1. Poetic Devices

2. Alliteration  The repetition of initial consonant sounds  So the first consonant repeats in each line  i.e. terrible truths and little leprechauns like long limousines

3. Metaphor  A comparison between two objects giving meaning to one of them. Often forms of the "to be" verb are used, such as "is" or "was", to make the comparison.  Example:  The boy was a helpless bird waiting for its mother.

4. Simile  A comparison between two objects using a specific word or comparison such as 'like', 'as', or 'than'.  We watched the ghostly dancers spin To sound of horn and violin, Like black leaves wheeling in the wind.  Like wire-pulled automatons, Slim silhouetted skeletons Went sidling through the slow quadrille.  (by: Oscar Wilde)

5. Simile cont.  Beezo shot the basketball like a wounded duck.

6. Assonance  The repetition of vowel sounds.  Resemblance or similarity in sound between vowels followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables. Assonance differs from RHYME in that RHYME is a similarity of vowel and consonant. "Lake" and "fake" demonstrate RHYME; "lake" and "fate" assonance  Example:  Elaine waited in plain train

7. Onomatopoeia  The use of words which imitate sound.  Example:  He crashed into the car as he heard the screech of the wheels  The gun boomed as the shots were fired. The bullets whizzed past the bystanders.

8. Imagery  Words or phrases that use the senses or a combination of senses.  i.e. He could almost taste his fear as he smelt the fright of the bolting horse.

9. PERSONIFICATION  Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects.  Example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun,  The old wooden floor groaned with displeasure as we walked across it

10. Hyperbole  Hyperbole is exaggeration or overstatement  I was so hungry I could eat a horse.  He was as big as a house.

11. Rhythm  In poetry, rhythm, broadly speaking, is a recognizable pulse, or "recurrence," which gives a distinct beat to a line and also gives it a shape.  One, two, Buckle my shoe. Three, four, Shut the door