Poetry Figurative Language and Poetic Devices

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word

Examples:

-America: The country south of Canada and North of Mexico.

-Wind: air in natural motion

Connotation

The thoughts, feelings, and images associated with a word.

Examples:

!

America: Freedom, opportunity, individualism.

Hollywood: Fame, celebrity, Success, Money, Romance

Synonyms and AntonymsSynonyms: Words that have the same or similar meanings.

Example: Cold/Freezing; Grumpy/Grouchy

!

Antonym: Words that have completely opposite meanings.

Example: Good/Bad; Happy/Sad; Hot/Cold.

 

Synonyms and Antonyms

Inadequate / Insufficient

Synonym

Attract/Repel

Antonym

Restore/Eliminate

Antonym

HomonymsHomonym: Words that are spelled the same way, but have different meanings.

-Examples:

Bat & Bat

!

Fly & Fly

!

Rock & Rock

Homophones

Homophone: Words that sound exactly the same, but have different meanings and spellings.

Example: Cent/ Scent/ Sent

*Tip to remember which is which: Homophone think phone = sound

!!

HomographWords that have the same spelling, but different pronunciations and meanings

Example:

The wind is blowing the leaves.

noun

!

I have to wind my watch.

verb

Simile

Comparing two unlike things using words like or as.

Examples:

-Her hands were like frozen ice cubes.

-The girl’s hair is as yellow as the sun.

-The boy runs like a rabbit.

Metaphor

Comparing two unlike things WITHOUT using like or as.

Often states something IS something

Examples:

The snow is a blanket of white.

That report was dynamite!

The woods became our savior.

Metaphors

Simile or Metaphor

The boy can swim like a fish. !

Simile

!

!!!!

Hyperbole

An exaggeration

Examples:

My book bag weighs a ton!

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!

Personification

Giving human qualities, emotions and actions to nonhuman things.

Examples:

-Her pencil danced across the page.

- Fear knocked on the door.

OnomatopoeiaThe use of words to imitate sounds.

Aka sound words

Examples:

-Her boots crunched across the snowy field.

-The car vroomed its engine.

- The bee buzzed around. 

The Onomatopoeia Song (to the tune of “Old MacDonald”)

“O-N-O-M-A-T-O-P-O-E-I-A

With a ‘ruff-ruff’ here and a ‘baa baa’ there

Here a ‘vroom,’ there a ‘buzz,’

Everywhere a ‘Splat! Splat!’

O-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a!”

IdiomPopular expressions or sayings.

Examples:

”The apple of my eye.”

“don’t let the cat out of the bag.”

!

“When pigs fly!”

Oxymoron

Oxymoron: Combinations of contradicting terms.

Examples:

Good Grief

!

Jumbo Shrimp

Paradoxcontradicting ideas against one another so that a statement appears untrue or simply: A statement that contradicts itself

* It is an extended oxymoron Examples

I always lie. ( if this is true it must be false!)

Nobody goes to that restaurant, it's too crowded.

Don't go near the water until you've learned to swim.

AntithesisA contrasting statement, where the beginning of the sentence or statement is the complete opposite of the remainder of the statement.

Example: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what

you can do for your country” !!!"Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't

like Sara Lee." !!

Allusion

Reference to someone or something from a well known source.

Examples:

He is such a Scrooge!

!

Sue is such an Einstein!

MetonymyWhen you substitute a word or phrase with a more simple word related to it.

Examples:

Crown= Royalty

The White House = referring to government in D.C.

!

Metonymy“The pen is mightier than the sword”

refers to the idea that reading and writing is more powerful than military force.

!“Knowledge is power!”

!

Your words are stronger than weapons.

ArchetypeA pattern of a character or plot that is repeated again and again. (Stereotypes)

Vampires all given same characteristics.

!

Prince Charming

!*Fairy tales are full of archetypes

Archetypes

SynecdocheA part is used to represent the whole or a whole for a part

Examples:

“I know my ABCs!” - Part to Whole

You know the alphabet. ABCs are PART of the WHOLE alphabet

“All hands on deck”

“Get Your Butt Over Here!”

!

ApostropheWhen the writer or speaker of a poem addresses someone or something that cannot answer back.  

Examples:

-Blow, blow, thou winter wind

-Hello darkness, my old friendI've come to talk with you again..."(Paul Simon, "The Sounds of Silence"

!

EuphemismSaying things in a nicer, more polite way. Substituting an offensive term for an inoffensive more acceptable word.

Examples:

Toilet: Restroom, lavatory, washroom

Used: antique, second hand

! !

Irony

When you say or do one thing, but you mean something else, or when something happens and it isn’t expected.

3 types of irony: -verbal, situational and dramatic Examples: -You study all night for a test and end up failing it. - Examples from our short stories? !

Alliteration

Repeating initial (or at the start of the word) consonant sounds in a line or passage of words.

Examples:

-Hear the loud alarm bells—Brazen Bells!

-What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

Example:

- - Free and easy

- - Make the Grade

Assonance

Find the examples of assonance in the following selections.

Slow things are beautiful: The closing of the day, The pause of the waveThat curves downward to spray. --Elizabeth Coatsworth, "Swift Things are Beautiful"

Night came on, and a full moon rose high over

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within a word.

Examples: -Very soft is his skin, and he is not so unlike Banderlog

He struck a streak of luck !

Consonance

Find Examples of consonance….

Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed. Once I heard and answered all the questionsof the crickets, And joined the crying of each falling dying

Consonance

Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed. Once I heard and answered all the questionsof the crickets, And joined the crying of each falling dyingflake of snow, Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .

Symbol

The use of an object, thing, or idea to represent a bigger meaning.

Examples:

-Flag/ America

- Holding hands/ Love

Imagery

The use of vivid description, usually rich in sensory words, to create pictures, or images, in the reader’s mind.

Imagery allows a writer to show what she/he means, by appealing to the 5 senses, instead of just telling someone

!

!

Imagery

Examples:

!

The pitter-patter of the rain against the window.

The gurgling sound of my brother slurping

Pun

A play on words that have a similar sound, but different meanings

“Ha-ha, that’s punny!”

More Fun Puns

I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

Cliché

An overused expression that has lost its novelty, and thus has become a stereotype

AVOID USING IN YOUR WRITING

Let’s Play…Name That Cliché!

“When it rains, __ _____.”

“All is fair __ ____ __ ___”

“Money is __ ___ __ __ ____.”

“The apple doesn’t ____ ___ ____ ___ _____.”

“Don’t bite the _____ _____ _____ ____.”