Poetic Devices that Bring Your Poetry to Life

Now that we have covered a lot about meter and rhyme, it is time to start writing, and to
find out how our Free Verse can sound more poetic.

First, I want to present a list of Poetic Devices, and the meaning of each, or how they
enhance your poetry.

Alliteration: The repetition of a beginning word sound.

Example: Rain rages roughly through the day.

Allusion: a casual reference to someone or something in history or literature that creates a mental picture

Example: No John Kennedy he,
Talking not so properly,
But a man seemingly uneducated,
Attempts to claim his destiny.

Caesura: the pausing or stopping within a line of poetry caused by needed punctuation.

Example:

Living, breathing apathy
Ceases energy, interest, desire
Rising to higher planes,
Never stopping to rest.

Enjambment: the continuation of thought or subject from one line of poetry to another without punctuation needed at the end of the previous line(s).

Example:

Walking on a broken street
Of heart-break, of desire,
Lovers find their world
Left lorn, without hope.

Metaphor: the comparison of two unlike things, naming one as if it is the other.

Example:

Sunshine smiles shine,
Down from Heaven's door,
Bringing hopeful joy to trace
Rainbows from an artist's brush.

Onomatopoeia: the sound the thing identified by the word makes.

Example:

As flashing lightning streaks,
Thunder roars, "Booooom! Craashh! Eyow!.

Simile: comparison of two unlike things using 'as' or 'like' (example: a blanket soft as down).

Example:

The kitten's fir is soft as down,
His purring like a lullaby.

Imagery: using words in your poetry to create a mental picture

Blank Verse: strict iambic pentameter in un-rhymed lines

Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds, as Sylvia Plath's "Strips of tinfoil winking like people" (from "The Bee Meeting.")

Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds

Nonce Form: a poetic form created for a specific poem

Read through these poetic devices and think about how you can use them in your poetry.
Then try writing and using some of them in a poem. Do not overdo using them in a
specific poem.

Be sure to use these Poetic Devices in your Free Verse. They will bring a more poetic
aura to your poetry. Of course, you can use them in rhymed and metered verse also. Just
remember the old adage, less is more, don't over-do it. If you do end up with three or
more alliterations in one line, it is okay if there are other words separating them. See line
two of second stanza below. Also, note in last line of that stanza.

In another article, I will talk about some Traditional forms and also some more
contemporary forms.

Below is a poem I wrote some time ago. Read it and see if you can find some poetic
devices therein, and what they are. Try writing one of your own.

Nocturnal Themes

Out of the night, as a psalm -
notes and chords played on nocturnal breeze.
The desert reaches - cool, crisp,
as cicadas pluck their strings,
sending haunting sounds that bounce
from rock-to-rock.

From somewhere within a deep canyon,
eerie echoes seek a sense
of auditory measure, immersing
the night in cries of the wild.
Let them find your secret space,
where you may revel in rare requiem.

As clouds move across the moon,
plunging all under shadowed shroud,
the nuances of night, be they bold
or gentle, still swell from nature's
corners, crevices, her womb -
where her children are all born minstrels.

(c 7/1999)

Sources:

The Poetry Dictionary, by John Drury, Story Press, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1995, pp.27, 177,
188, 256.
Personal experience/knowledge