VIKAS THE CONCEPT SCHOOL
POETIC - LITERARY DEVICES
SIMILE: A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a
different kind used to make a description more clear.
Words used are ‘like’, ‘as’ and at times ‘so’.
Note: usage of ‘so’ is very rare.
Eg: He is as busy as a bee.
The boy is as brave as a lion.
John is as slow as a snail.
She is like an angel.
My heart is like an open highway.
Love is patient and so is my mother.
METAPHOR: A figure of speech that makes a hidden comparison between two things that
are unrelated but share some common characteristics.
Eg: My brother was boiling mad.
The camel is the ship of the desert.
Life is a dream.
My brother is the black sheep of the family.
PERSONIFICATION: A figure of speech in which a thing - an idea or an animal - is given
human attributes (qualities / behaviour).
Eg: The sky weeps.
The stars danced playfully in the moonlight sky.
The wind whispered through dry grass.
Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn’t she?
ALLITERATION: A number of words having the first consonant sound occur close together
in a series( beginning of adjacent or closely connected words).
Eg: cat ----- choice (wrong) cat --- kick (correct sound )
sell --- celebrate (correct sound)
A big bully beats a baby boy.
She sells sea shells on the sea shore
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Better batter always make batter better.
RHYMING WORDS: Repetition of the same or similar sounds occurs in two or more words
usually at the end of lines in a poem or song.(same sounding words).
Eg: rhyme- Twinkle twinkle....the last words in the 4 lines are star...are, high...sky
nut, hut, but, cut, gut, are rhyming words,
in the same series.... put is an odd one not rhyming sound
RHYME SCHEME: The last word of each line in the poem -rhyming words of lines are
identified with alphabets a,b,c,d,e,f, .......
Regular rhyme scheme: aabb (Twinkle twinkle )
Alternate rhyme scheme: abab
Irregular rhyme scheme: abcd ......and so on
REPETITION: Repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer
and more memorable.
Eg: If you think you can do it, you can do it.
REFRAIN: When an entire line in a poem or song repeats in other stanzas.
HYPERBOLE: It is an exaggeration (over doing) of ideas for the sake of understanding.
Eg: Your suitcase weighs a ton.
It’s been ages since I last saw you.
The boy was dying to get a new school bag.
I searched all day and night, from pole to pole.
ONOMATOPOEIA: A word that phonetically mimics or resemble the sound of a thing it
describes.
Eg: The dog barked,”Bow-wow”
The snake slithered on the grass and hissed.
Buzzing bees, etc
machine noises-beep, vroom,
animal sounds- cuckoo/ birds, meaow(cat)
impact sounds- crash, boom, thud
sounds of the voice – whisper, scream
nature sounds – splash, drip
IMAGERY: Visually descriptive or figurative language to represent objects, actions and
ideas in a way it appeals to our physical senses (smell, sight, taste, touch or hearing)
Eg: It was dark and dim in the forest.
He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee.
The children are screaming and shouting in the fields.
The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.
The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet.
APOSTROPHE: Exclamatory Figure of Speech!
Absent or Non Existent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of
understanding.
Eg: Life! I cannot understand you.
Blow wind, blow!
Why don’t you ever work; You stupid computer!
OXYMORON: A Figure of Speech containing words that contradict each other.
Effective titles
Dramatic effect
To achieve comedy effect
Eg: It is an open secret.
All the politicians agreed to disagree.
He is clearly confused in his decision.
Note: To remember the seven figures of speech, here is an acronym “SHAMPOO”
S – Simile, H – Hyperbole, A – Apostrophe, M – Metaphor, P – Personification, O –
Onomatopoeia, O- Oxymoron.
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