Poetic+Techniques

Simile – when something or someone is compared to something else using ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example ‘skinny as a stick’, ‘fat like a cat’.

Metaphor – A way to describe something by comparing it to something else without using the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’. For example, ‘When Chris runs he is a speeding bullet’.

Rhyme – Likeness/similarity of sound between words or syllables or the end of lines in a poem. For example, cat & mat, or ‘the mouse lived in the house’.

Alliteration – When the beginning of each word starts with the same letter/sound. For example, ‘Tom tickled the Tiger’s tummy’ or ‘dew drops running down daisies’.

Assonance – Is when you start two or more words with the same vowel sound. It is like alliteration, except the words start with a vowel not a consonant.

Repetition – When words or letters are repeated. It can be a recurring idea rather than the exact same word. This adds emphasis or importance to the word/idea that has been repeated.

Personification – When an object or an animal is described as having a human quality (that is, being like or being able to do something only a human can do). For example, ‘the chair danced across the room’.

Onomatopoeia – words that are written as they sound or when they are pronounced sound like the meaning of the word. For example, boom, bang, crash, woof, smack.

Stanza – A stanza is a section (like a paragraph) of a poem. It is like the verse of a song and usually consists of up to 4 or more lines. The lines in the same stanza may have a fixed length or set rhyme scheme. Often a stanza will focus on one contained idea.

Juxtaposition – When two different things are placed together to highlight the contrast/difference between them.