Poetic Devices
Rhyme
eg.wool,full,dame,lame,hat,cat,brat,fat,mat,sat
Alliteration
egShe sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore,Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers
Onomatopoeia
eg.

• bloop
• splash
• spray
• sprinkle
• squirt
• drip

Simile

eg.

• “cute as a kitten,” 
• “as busy as a bee” 
• "as snug as a bug in a rug"
• "as happy as a clam"
• "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."  
• "as agile as a monkey" 
• "as black as coal" 
• "as blind as a bat"

Metaphors
eg.

• My love is like a red, red rose.
• You were as brave as a lion.
• They fought like cats and dogs.
• He is as funny as a barrel of monkeys.
• This house is as clean as a whistle.
• He is as strong as an ox.
• Your explanation is as clear as mud.

Hyperbole

eg.

• “I’ve told you a million times”
• “It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets”
• “She is so dumb, she thinks Taco Bell is a Mexican phone company”

Personification

eg.

1. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
2. The run down house appeared depressed.
3. The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.
4. She did not realize that opportunity was knocking at her door.
5. He did not realize that his last chance was walking out the door.
6. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another.
7. The wind howled its mighty objection.

Symbolism

eg.

• The dove is a symbol of peace.
• A red rose or red colour stands for love or romance.
• Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.
• A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection between the heaven and the earth.
• A broken mirror may symbolise separation

Imagery

eg.

• He fumed and charged like an angry bull.
• He fell down like an old tree falling down in a storm.
• He felt like the flowers were waving him a hello.
• The eerie silence was shattered by her scream.
• He could hear his world crashing down when he heard the news about her.
• The F-16 swooped down like an eagle after its prey.
• The word spread like leaves in a storm.

Free Verse

eg.After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,

Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks, 

Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship: 

Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,

Waves, undulating waves—liquid, uneven, emulous waves,

Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves, 

Where the great Vessel, sailing and tacking, displaced the surface;

Allusion

• I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s
• When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that wasn’t necessary.
• I thought the software would be useful, but it was a Trojan Horse
• He was a real Romeo with the ladies.
• Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel