POETRY DEVICES - LANGUAGE
Alliteration Repeated first letter
hinting at or making an indirect reference to
Allusion
… POETRY DEVICES – STRUCTURE
Ambiguity 2 meanings Anaphora Repeated first few words at start
(Brackets), where character speaks to of lines
Aside
audience Chronological In order of time
Colloquial
Local/ casual language & slang Caesura Break in middle of the line
language
Emotive Cyclical structure a circle of events where the plot
Make reader feel emotional
language begins and ends at the same
An alternate polite word or expression of a place
Euphemism
word Enjambment The lines continues onto the
Half rhyme Words that nearly rhyme next
Hyperbole Exaggeration Iambic pentameter Line that has 10 beats
Juxtaposition Two opposites (Iambic tetrameter) (Line that has 8 beats)
Imagery Something used to describe something else Line/stanza/poem length Length of it e.g. short or long
Imperatives Commands/instructions Refrain A line that is repeated
Internal rhyme Rhyme in the middle of lines
Rhyme scheme The organisation of rhyme e.g.
Irony Sarcasm
ABAB
Listing Creates an accumulation of things
Rhyming couplet 2 lines that rhyme next to each
Something being described as something
Metaphor other
else
Rhythm The beat
Mood Atmosphere
Monosyllabic Stanza A paragraph in the poem
Words with one syllable
words Volta The turning point in a poem
Neologism A new word
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like what it means
Oxymoron Two opposite words next to each other
The weather is used to reflect the mood of
Pathetic fallacy
the story/characters e.g. sunset or winter POETRY DEVICES - FORM
Paradox Contradicting ideas in a line Auto- biographical About the poet
gives human characteristics to non-human
Personification Ballad Story poem – often 4-line stanza
things
Phonetic Dramatic monologue A charter speaks to the reader
Written like it sounds
spelling Italian sonnet 14 lines, Octave (8), sestet (6)
Postponement Placing a word at the end for a purpose English/Shakespearean sonnet 14 lines, 3 quatrains (4), a
Pun Play on words e.g. caste/cast rhyming couplet at the end
Rhetorical Free verse No regular rhyme/ stanza length
A question that doesn't need an answer
question
Rhyme Words that sound the same 1st person “I”
Semantic field Words that are about the same thing 2nd
person “You”
Sensory appeals Words that appeal to your senses 3rd
person “He/she/it/they”
repetition of 's' sounds that create a hissing
Sibilance
sound
Alliteration Repeated first letter
hinting at or making an indirect reference to
Allusion
… POETRY DEVICES – STRUCTURE
Ambiguity 2 meanings Anaphora Repeated first few words at start
(Brackets), where character speaks to of lines
Aside
audience Chronological In order of time
Colloquial
Local/ casual language & slang Caesura Break in middle of the line
language
Emotive Cyclical structure a circle of events where the plot
Make reader feel emotional
language begins and ends at the same
An alternate polite word or expression of a place
Euphemism
word Enjambment The lines continues onto the
Half rhyme Words that nearly rhyme next
Hyperbole Exaggeration Iambic pentameter Line that has 10 beats
Juxtaposition Two opposites (Iambic tetrameter) (Line that has 8 beats)
Imagery Something used to describe something else Line/stanza/poem length Length of it e.g. short or long
Imperatives Commands/instructions Refrain A line that is repeated
Internal rhyme Rhyme in the middle of lines
Rhyme scheme The organisation of rhyme e.g.
Irony Sarcasm
ABAB
Listing Creates an accumulation of things
Rhyming couplet 2 lines that rhyme next to each
Something being described as something
Metaphor other
else
Rhythm The beat
Mood Atmosphere
Monosyllabic Stanza A paragraph in the poem
Words with one syllable
words Volta The turning point in a poem
Neologism A new word
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like what it means
Oxymoron Two opposite words next to each other
The weather is used to reflect the mood of
Pathetic fallacy
the story/characters e.g. sunset or winter POETRY DEVICES - FORM
Paradox Contradicting ideas in a line Auto- biographical About the poet
gives human characteristics to non-human
Personification Ballad Story poem – often 4-line stanza
things
Phonetic Dramatic monologue A charter speaks to the reader
Written like it sounds
spelling Italian sonnet 14 lines, Octave (8), sestet (6)
Postponement Placing a word at the end for a purpose English/Shakespearean sonnet 14 lines, 3 quatrains (4), a
Pun Play on words e.g. caste/cast rhyming couplet at the end
Rhetorical Free verse No regular rhyme/ stanza length
A question that doesn't need an answer
question
Rhyme Words that sound the same 1st person “I”
Semantic field Words that are about the same thing 2nd
person “You”
Sensory appeals Words that appeal to your senses 3rd
person “He/she/it/they”
repetition of 's' sounds that create a hissing
Sibilance
sound
