Figurative Language Prevalent in Poetry:
Personification: portrayal of a concept, trait, or notion embodied by a human figure
in art
Hyperbole: dramatic language, description, or speech that isn’t meant to be taken at
face value, but is rather used to stress another concept
Understatement: a specific characteristic of a person, object, emotion, or situation is
minimized or portrayed as less significant than it actually is
Metonymy: a rhetorical device that replaces a characteristic, concept, or item
connected with a particular thing in place of the thing itself
Idiom: a form of phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be deduced by simply
defining the individual words it comprises
Double Entendre: a word or phrase that can be interpreted in two or more different
ways
Poetic Structure
Line: a segment of language that divides a poem, operating on principles separate
from and not always aligned with grammatical structures (like sentences or clauses
within sentences)
Stanza: a group of lines that form the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; also
known as a verse.
Parallel Structure: a way of arranging phrases where the same pattern of words is
used to show that two or more words/ideas are equally important in a sentence, and
the words and phrases not only match in structure but also in tense
Enjambment: the purposeful continuation of a sentence or clause across a break
and/or line
Poetic Sounds
Rhyme: repeating a sound on purpose to evoke a response, often seen in poetry
● End Rhyme: when the rhyme is at the end of a line
● Internal Rhyme: when the rhyme is in a line
● Exact Rhyme: words rhyme perfectly at the end, with only the initial sounds
differing (example: “say” and “pay”)
Personification: portrayal of a concept, trait, or notion embodied by a human figure
in art
Hyperbole: dramatic language, description, or speech that isn’t meant to be taken at
face value, but is rather used to stress another concept
Understatement: a specific characteristic of a person, object, emotion, or situation is
minimized or portrayed as less significant than it actually is
Metonymy: a rhetorical device that replaces a characteristic, concept, or item
connected with a particular thing in place of the thing itself
Idiom: a form of phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be deduced by simply
defining the individual words it comprises
Double Entendre: a word or phrase that can be interpreted in two or more different
ways
Poetic Structure
Line: a segment of language that divides a poem, operating on principles separate
from and not always aligned with grammatical structures (like sentences or clauses
within sentences)
Stanza: a group of lines that form the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; also
known as a verse.
Parallel Structure: a way of arranging phrases where the same pattern of words is
used to show that two or more words/ideas are equally important in a sentence, and
the words and phrases not only match in structure but also in tense
Enjambment: the purposeful continuation of a sentence or clause across a break
and/or line
Poetic Sounds
Rhyme: repeating a sound on purpose to evoke a response, often seen in poetry
● End Rhyme: when the rhyme is at the end of a line
● Internal Rhyme: when the rhyme is in a line
● Exact Rhyme: words rhyme perfectly at the end, with only the initial sounds
differing (example: “say” and “pay”)
