Poetic Devices – Techniques used to give writing style as well as emphasis and meaning.
Types of poetic Devices:
Imagery – Creating images using words.
Stanza – Adding division into the poem by grouping two or more lines together. The stanzas are usually similar in length, meter and rhyme.
Refrain – A line or lines repeated in intervals throughout the poem. This is done to convey a certain message across to the reader.
Rhyme – Words with similar sounds either at the beginning of the word or the sound at the end of the word places close together in order to emphasis their similar sounds. It usually occurs at the end of lines (end rhyme), but it may occur within a line of poetry (internal rhyme.
Rhyme Scheme – A pattern of rhyme in a poem, shown by marking similar sounds with the same letter of the alphabet at the end of the line.
For example:
steeple A
town B
people A
down B
- There fore the rhyme scheme is ABAB
Rhythm – Pattern of stressed and unstressed sounds, this may be similar to a beat in a song.
Activity 1: (group work) For each of the above poetic devices, explain why poets may use that particular device. Write down your explanations and report back to the class.
Types of poetry:
Blank verse – There is no clear rhythm, it often resembles ordinary speech. Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Narrative poem – In layman terms, a poem that tells a story. Examples of types of Narrative poetry are Ballads and Epics.
Lyrical poem – Expresses emotions of the speaker by revealing personal thoughts and emotions. Typically quite short in length.
Ballad poem – As mentioned above, a ballad tells a story. Ballads can also be expressed in song and forms one of the earliest forms of literature.
Bonus* Elegy – A dignified poem mourning the death of someone of importance. For Example: “O Captain! My Captain!” (Walt Whitman’s elegy to president Lincoln).
Activity 2: Find different examples of the poems mentioned above and quote a line that clearly shows the type of poem that it is. Write these examples in your workbooks as well as the name of the poem from where you got your quote.
Luke Parsons 