Poetic Devices

Rhyme example:

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...

Alliteration example:

Three Grey Geese by Mother Goose

Three grey geese in a green field grazing, Grey were the geese and green was the grazing.

Onomatopoeia example:

Pool Party

Squeal!
Kids are running everywhere.
Running and Splash –
Falling in the pool.
The music plays –
Stomp! Stomp!
The children dance.
Finally, the food is off the grill-
Munch, munch, munch! 

Simile example:

“Friends are like chocolate cake

You can never have too many.

Chocolate cake is like heaven -

Always amazing you with each taste or feeling.

Chocolate cake is like life with so many different pieces.

Chocolate cake is like happiness, you can never get enough of it.”

Metaphor example:

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 example:

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 example:

I'd love to take a poem to lunch

or treat it to a wholesome brunch

of fresh cut fruit and apple crunch.

I'd spread it neatly on the cloth

beside a bowl of chicken broth

and watch a mug of root beer froth.

symbolism example:

I wander thro' each charter'd street,

Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,

Mind-forg'd manacles represent the oppressiveness of government and religion in William Blake’s “London”:

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infant's cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

imagery example:

His body was tubular

And tapered

And smoke-blue,

And as he passed the wharf

He turned,

And snapped at a flat-fish

That was dead and floating.

And I saw the flash of a white throat,

And a double row of white teeth,

And eyes of metallic grey,

Hard and narrow and slit.

Then out of the harbour,

With that three-cornered fin

Shearing without a bubble the water

Lithely,

Leisurely,

He swam—That strange fish,

Tubular, tapered, smoke-blue,

Part vulture, part wolf,

Part neither—for his blood was cold.

Free verse example:

I now delight 

In spite 

Of the might 

And the right 

Of classic tradition, 

In writing 

And reciting 

Straight ahead, 

Without let or omission, 

Just any little rhyme

In any little time 

That runs in my head; 

Because, I’ve said, 

My rhymes no longer shall stand arrayed

Like Prussian soldiers on parade

That march, 

Stiff as starch, 

Foot to foot, 

Boot to boot, 

Blade to blade,

Button to button, 

Cheeks and chops and chins like mutton.

No! No! 

My rhymes must go 

Turn ’ee, twist ’ee,

Twinkling, frosty, 

Will-o’-the-wisp-like, misty;