silverstein
Prose refers to novels, short stories, letters, etc. – the ordinary form of written or spoken language

3. Imagery: the mental pictures created by a piece of writing
Example: “Folks sway in the Palace aisles grinning and stomping and out of breath…”
From Out of the Dust p

4. Simile: A phrase that compares two unlike things using “like” or “as”
Example: “Right hand playing notes sharp as tongues…”
From Out of the Dust p

5. Similes - - - Yes? No? The water was cold like an icicle.
NO- this is just descriptive.
The water was as cold as my girlfriend’s look when she saw a girl trying to flirt with me. YES!
He looked like he was in pain.
NO – this is just descriptive.
His painful look was like a tooth looking at the dentist’s drill.
YES! This sounds more atypical and not cliché.
She was angry like a lion after his prey.
Yes, but this is really overused and not always true.
Is a lion always angry when he hunts? YAWN!!!!
She was as angry as a principal at a cafeteria food fight.
YES!!! I can just picture the controlled anger on
the principal’s face as he/she tries to restore order.
He ran as fast as a cheetah.
If you like me even a tiny bit, you will NEVER use this
or any other overused animal simile. I am begging, here.
He ran as fast as my little brother after the ice-cream truck.
YES, not quite as overused. Let’s think of an even better one…

6. Metaphor: a phrase that compares two unlike things without using “like” or “as”.
Example: “That is heaven. How supremely heaven playing piano can be.”
From Out of the Dust

7. Personification: giving human characteristics to nonhuman things
Example: “When I point my fingers at the keys, the music springs straight out of me.”
From Out of the Dust p

8. Rhyme: Words at the end of lines of poetry that sound the same.
Example:
Catch a Little Rhyme
by Eve Merriam
Once upon a time
I caught a little rhyme
I set it on the floor
but it ran right out the door
I chased it on my bicycle
but it melted to an icicle
I scooped it up in my hat
but it turned into a cat
I caught it by the tail
but it stretched into a whale
I followed it in a boat
but it changed into a goat
When I fed it tin and paper
it became a tall skyscraper
Then it grew into a kite
and flew far out of sight

9. Rhyme pattern aka rhyme scheme: indicating the pattern of end rhyme by using the letters of the alphabet
Example:
Catch a Little Rhyme
by Eve Merriam
Once upon a time a
I caught a little rhyme a
I set it on the floor b
but it ran right out the door b
I chased it on my bicycle c
but it melted to an icicle c
I scooped it up in my hat d
but it turned into a cat d
I caught it by the tail e
but it stretched into a whale e
I followed it in a boat f
but it changed into a goat f
When I fed it tin and paper g
it became a tall skyscraper g
Then it grew into a kite h
and flew far out of sight h

10. Different kinds of rhyme
End rhyme:
Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me
Exact rhyme: tree, me
Slant or near rhyme: crisis, illness
Internal rhyme:
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out
She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams

11. Alliteration: the repetition of the first consonant sound in a group of words
Example:
Rain
Rain races, Ripping like wind. Its restless rage Rattles like Rocks ripping through the air.

12. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in a group of words
Example:
“… the rare and radiant
maiden whom the angels
named Lenore…”
From The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe

13. Hyperbole: A figure of speech involving exaggeration to help create a desired image.
Example:
Why does a boy
who’s fast as a jet
Take all day
—and sometimes two—
To get to school?
by John Ciardi
from “Speed Adjustments”

14. Onomatopoeia: use of a word that is an actual imitation of the sound it is referring to
Example:
Swoosh, swish paddling
down a creek
splish, splash,
whump
a fish jumps on me!

15. Idiom: a phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say.
Examples:
Raining cats and dogs
Teach an old dog new tricks
Skating on thin ice
A day late and a dollar short
Air your dirty laundry in public

16. Poetic Devices in Literature
In groups of three or four, locate four different poetic devices in a published poem.
Materials needed: file card, poetry book or literature book, pencil. Write the poetic device in the upper left, then your name in the upper right, then copy the part of the poem, underline or highlight the poetic device, then put the poem’s title and the poet’s name. Like this:
Metaphor Your Name
“Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.”
from “Dreams” by Langston Hughes