Poetic Devices With Examples 12434z

ENGLISH 11: POETIC DEVICES All examples are from poems written by Aboriginal People in Canada SOUND DEVICES ~ Poems are meant to be heard Alliteration: the neighbouring words begin with the same letter or sound. “So busy singing your songs” ~ Emma LaRocque Assonance: Similarity of vowel sounds. “Some day go back so all can gather again” ~ Chief Dan George Cacophony: The harsh, discordant sound. “gulls chatter and scream” ~ Duncan Mercredi Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds. “The song that brings to life The hunt” ~ Susan Aglukark Euphony: The inherent sweetness of the sound. “Chinook, Chinook, tender and mild Sings a sage-brush lullaby . . . “ ~ Leonora Hayden McDowell Onomatopoeia: The sound of the word mimics the sound to which it refers. “With a mighty crash, They seethe, and boil, and bound, and splash” ~ Pauline Johnson Rhyme: Similarity of sounds between words. “West wind, blow from your prairie nest, Blow from the mountains, blow from the west. The sail is idle, the sailor too; O! wind of the west, we wait for you.” ~ Pauline Johnson Rhythm: The flow of the poem created by alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. “Blow, Blow! I have wooed you so, But never a favor you bestow. You rock your cradle the hills between, But scorn to notice my white lateen.” ~ Pauline Johnson IMAGERY ~ Poetic pictures created with the five senses and figurative language. Imagery both creates atmosphere and signifies meaning. Hyperbole: Exaggeration. “The perch were shoving and swimming shoving and swimming” ~ Trevor Cameron Juxtaposition: Two or more things are placed side by side, even though they usually aren’t associated with each other. “Lightning and feathers mark her trail” ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things. “Rainbow’s my yarn The sky is my loom” ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie Metonymy: Symbolism through association. “the eye of the raven” ~ Wayne Keno

Mood: The emotional environment of the poem, also called atmosphere. These words from “Farewell” create a quiet, reflective mood: “What is life It is a flash of a firefly . . . “ ~ Isapo muxika (Chief Crowfoot) Oxymoron: Two words are placed side by side even though they usually have opposite meanings. “gorgeous beast” ~ Trevor Cameron Personification: To give human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or abstract ideas. “August is laughing across the sky.” ~ Pauline Johnson Simile: A direct comparison between two unlike things introduced by like or as. “Red light of evening falls like rain” ~ Buffy Sainte-Marie Symbolism: To represent something abstract with something concrete. “Who hold the pens of power” ~ Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm Synecdoche: A part represents the whole. “The sail is idle.” ~ Pauline Johnson

OTHER POETIC TECHNIQUES Allusion: a reference to some well known cultural or historical person, place, or event. (It is often a subtle reference.) “Lovely Miss Johnson and will you have tea now?” ~ Joan Crate Apostrophe: To address something animate or inanimate as an audience for one’s innermost thoughts and feelings. “West wind, blow from your prairie nest, Blow from the mountains, Blow from the west.” ~ Pauline Johnson Enjambment: The running on of a sentence from one line or couplet of poetry to the next, with little or no pause. “When the bear emerges onto the bank to dip its muzzle and drink” ~ Randy Lundy Humour: When an element of surprise occurs because our assumptions about a familiar situation or perspective are challenged. Humour exposes contradictions and often relies on irony (e.g. the image of an First Peoples dancer in cowboy boots and spurs). “it is a double-beat dance, lows and prowls of spurs”~ Garry Gottfriedson Irony: What is said or done takes on the opposite meaning of what is literal or expected. “There are times when I feel that if I don’t have a circle or the number four or legend in my poetry, I am lost, just a fading urban Indian . . .” ~ Marilyn Dumont Parallel Structure: Repetition of grammatical structures to create rhythm and emphasis. “everybody everybody everybody’s lookin’ for lookin’ for sammy” down by the river down by the river side” ~ Gunargie O’Sullivan Voice: A poet doesn’t always write from the point of view of his or her own personal feelings and experience as poetry is created through the imaginative powers of a poet. The voice of a poem might be that of an invented character, a loved one, an historical figure who once lived, or even a spirit of nature. “ You know dah big fight at Batoche? Dah one where we fight dah Anglais?” ~ Maria Campbell