Poetic/Literary Devices	Definition	Examples	
Diction	An author’s distinctive word choices	Proper grammar vs. slang; clear simple words vs. flowery sophisticated language	
Denotation	A word’s literal meaning or definition	Red: the color of blood	
Connotation	A set of associations implied by a word	Red: love, passion, anger, heat, life, death 	
Onomatopoeia	Words that echo the sound they represent	Bang, screech, slam, crinkle, chime, clank
“Lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue…
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry-eating in late September.” G. Kinnell	
Alliteration	A succession of words begins with the same consonant sound	“I must go down to the seas again
to the vagrant gypsy life, / To the gull's way and the whale's way /    where the wind's like a whetted knife.” J. Masefield	
Assonance	A succession of words that contains the same vowel sound	“And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride.”
E. A. Poe	
Consonance	A repetition of a consonant sound in the middle or at the end of words	“Whose woods these are I think I know. / His house is in the village though; / He will not see me stopping here / To watch his woods fill up with snow.”  
R. Frost 	
Imagery	The use of words that appeal to the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell	“He clasps the crag with crooked hands; / Close to the sun in lonely lands, / Ring’d with the azure world, he stands. / The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; / He watches from his mountain 
walls, / And like a thunderbolt he falls.”  A. Tennyson	
Simile 	A comparison of two different objects using the words “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles”	“O My Love's like a red, red 
rose, / That's newly sprung in June; / O My Love's like the melody / That's sweetly played in tune.”  R. Burns	
Metaphor	A direct comparison of two different objects that doesn’t use “like” or “as” 	“All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts.”  
W. Shakespeare

“Hold fast to dreams / For when dreams go / Life is a barren field 
Frozen with snow.” L. Hughes

	
Allusion	An author’s reference to someone or something from history or literature that the reader is expected to know	“As the cave's roof collapsed, he was swallowed up in the dust like Jonah, and only his frantic scrabbling behind a wall of rock indicated that there was anyone still alive.”
“Samantha was no Scrooge, but she seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities.” 	
Repetition 	Repeating key words, ideas, or phrases to create an effect 	“I looked upon the rotting sea, 
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.”
S. T. Coleridge	
Anaphora 	A specific form of repetition where a phrase or group of words is repeated at the beginning of several consecutive sentences to emphasize an image or concept.  The effect is to influence the reader/listener.	“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”  M.L. King Jr.	
Personification	Giving human qualities or characteristics to animals or objects	“The sky is low, the clouds are mean, / A traveling flake of snow / Across a barn or through a rut / Debates if it will go. / A narrow wind complains all day / How some one treated him; / Nature, like us, is sometimes caught / Without her diadem.” 
E. Dickinson	
Symbol	An object or action that means more than its literal meaning	“Tiger, tiger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies 
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand dare seize the fire?”  
W. Blake	
Hyperbole	Exaggeration for serious, comical, or dramatic effect	“People moved slowly then. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.”  
H. Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“Why does a boy who’s fast as a jet / Take all day—and sometimes two— / To get to school?” J. Ciardi	
Understatement	A statement that is deliberately weakened to create a comic effect or to be polite 	“I am a bit uncomfortable,” Mark said as he stared down at his severed legs.

Oxymoron	A seeming contradiction between two words that are placed together; used for a dramatic particular effect	“Parting is such sweet sorrow” W. Shakespeare
jumbo shrimp               cold sweat
definite maybe                little big
silent scream	
Antithesis (a.k.a. Juxtaposition)	The juxtaposition (placing close together) words or phrases that are opposites to achieve a sense of balance and deeper meaning.	“That’s one small step for man; once giant leap for mankind.” N. Armstrong	
Parallelism	The achievement of balance in a sentence by using similar structure of words, clauses, or phrases. 	“government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  A. Lincoln

She eats chocolate éclairs, reads vampire novels, and sings classical jazz.	
Rhythm	The internal “feel” of beat and meter when a poem is read aloud 	“All day I hear the noise of waters
     Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is when, going
     Forth alone,
He hears the winds cry to the water’s
     Monotone.
The grey winds, the cold winds are 
blowing 
     Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
     Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
     To and fro.”    J. Joyce	
Tone	The manner in which a writer makes his statement; a writer’s attitude toward his subject	See your list of Tone/Attitude Words.	
Mood	The feeling or atmosphere of a poem; how the words make the reader feel	See your list of Mood Words.

Theme	One of the controlling ideas of a piece of literature; the writer’s observation(s) about life (or a part of life).

Theme…

•	cannot be reduced to a single word, but it can be based on a “major concept” or a “big idea.”
•	is not a worn-out saying (or a cliché) that we have heard over and over again.
•	does not mention the writer’s name, the title, or the characters’ names. 
•	does not include personal pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, our, us).
•	is a generally true statement that is universal. (Most people understand it and can relate to it in some way).
•	must be stated in a complete sentence.
•	can be stated in more than one way.
•	MUST be supported by evidence in the text!!!	Possible themes of Romeo and Juliet
•	Making quick judgments and decisions prevents a person from recognizing the potential consequences of his actions.
•	Well-intentioned relatives and guardians can cause tragedy when they interfere with young people’s lives.
•	Feuds can only be resolved if both sides whole-heartedly commit themselves to acting peacefully.
•	Couples should carefully consider their reasons for falling in love because their emotions affect their families and friends, not just themselves.