Poetic Devices

Poetic Devices Simile DEFINITION: a figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas. EXAMPLES: He is as tall as a redwood tree. She runs like a snail.

Metaphor Poetic Devices DEFINITION: a figure of speech that describes something as though it were something else. EXAMPLES: from Tombstone >>> “Why Wyatt, you’re an oak.” You are such a stick in the mud.

Poetic Devices Idiom DEFINITION: an expression that has a meaning particular to a language or region. A phrase in which the literal meaning of the words does not add up to the actual meaning.

idioms EXAMPLES: to go bananas = to get super excited on pins and needles = waiting with much anxiety hit the ground running = to get a quick start on something copycat = someone who copies or mimics in the doghouse = on someone’s bad side / in trouble fly off the handle = to get super angry, very fast

Analogy Poetic Devices DEFINITION: makes a comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike – typically, A : B :: C : D – 2 things compared to 2 things. EXAMPLES: A glove is to hand as monitor is to computer. Horses are to past societies as computers are to future societies.

Hyperbole Poetic Devices DEFINITION: obvious and intentional exaggeration EXAMPLES: These books weigh a ton. I’m so tired I could sleep for a year.

Poetic Devices Symbol DEFINITION: anything that stands for or represents something else. Symbols are common in everyday life. EXAMPLES: See the following slides…

What do the following things usually stand for in literature and film?

the color black

the color white

the color green

the color blue

Personification Poetic Devices DEFINITION: a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics. EXAMPLES: Nature speaks to people. The window winked at me.

Poetic Devices Pun DEFINITION: the humorous use of a word or phrase to emphasize or suggest different meanings or applications; words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. EXAMPLES: Illusionists always find themselves in tricky situations. Romance isn't a science . . . it's a heart.

Pun See www.PunOfTheDay.com

Poetic Devices Irony DEFINITION: literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions EXAMPLES: from Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons: “I'm aware of the irony of appearing on TV in order to decry it.” (decry - condemn or denounce)

Poetic Devices Parody DEFINITION: a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing EXAMPLES: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters Parry Hotter and the Seamy Side of Magic

Onomatopoeia Poetic Devices DEFINITION: the use of words that imitate sounds and can help put the reader in the activity of a poem. EXAMPLES: Thump Phlblblbplb Kerplunk Squish Thwack Splink

Poetic Devices