what tools do poets use?

What tools do poets use?

Poetic devices and their definitions

Tools

Poets use tools to add sound, rhythm, meaning, and emotional effect for the reader. Poets use their power of observation, previous experiences, and their emotions to create poetry. Other tools include: • Rhyme and Rhyme scheme• Simile and Metaphor• Personification and Repetition• Alliteration and Onomatopoeia• Imagery and Symbols• Hyperbole and Exaggeration

Rhyme

Words with the same ending sound.• Ex. Shy and hi

Rhyme scheme

The pattern in which the rhyme occurs in a stanza or poem. • Ex. Bid me to weep, and I will weep, A

While I have eyes to see; B And having none, yet I will keep A A heart to weep for thee. B

Simile

The comparison of two unlike things by saying one is like, or as the other.• Ex. Sunshine, like hope aglow, Streams from heaven's sky Bringing smiles of warming grace On breeze whispers like a sigh.

Sunshine is like a hope.

Metaphor

The comparison of two unlike things by saying one is the other.• Ex. Clouds are ships in full sail Racing across the sky-blue sea

Clouds are compared to ships.

Personification

Giving human traits to non-human things incapable of having those traits.• Ex. Anger frowns and snarls, Sending bolts of fire from darkest night

Frowning and snarling are human traits that anger cannot experience; however using them as traits for anger creates the desired imagery.

Repetition

When one or more words are repeated to show urgency or importance. • Ex. Take all of your wasted honor

Every little past frustration Take all of your so-called problems, Better put 'em in quotations

Say what you need to say Say what you need to say Say what you need to say

Alliteration

The repetition of a beginning sound.• Ex. Rain reigns roughly through the day. Raging anger from the sky

In the first two lines, the r sound is repeated.

OnomatopoeiaThe sound a thing makes.• Ex. Roaring with the pain Caused by flashing lightning strikes, Thunders yells, "Booooom! Craaaashhhh! Yeow!" Then mumbles, rumbling on its way. Grrrr, the lion's cry echoes

Roaring, rumbling, cry are not examples of onomatopoeia, but are verb forms. Boooom, craaaashhh, yeow, and grrrrr are examples of onomatapoeia.

Imagery

The use of words to create a mental picture.• Ex. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls

He watches from his mountain walls

The lines give you a vivid image of the scene. The poem is about a predatory bird roaming the sea for prey.

SymbolsAn ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which extraordinary meaning and significance is attached .

• Ex. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

The wood and the roads are symbols; The roads are 'paths of life' and stand for choices to be made with reference to the 'course' of the traveler's life; the woods are life itself, and so on.

Hyperbole /Exaggeration

An extreme exaggeration for effect. • Ex. Giants standing tall as mountains

Giants aren't really tall as mountains, but the use of the exaggeration helps create the desired image.