Figurative Language and Poetry Terms

1. Figurative Language and Poetry Terms

2. Language Uses • literal language- precise, realistic language • figurative language- uses metaphors, similes and personification to describe things. • sensory language- detailed language that shows how things taste, smell, feel, sound and look.

3. Simile • A simile is a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. • Example: My love is like a red rose. • Example: Her hair is as smooth as silk.

4. Metaphor • A metaphor is a comparison between essentially unlike things without a comparative word such as like or as. • Example: Our friendship is a beautiful waterfall.

5. Personification • Personification is giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas). • Example: The rain kissed my cheek.

6. Hyperbole • A hyperbole is a comparison of two objects using extreme exaggeration. • It is often confused with a simile or a metaphor, because it often compares two objects. The difference is a hyperbole is an exaggeration. • Example: His feet were as big as a barge. • Example: Mile high ice cream cones

7. Alliteration • Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound at the beginning of words. There should be at least two repetitions in a row. • Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

8. Onomatopoeia • Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. • Ex: “Bzzz” refers to a bee

9. Idiom • An idiom is an expression that has a meaning that is different from the usual meaning of the individual words within it. • Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs! • Ex: You’re in hot water.

10. Assonance • Assonance is the repetition of the initial vowel sounds in a sentence, a line of poetry, or prose. There should be at least two repetitions in a row. • Ex:“Daylight faded gracefully away”

11. Consonance • Consonance is the repetition of consonants in a sentence, a line of poetry, or prose. • Ex: “The sailor sings of rope and things”

12. Rhyme Scheme • Rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyming sounds. The poem has a rhyme scheme if the rhyming pattern is consistent throughout the poem. • Ex: Roses are red, violets are blue. Sugar is sweet and so are you.

13. Rhyme Scheme • A rhyme scheme is a regular pattern of rhyme, one that is consistent throughout the extent of the poem.  • Rhyme schemes are labeled according to their rhyme sounds.  Every rhyme sound is given its own letter of the alphabet to distinguish it from the other rhyme sounds that may appear in the poem.  For example, the first rhyme sound of a poem is designated as a.  Every time that rhyme sound appears in the poem, no matter where it is found, it is called a.  The second rhyme sound to appear in the poem is designated b.  Every other time that rhyme sound appears in the poem, no matter where it is found, it is called b.  The third rhyme sound to appear would be c, the fourth d, and so on, for as many rhyme sounds as appear in the poem.The following short poem illustrates the labeling of a rhyme scheme.                  There once was a big brown cat       a                  That liked to eat a lot of mice.         b                  He got all round and fat                   a                  Because they tasted so nice.            b

14. End Rhyme • End rhyme is two lines that end in the same sound. • Ex: “Hickory Dickory Dock, The mouse ran up the clock.”

15. Internal Rhyme • Internal rhyme is two words that end in the same sound IN THE SAME LINE. • Ex: “Hickory Dickory Dock”

16. Free Verse • Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.

17. Repetition • Repetition is the repeating of a word or phrase. • Ex: “tap, tap, tapping on my chamber door” • Ex: “red fish, blue fish”

18. Imagery • Imagery is a vivid picture in one’s mind from powerful writing. • Ex: “red wheelbarrow glistening with rain water beside the white chickens”