The S.D Vidya School: Definition and Illustration of 10 Poetic Devices

The S.
D Vidya School
Session 2021-2022
Project Name
Definition and illustration of
10 poetic devices
Submitted By - Ashish Jena
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Ashish Jena a
student of class 12th A
Has successfully completed his
project under the guidance of subject
teacher.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my
teacher as well as our principal who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
DEFINATION AND ILLUSTRATION OF 10 POETIC DEVICES,
which also helped me in doing a lot of research and I came
to know about so many new things I am really thankful to
them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends
who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.
1.What is poetic devices? Why
it is used?
2.Alliteration
3.Assonance
4.Imagery
5.Onomatopoeia
6.Personification
7.Refrain
8.Rhyme
9.Simile
10.
Kenning
11.
couplets
What is poetic
device? And
why it is used?
Poetic device is a technique from which a writer uses to
produce a special effect on their poem writing.
Poetic devices make poetry, all literary devices can be used in our poetry
such as suits our purpose and it fits the poem. Poetic devices often spill
over into our pros with out harm, maybe some confusion but entirely
permissible.
Passage; “He fell.... But the fall was a rise. Even as he fell, he felt himself
rise up, up, up into the clouds. All around him he could see only white.
The clouds were white, and the walls around were white. And the one
seated on the throne was white. Beautifully, eternally, white.”
In the passage above I find; poetry in the repetitions, metaphor in the

characterization, contradiction with a care for simplicity in the emphasis
and punctuation.
1. Alliteration
Alliteration can be defined as a series of
words, occurring close together in the phrases
or lines of poetry, that have the same first
consonant sound.
The term itself derives from the Latin word
“latera”, meaning “letters of alphabet”.
A strong example of alliteration is in the tongue twister Peter Piper.
Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers
2. Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sound
across words within the lines of the poem creating
internal rhymes.
Examples of assonance across words include: crying time; hop-scotch; great
flakes; between trees; and, the kind knight rides by.
Look at this stanza from John Laggard's poem ‘Hop aloo Kangaroo':
If you can boogaloo
boogaloo
I can do
the boogaloo too
for I’m the boogiest
hopaloo kangaroo
from The Puffin Book of Fantastic First
Poems (Puffin, 2000)
There are examples of the repeated /oo/ sound within the 1st, 4th and 6th lines
(assonance), as well as it being used as a rhyme at the end of all the lines, except
the 5th line.
3. Imagery
Imagery, in a literary or poetic sense, is the author's use of description and vivid
language, deepening the reader's understanding of the work, by appealing to the senses.
There are different types of imagery. These

include:
•Visual imagery which refers to sights and allows the reader
to visualize the subject, objects or events in the poem.
•Auditory imagery refers to sounds and reminds the reader of
common or specific sounds as a point of reference to deepen
understanding.
•Kinesthetic imagery is related to movement and reminds the
reader of body movement or positions that are familiar or
imagined – such as the feeling of flying.
•Smells and tastes can be referred to as Olfactory or Gustatory
imagery respectively.
•Tactile imagery refers to texture and feeling.
All imagery is aided through the use of other poetic devices, such as simile,
metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, etc.
4. Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia, according to the oxford dictionary, is the 'formation of a
word which describes its sound'. Examples of onomatopoeic words
include sizzle, clap, moo, roar, etc.
It is a common feature in many poems written with children in mind. The
onomatopoeia can sometimes form a refrain, that repeats through the poem,
providing structure.
5. Personification
Personification is a poetic device where animals, plants or even
inanimate objects, are given human qualities – resulting in a poem full of
imagery and description.
Consider the first stanza of Jackie Kay's poem
Way Down below in the Streets of Paris:
I spied a small lonely boy.

I was his beautiful red balloon,
from morning through to noon,
In this example, the poet is the red balloon, and the poem continues by describing
the boy and the poet (as the balloon) sharing a walk through Parisian streets.
6. Refrain
In poetry, a refrain is a word, line or phrase that is repeated
within the lines or stanzas of the poem itself.
There are three common types of refrain:
•the repetend – where particular words are repeated throughout the poem;

•the chorus – usually read by more than one person '_in unison_', and sometimes
can be considered the theme of the poem;
•the burden – the most common form of refrain, in which a whole word or phrase
is repeated a regular intervals.
7. Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line. Rhymed
words conventionally share all sounds following the word's last stressed syllable.
Rhyme is one of the first poetic devices that we become familiar with but it can be
a tricky poetic device to work with. Matching content to a rhyming pattern takes a
lot of skill.
As James Carter says…
A lazy rhyme is a poetry crime!
There are different types of rhyme and many poems, especially sonnets and
sestinas, follow strict rhyme schemes with regular patterns.
Rhyming patterns can be in
Types of rhyme include: couplets where pairs of lines
rhyme or can be alternate
Full rhyme – cat/hat/, dog/log. where every other line
Half or para-rhyme – cat/hit, lover/river. rhymes.
Internal rhyme – rhyme that does not occur at
the end of the line (the usual place rhyme is
found) – Today, as I walked, the large black cat,
tipped his hat at me and smiled.
8. Simile
Simile is common poetic device. The subject of the poem is described by
comparing it to another object or subject, using 'as' or 'like'. For example,
the subject may be 'creeping as quietly as a mouse' or be 'sly, like a fox.'
A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects

or concepts are expressly compared with one another through the use of
“like” or “as.” Simile is used as a literary device to assert similarity with
the help of like or as, which are language constructs that establish
equivalency. A proper simile creates an explicit comparison between two
things that are different enough from each other such that their
comparability appears unlikely.
9. Kenning
A kenning names something by describing it's qualities in a two word
compound expression (often consisting of a noun and a verb made into a
noun using an -er ending) for example mouse catcher = cat. The kenning has
its origins in Anglo-Saxon or old Norse where kennings were used to name
swords: death bringer.
Kennings can be developed into a poem or a riddle but a Kenning refers to
the two word expression.
The example below builds a picture of a
dog
My Dog
ankle biter
bone cruncher
night howler
rabbit catcher
love giver
10. Couplets
A couplet is a pair of lines in a poem which have both the same
rhythm (meter) and that rhyme. The lines can be independent
sentences (closed form) or can run on from each other (open form).
This example from Rachel Rooney's Post shows the open form and consists of 2
rhyming lines with 10 beats each.
A queen in a palace, slumped on a throne,

Surrounded by servants but all alone.

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The S.

In the passage above I find; poetry in the repetitions, metaphor in the

There are different types of imagery. These

I spied a small lonely boy.

•the repetend – where particular words are repeated throughout the poem;

A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects

A queen in a palace, slumped on a throne,

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