Poetic and Dramatic Devices
Level 1(choose 3)
Level 2 (choose 2-3)
Level 3 (choose 2-3)*
Alliteration, internal
rhyme, assonance,
onomatopoeia, repetition
Metaphor, simile, forced
rhyme, personification,
apostrophe, hyperbole
Symbolism, imagery,
irony, reversed
construction, allusion &
classical allusion
Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Example: The wonderful walrus, Wally, waded in the water.
Allusion: A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work, or work of
art.
Example: George Washington, Statue of Liberty, 4th of July
Apostrophe: The rhetorical addressing of an absent person as if present or of an abstract
idea or inanimate object as if it were capable of understanding or responding
Example: “O grave, where is thy victory?”
Aside: A brief remark made to the audience, uttered while other characters are nearby but unable to hear.
Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds without repetition of consonants. Not a rhyme, but has a similar
vowel sound.
Example: story and holy (the long o sound)
Blank Verse: Unrhymed verse that has 10 syllables per line.
Classical Allusion: Allusion from a well-known literary work, musical piece, or art
Example: Popular allusions from The Odyssey (sirens, wandering for 20 years, lotus eaters)
Free Verse: Poetry not written in a rhythmical pattern or meter.
Example:
Dogs are cute
I like cats too
Fish are fun
And so are friends 
Forced Rhyme: A rhyme that is produced by changing the normal spelling of a word, or by changing the
normal structure of a phrase.
Example:
I hoped that she was heaven-sent,
For me I found my heart's cement.
Hyperbole: An extravagant exaggeration
Example: My house is as tiny as a shoebox; you have to peer at it
through a magnifying glass!
Iambic Pentameter: A common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each
foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable.
Example of pattern: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.
Example: “the grains beyond age,
the dark veins of her mother”
Imagery: Figurative language that gives a visual explanation of an object or emotion. Through description, one
of your senses is appealed to.
Example: The cries seemed to come from the watery grave.
Irony: A contrast between what is stated and what is really meant
Example: Alanis Morrisette’s song, “Isn’t It Ironic”
it’s like rain on your wedding day
Metaphor: When a word or phrase representing an idea or object is used in place of
another to suggest a similarity between them.
Example: The girl was a breath of fresh air.
Meter: A rhythmical pattern in a line of poetry, which determines its length.
Example: (Remember that meter is used in the metric system to determine
length!)
Monologue: A lengthy speech by one character who addresses other characters – not the audience
Onomatopoeia: The formation of words in imitation of natural sounds.
Example: buzz
Personification: Giving nonhuman objects human-like qualities
Repetition: A reoccurring phrase or verse especially at the end of each stanza of a poem or
song.
Example: Songs have this almost all of the time.
Reversed Word or Sentence Construction: A compound word on phrasing place in reversed order.
Example: “upfill,” instead of “fill-up”
Example: “And from her womb children of divers kind / We sucking on her
natural bosom find.”
Rhyme Scheme: The arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem
Example: ABAB
Rhyme: A correspondence in terminal sounds of two or more words or lines of verse.
Example: June and Moon
Rhythm: A flow of rising and falling sounds in language that is produced in verse by a
regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Simile: A figure of speech in which things different in kind or quality are compared by the use of the words like
or as.
Example: The chair was like a pillow.
Sonnet:
A 14 line poem usually in iambic pentameter rhyming according to a prescribed
scheme.
Stanza: A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually
recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.
Soliloquy: A speech in which a character, alone on stage…or at least away from the other
characters…expresses his or her thoughts to the audience.
Symbol: One thing that represents something else.
Example: Sunset…representing old age.
Theme: The central idea in a poem
Example: In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”
Theme: His lost love will be around, “nevermore.”
Tone: A feeling the author or speaker is trying to convey to the reader.
Example: angry, happy, depressed, comedic.