Poetic Techniques

[ysabetwordsmith]

Poets may use a variety of poetic techniques in creating poetry. While some of these are used only in verse, others also appear in prose. The skillful use of literary devices is part of what makes a poem engrossing to read. Here are a few examples...

Alliteration -- the repetition of consonants at the beginning of a word.

Caesura -- a pause or space near the middle of a line of poetry.

End-stopping -- the conclusion of an idea at the end of a line.

Enjambment -- the extension of an idea across two or more lines, breaking in a place other than an ordinary grammatic pause.

Meter -- the rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem.

Onomatopoeia -- words that imitate sounds.

Personification -- portraying nonhuman beings or inanimate objects with human traits.

Repetition -- multiple uses of the same word or phrase to emphasize a point.

Rhyme -- repetition of vowel and consonant sounds at the ends of words, which may be similar or identical, and may form patterns at the ends of lines.

Sense Imagery -- description of sight, sound, smell, taste, or texture in a poem to give the reader a feeling of really being there.

Symbolism -- the use of one thing to stand for another thing, particularly when an abstract concept is represented by a concrete one to make it easier to understand.


What are some of your favorite poetic techniques?