Many tools are used to give poetry (or other forms of literature) a visual and/or musical quality in order to communicate ideas, emotions, moods, and abstract concepts more effectively.

Poetry is a word dance that can be as energetic as the flaminco or as elegant as the waltz. Thought-provoking themes walk slowly and deliberately across the parchment; whereas, whimsical verse skips around the page with laughter and light-heartedness.

Below are some of poetry’s most well known devices.

irony

.....a contrast between what is expected and what really happens

consonance

.....repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllable without repetition of vowel sounds

allusion

.....reference to a person, place, thing, or event that is known from literature, history, or other aspects of culture.

metaphor

.....comparison between two unlike things without using connective words

onomatopoeia

.....the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning

symbol

.....a person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself

alliteration

.....a repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words

tone

.....the attitude a writer takes toward the reader, subject, or a character

rhythm

.....a generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poems

refrain

.....a preated word, phrase, lline, or group of lines

stanza

.....a group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit

simile

.....a comparison between two unlike things by using a connective word such as like, as, than, or resembles

paradox

.....a seemingly contradictory idea or statement that may actually be true

assonance

.....the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by consonant sounds in words that are close together

sonnet

.....a fourteen-line lyric poem that may have one of several rhyme schemes

ballad

.....a song or song-like poem that tells a story

personification

..... a kind of metaphor in which a non-human thing or quality is talked about as if it were human

hyperbole

.....overstatement or exaggeration of actions, emotions, or other qualities

imagery

.....language that speaks to the senses

blank verse

.....poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

haiku

.....a Japanese verse form consisting of three lines and seventeen syllables

couplet

.....two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

elegy

.....often a poem that mourns the dead

free verse

.....poetry that has no regular meter or rhyme scheme

prose

.....the ordinary form of spoken or written language

verse

.....another word for poetry

rhyme

.....repetition of final sounds in two or more words

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