Xavier's Poetic Devices

Rhyme:

The Life Of A Cupcake

They put me in the oven to bake.
Me a deprived and miserable cake.
Feeling the heat I started to bubble.
Watching the others I knew I was in trouble

They opened the door and I started my life.
Frosting me with a silver knife.
Decorating me with candy jewels.
The rest of my batch looked like fools.

Lifting me up, she took off my wrapper.
Feeling the breeze, I wanted to slap her.
Opening her mouth with shiny teeth inside.
This was the day this cupcake had died

Alliteration:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Onomatopoeia:

Brothers

My boys are my brothers
Without the aid of my father and my mother.
They don’t bounce when the bullets fly.
They stand up straight when my enemies drive by.
Many are called friends;
Fewer are called brothers -
A homey who gives his life for another.

Simile:

Your teeth are like stars;

They come out at night.

They come back at dawn

When they’re ready to bite

Metaphor:

The Rose

The sun went away
The sky went black
Up came the wind
I fell on my back

It started to rain
I began to sink
Then I lifted my head
And took a drink

I perked myself up
And said "please don't cry"
And wiped off my petals
Until they were dry

The clouds soon parted
And out came the sun
The beauty in me
Has only begun.

Hyperbole:

Appetite

In a house the size of a postage stamp
lived a man as big as a barge.
His mouth could drink the entire river
You could say it was rather large
For dinner he would eat a trillion beans
And a silo full of grain,
Washed it down with a tanker of milk

As if he were a drain.

Personification:

Hey diddle, Diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon;

The little dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Symbolism:

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky 

Spring and daisies means youth in Sara Teasdale’s “Wild Asters”:

In the spring, I asked the daisies

If his words were true,

And the clever, clear-eyed daisies

Always knew.

Brown and barren means growing old in Sara Teasdale’s “Wild Asters”:

Now the fields are brown and barren,

Bitter autumn blows,

Bitter autumn means death in Sara Teasdale’s “Wild Asters”:

Now the fields are brown and barren,

Bitter autumn blows,

And of all the stupid asters

Not one knows.

Imagery:

he winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o'clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

Free Verse:

 The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Allusion:

Simplicity:

A strong drink sits idle in my glass. Two doves sit on the porch and watch me. They warble with great enthusiasm, puffy sirens of the hills. Their language hides the meaning of their words, like the elegant attire worn by common folk. They have everything they need, each other and a nest. A perfect wordless marriage. Communication only through song, and songs for all of nature to enjoy. The grandest love story ever told.

Rhythm:

'Will there really be a morning? 

Is there such a thing as day? 

Could I see it from the mountains 

If I were as tall as they? 

Has it feet like water-lilies? 

Has it feathers like a bird? 

Is it brought from famous countries 

Of which I have never heard? 

Oh, some scholar! Oh, some sailor! 

Oh, some wise man from the skies! 

Please to tell a little pilgrim 

Where the place called morning lies!