Literary Devices and Poetic Techniques, Study notes of English

Download Literary Devices and Poetic Techniques and more Study notes English in PDF only on Docsity! DEFINITIONS (in alphabetical order) Alliteration Repetition of consonant sounds. Eg. ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.’ Allusion A literary, biblical or other reference. The saying ‘Don’t cry wolf’ is an allusion to Aesop’s fable called ‘The boy who cried wolf’. Anthropomorphism An animal is given human qualities. Eg. ‘The dog grinned in delight.’ Anti-climax A disappointing end/drop from serious to trivial, used deliberately for effect. Eg. ‘I’m getting famous…sort of.’ Apostrophe The poet directly addresses a person who is not present, a dead person, an inanimate object or an abstract idea. ‘Death be not proud’ by John Donne Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds. Eg. ‘How now brown cow?’ Atmosphere The feeling that is created by the poet. Eg. peaceful, romantic, busy, hopeless Blank verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter. (Most of Shakespeare’s plays are written in blank verse). Climax A heightened emotional effect; a build-up of words/images, Diction Choice of words. Dramatic monologue The poet deliberately speaks in the voice of an assumed character. Enjambment A line with no punctuation at the end that runs naturally onto the next line and requires no pause. Eg. ‘Just the worst time of year For a journey’ Free verse No regular rhythm, rhyme, structure. It operates on normal speech rhythms. Hyperbole Gross exaggeration used for effect. Eg. ‘I am as ugly as a bear.’ Iambic pentameter A line of verse with 5 metrical feet, consisting of alternate stressed and unstressed syllables. Imagery Visual pictures created in words. It relies heavily on figures of speech. Irony The opposite meaning of what is said OR the outcome of events that is opposite to what is expected. Juxtaposition The placement of contrasting ideas/images next to one another. Eg. ‘It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.’ Message The point the poet wishes to make. Metaphor A direct comparison. ‘She sailed into the room.’ Mood The way readers feel while reading a poem. Eg. happy, sad, excited, angry, depressed Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like the actual sound it describes. Eg. ‘crash’, ‘buzz’, ‘ping’ Oxymoron Two contradictory words placed next to each other. Eg. ‘a dull shine’ Pace The speed at which the poem, or particular lines, are read. Paradox A seemingly contradictory statement that actually makes sense. Eg. ‘Everyone is unique and therefore no one is unique.’ Personification A metaphor in which an inanimate object is given human qualities. Eg. ‘The moonlight danced over the water.’ Pun A play on words. Rhyme Words often have the same sound. End rhyme – words at the end of lines rhyme Eg. ‘Yesterday sceptres and crowns Fried oysters and velvet gowns.’ Near/half rhyme – words that almost sound the same Eg. ‘gone’ and ‘bone’ Internal rhyme – words that rhyme within the same line Eg. ‘I am daughter of earth and water’ Rhyming couplet A pair of successive lines of poetry that share an end rhyme. Rhythm The beat/the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Sibilance The repetition of the ‘s’ sound and the effect that is created by this. Eg. ‘Hiss hiss It slithers and slides.’ Simile A comparison using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. Eg. ‘The moon, like a silver penny, hung poised in the air.’ Sonnet A personal, lyrical poem with a strict structural form. 14 lines, 10 syllables in each line, iambic pentameter. Sonnets can be Shakespearean, Petrarchan or a mixture. Speaker The person who is the voice of a poem. The speaker is not necessarily the poet. Structure The visual presentation of a poem. Symbol One thing – specifically a concrete object – stands for something else, usually an abstract concept.