In literature, a poetic device is a technique that creates a specific effect in a poem. There are many different poetic devices, and they can be used in different ways to create different effects. In this blog post, we will explore 10 different poetic devices, with their definitions & examples.
| S.No. | Poetic Device | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simile | a literary device used for comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind using “as” or “like” | “Like dew, how long shall I wait for the first flash of the sun?“ |
| 2 | Metaphor | a literary device that pulls comparisons between two unrelated ideas | the nectar of knowledge |
| 3 | Personification | the attribution of human characteristics to non-human things. | A host, of golden daffodils; ……..dancing in the breeze. |
| 4 | Alliteration | the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words | Claire, close your cluttered closet |
| 5 | Hyperbole | it is an exaggerated statement | Ten thousand I saw at a glance |
| 6 | Enjambment | continuation of sentences to more than 1 line | “I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I / Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?“ |
| 7 | Transferred Epithet | A transferred epithet is when an adjective is applied to a noun to make it describe a person or thing. | “happy marriage” |
| 8 | Onomatopoeia | the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named | the “tick-tock” of a clock |
| 9 | Repetition | the repetition of a word, phrase or sentence for poetic effect | “And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.“ |
| 10 | Pun | a play on words | “When I consider how my light is spent“ |
In conclusion, poetic devices can be both abstract and complex, as well as subtle and obvious.
