poetry techniques

• Alliteration is a device that uses words beginning with the same letter sounds to create a notably emphasis on words such as "dark dreary dreams".
• Assonance, like alliteration, is a device that uses the sound of a word rather than the start, for example "Fearful tears of misery".
• Consonance is a device that uses consonant sounds at the end of words such as "wet set of regrets".
• Cacophony is a device that uses harsh sounds to create a discordant sound, for example "dark knuckles wrapping across bricks".
• Onomatopoeia is a device that uses words that sound like the effect they describe, for example "splash, slap, crack".
• Repetition is a device that repeats words over a verse, stanza or poem to draw focus and add emphasis.
• Rhyme is a device that uses words with similar ending sounds to create a music like effect or flow, for example "theme/stream/dream".
• Rhythm is a device that organizes words to create a noticeable sound or pace, not necessarily musical but with a clear 'beat', and can include the structure of the work.
• Allegory is a device that uses something symbolic, often a story that represents larger things, like the tortoise and the hare.
• Allusion is a device that refers to something well known, nowadays that could be a celebrity but it could be anything that fits the context of the poem, for example Shakespeare will make very old allusions we don't understand.
• Ambiguity or Ambiguous is a device that uses a word or idea meaning more than one thing to provoke thought.
• Analogy is a device that compares something unfamiliar with something familiar to help people understand.
• Cliché is a device that uses something which is used a great amount and becomes expected or even cheesy, for example "raining cats and dogs".
• Connotation or Connote is the associations with a word, for example "Rose" can represent Love and Passion.
• Contrast is a device that uses closely placed ideas which are opposites or very different, for example "He had cold eyes but a warm heart".
• Verse – A line or poem, need not be a complete sentence
• Stanza – A collection of verses similar to a paragraph, separated from other stanzas
• Rhetorical Question – A question intended to provoke thought without expecting an answer
• Rhyme Scheme – Regular or irregular (does it follow a pattern or not) popular examples are alternate rhymes abab, cross rhyme abba, or couplets aabb
• Enjambment – A sentence or on-going piece of text carried over verses or stanzas to continue the spoken effect without pause
• Form – Open (no real pattern or rhyme or length), closed (follows a specific form or pattern), couplets (pairs of rhyming lines), quatrains (stanza of 4 lines, often rhyming), blank verse (iambic pentameter with not consistent rhyme)
• Fixed Forms – Some examples include Sonnets (3 quatrains and a couplet), Ballads (large poems in quatrains often telling a story)
• Pathetic Fallacy – Using weather or environment to reflect the themes and contexts of the poem, e.g
• Foreshadowing – Content in the poem which gives an indication of the direction the poem will take, allows people to guess what will happen or the poet to prepare the reader
• Tone/Mood – The way a poem or speaker is intended to sound, often suggested by the topic, content and structure
• Denotation/Denote- The literal definition of something without reading to deeply into it
• Euphemism – Where something distasteful is said in a more acceptable way ‘she is at peace’ – she is dead
• Hyperbole – An over the top exaggeration for effect
• Metaphor – Direct comparison of two things
• Oxymoron – Two words placed together with differing meanings to create a new meaning ‘bitter sweet’
• Paradox – A situation or statement which contradicts itself
• Personification – Describing an inanimate object or animal with human qualities
• Pun – using words with multiple meanings while intending both, often used for comic effect
• Simile – Comparing two or more objects with words ‘like’ or ‘as’
• Symbol – A word or image used to represent an idea or concept