English Poetic Devices

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Definitions of Poetic Devices simile: a comparison using "as" or "like" e.g., "as a great elm wallows before the storm." metaphor: a comparison not using as or like when one thing is said to be another. hyperbole: exaggeration for dramatic effect e.g., "all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this (murderer's) hand". oxymoron: a seeming contradiction in two words put together: "parting is such sweet sorrow." paradox: seeming contradiction that surprises by its pithiness. onomatopoeia: "sound echoing sense"; use of words resembling the sounds they mean, e.g., biz buzz, humming, pant and puff. personification: attribution of human motives or behaviours to impersonal agencies. alliteration: the deliberate repetition of consonant sounds, e.g., "Build, build your Babels!" assonance: deliberate repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds: "the tread of the feet of the dead". transferred epithet: surprising association of adjective and noun e.g., "with half closed cynic eyes." apostrophe: an address to a person absent or dead or to an abstract entity: e.g., "Death where is thy sting?" antithesis: balanced contrast for special effect: e.g., "Lord of all things, yet prey to all." echo: repetition of key word or idea for effect. cadence: a sequence of sounds achieving a falling effect. rhyming couplet: a pair of lines which end-rhyme expressing one clear thought. epigram, aphorism: pithy or witty saying. ellipsis: a circumlocution, a round-about way of expressing something. euphemism: more favourable alternative name for an unpleasant or ugly thing or event. litotes: saying something positive by using two negatives, e.g., he's no mug. diction: poet's distinctive choices in vocabulary. rhyme: repetition of same sounds. rhythm: internal 'feel' of beat and meter perceived when poetry is read aloud. tone, mood, atmosphere:
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