"ENGLISH? WHO NEEDS THAT? I 'M NEVER GOING TO ENGLAND!"

-HOMER SIMPSON

Literary Devices

Poems are about . . .

Feelings

Tone

The writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (Poe).

 The tone of this piece is sad and depressing

Mood

The feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage

While reading Eclipse, Kevin chewed his fingernails as he waited nervously for Bella’s decision between Edward and Jacob.

 Kevin’s mood is nervous and apprehensive.

Poems are about . . .

Sound

Cacophony (caco = bad; phon = sound)

An arrangement of words (esp. in poetry) that produce sharp, jarring, disagreeable sounds

From “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll: “'Twas

brillig, and the slithy toves/Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;/All mimsy were the borogoves,/And the mome raths outgrabe”

 From "Player Piano" by John Updike: "never my

numb plunker fumbles."

Assonance

Repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same, often used to emphasize important words in a line

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore

-Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

Consonance (con = together; son = sound)

Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in line (remember alliteration is at the beginning of words!)

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -Only this, and nothing more.’ “The Raven”

Onomatopoeia

Use of words that imitate sounds

Within your ear, your nose would bean absolute catastrophe,for when you were obliged to sneeze,your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Jack Prelutsky “Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face”

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before”

From “The Raven”

Poems are about . . .

Thought

Figurative language

Writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally; often used to created vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things

Metaphor

A comparison between two unlike things

“Hold fast to dreams/for if dreams die/life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly”

From “Dreams” by Langston Hughes

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things using like or as

“It was Easter Sunday in Chicago, and my sister Amy and I were attending an afternoon dinner at the home of our friend John. The weather was nice, and he'd set up a table in the backyard so that we might sit in the sun. Everyone had taken their places, when I excused myself to visit the bathroom, and there, in the toilet, was the absolute biggest turd I have ever seen in my life - no toilet paper or anything, just this long and coiled specimen, as thick as a burrito.”

From “Big Boy” by David Sedaris

Personification

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman items/subjects

The door groaned as she opened it.The book hid behind the pile of dead insects.Its secrets whispered to her.

Oxymoron

Two contradictory words are used together for effect

From Romeo and Juliet“Good night, good night! parting is such

sweet sorrow,That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Poems are about . . .

Ebb and Flow

Punctuate Your Poems

When reading poetry, you should NEVER pause at the end of a line UNLESS punctuation is present. No punctuation? Don’t stop!

Punctuation controls the flow of the poem.

Enjambment

When the end of a line of poetry has no punctuation, the poet is using enjambment. The flow of the line runs right into the next line.

"What had summer to do with sorrow in full spate?"

End-Stopped Lines

When the end of a line of poetry has punctuation, the poet is using end-stopped lines. The line is not allowed to flow freely into the next line.

"What had summer to do with sorrow in full spate?"

Caesura

When punctuation is present in the middle of the line, the poet has used caesura. This technique can really chop up a poem or slow it down for dramatic affect.

Know then thyself II, presume not God to scan;The proper study of Mankind II is Man.Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,A being darkly wise, and rudely great:

Poems are about . . .

Structure

Stanza

A stanza is a group of lines within a poem. Poems may be one stanza long or many stanzas long. The following example has 2 stanzas

Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me;The carriage held but just ourselves 1And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put awayMy labor, and my leisure too, 2For his civility.

Line

Poems are divided into lines, which make up stanzas. The following example has 8 lines.

Because I could not stop for Death, 1He kindly stopped for me; 2The carriage held but just ourselves 3And Immortality. 4

We slowly drove, he knew no haste, 5 And I had put away 6My labor, and my leisure too, 7For his civility. 8

Poems are about . . .

Fun

The End