1. POETIC DEVICES & POETIC FORMS
Grade 8 ELA
K Peeples

2. PART ONE:
POETIC DEVICES

3. Poetic Devices assonance rhyme alliteration refrain
Techniques, styles, or word choices an author or poet makes in order to communicate with the audience
assonance rhyme
alliteration refrain
onomatopoeia imagery

4. POETIC DEVICES ASSONANCE ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same vowel sound(s) in a sentence or line.
Mark the examples of
assonance in #1 on your
worksheet.
ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same consonant sound(s) in a sentence or line.
Mark the examples of
alliteration in #2 on your
worksheet.

5. POETIC DEVICES ASSONANCE ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same vowel sound(s) in a sentence or line.
“How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself.”
(Walt Whitman,
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”)
ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same consonant sound(s) in a sentence or line.
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”
(Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”)

6. POETIC DEVICES ASSONANCE ALLITERATION Remember …
Repetition of the same vowel sound(s) in a sentence or line.
Remember …
Assonance begins with “A,” and
“A” is a vowel.
ALLITERATION
Repetition of the same consonant sound(s) in a sentence or line.
Remember …
Tongue Twisters need alliteration!
“Peter Piper picked …”

7. ONOMATOPOEIA
Using words that imitate (make) the same sound they describe.

8. ONOMATOPOEIA
Find the examples of onomatopoeia in the lines from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells.”
(#3 on your worksheet.)

9. ONOMATOPOEIA What sound is being created?
bells
Which words are making that sound?

10. RHYME RHYME SCHEME: the pattern of end rhymes in a poem
END RHYME: “matching” vowel or consonant sounds at the end of each line (usually in at least 2 different schemes)
INTERNAL RHYME: words or sounds within one or two lines that rhyme with each other

11. This is an example of end rhyme.
RHYME SCHEME
To keep track of the pattern of rhymed sounds at the ends of the lines of a poem, we use letters to mark words that rhyme with each other.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world, so high
Like a diamond in the sky
This is an example of end rhyme.

12. RHYME SCHEME (end Rhyme)
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world, so high
Like a diamond in the sky a a b b
Which lines rhyme?
1 and 2; 3 and 4
Mark the first pair with “a.”
Mark the second pair with “b.”

13. RHYME SCHEME (INternal Rhyme)
INTERNAL RHYMES are rhymed words that are found in the same line of a poem. They are not marked with letters, but they may be underlined or circled.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul
within me burning Edgar Allan Poe, from “The Raven”
This is an example of internal rhyme. Which words rhyme in these lines?

14. A repeated sound, word, phrase, line, or group of lines.
REFRAIN
A repeated sound, word, phrase, line, or group of lines.
Refrains may be used to build rhythm, to increase suspense, or to emphasize a theme.
Refrains can be found in just about any song’s lyrics – religious songs, rock songs, country songs, chorus songs, R&B songs …

15. REFRAIN

16. REFRAIN

17. IMAGERY
Using language (words & phrases) that DESCRIBE places, people, etc
Author/poet tries to interest the reader’s IMAGINATION
Might include descriptions about:
Color (visual imagery)
Sounds (onomatopoeia)
Touch (rough, smooth, cool, warm, etc)
Smell (sweet, flowery, perfumed, etc)
Taste (bitter, sweet, sour, etc)
MOST COMMON

18. IMAGERY Annotate the poem “Long Island Sound” for examples of imagery.
HINT: There are examples of VISUAL, SOUND, and TOUCH imagery in this poem.

19. IMAGERY

20. PART TWO:
POETIC FORMS

21. Poems can take many forms.
Poetic FORMs
Poems can take many forms.
Some poetic forms are named for the way that the poem itself actually looks.
A diamante poem is shaped like a diamond:
___
_____
___________
_______________
An acrostic poem has lines whose 1st letter spells out the subject of the poem.
S_____________,
C_____________,
H_____________,
O_____________.
O______________,
L______________.

22. LIMERICK
A limerick is a very short humorous or nonsense poem. It always has exactly 5 lines and an aabba rhyme scheme. It tells a brief story or gives a short (sometimes rude!) description.

23. ode
An ode is a long poem that praises a specific person, object, or event. It can be rhymed or unrhymed.

24. Narrative POEM
A narrative poem tells a story. Just like any other story, it has at least one main character, a setting, and a plot.

25. Free Verse
A free verse poem has no regular meter and no rhyme scheme. Free verse poems are meant to sound like everyday speech or conversation. They often use strong imagery, onomatopoeia, and other poetic devices.

26. (THINK EULOGY – same word root!!!)
ELEGY
An elegy is a poem of mourning, written in honor of someone who has died.
(THINK EULOGY – same word root!!!)
Walt Whitman wrote this poem as an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln, following his assassination in 1865.

27. Haikus are very often written about nature: seasons, animals, etc.
A haiku is a poem with exactly 3 lines and exactly 17 syllables. Haikus were first written in ancient Japan. A haiku always has this pattern:
5 syllables
7 syllables
Haikus are very often written about nature: seasons, animals, etc.