Imagery

Definition: the use of an object that is not really there, in order to create a comparison between one that is. There are six types of imagery : auditory, visual, gustatory, tactile, olfactory, kinesthetic, and organic.

Example: The day was so blistering hot that the sidewalk can easily burn someone's bare feet.

( This shows tactile imagery, because you can feel the hot weather.)

Significance: The use of imagery evokes a more meaningful visual experience for the reader. It allows an author to add depth and understanding to his/her work. Imagery allows the reader to live and feel the poem.

Simile

Definition: a literary device that uses "like" or "as" to compare different things.

Example: 

Life is like a box of chocolates;

You dig through the box until you find the one you like :)

A simile may be as simple as this line.

Significance: A simile is exact and precise, and not as vague as a metaphor. The common comparisons are used to easily let the reader understand the poem. A simile is a figure of speech that allows for the reader or listener to understand a concept through the understanding of a related concept.

 

Repetition

Definition: the action of repeating words and phrases that have already been written in the poem.

Example:

Lines

Draw a line. Write a line. There.
Stay in line, hold the line, a glance
between the lines is fine but don't
turn corners, cross, cut in, go over
or out, between two points of no
return's a line of flight, between
two points of view's a line of vision.
But a line of thought is rarely
straight, an open line's no party
line, however fine your point.
A line of fire communicates, but drop
your weapons and drop your line,
consider the shortest distance from x
to y, let x be me, let y be you.

~Martha Collins

* The word "line" is repeated many times in this poem.

Significance: Repetition can set the mood of the poem as more interesting. Repitition poems are very simple and easy to understand. The poet may be trying to express an emotion or phrase using repetition.

Tone

Definition: the attitude you feel is in the poem, or the mood that was created for the reader.

Example:

"Problems"

2 and 2 are 4.
4 and 4 are 8.

But what would happen
If the last 4 was late?

And how would it be
If one 2 was me?

Or if the first 4 was you
Divided by 2?

~Langston Hughes

* The tone of this poem is satirical and playful.

Significance: The tone of a poem make the readers feel the mood that the poet wanted them to feel. Tones can be happy or tragic, sad or joking, but either way the reader feels something from the poem, which is very important. The attitude of the poem corresponds with the meaning too.

 

 

Significance: The tone of a poem make the readers feel the mood that the poet wanted them to feel. Tones can be happy or tragic, sad or joking, but either way the reader feels something from the poem, which is very important. The attitude of the poem corresponds with the meaning too.

Interpretation

Definition: the explanation of the meaning of the poem.

Example:

 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."
~ Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

( You can interpret from this stanza that a man is sleeping in the middle of the night when suddenly, he hears a tapping on his door.) 

Significance: The interpretation of a poem may be the most important of what you get from reading it. Understanding what the poem is telling you and the explanation is necessary if you want to truly enjoy it. A poem with no meaning, nothing you can interpret from it, is not a good poem.

Methaphor/Extended Metaphor

Definition: a comparison of objects or actions that is not literally applicable, often because it is an exaggeration. An extended metaphor is more than one metaphor in a stanza.

Example: Light blossomed from the Sun, as sky met sea, and the world exploded with colors. 

Significance: Metaphors and extended metaphors are used in poetry to connect with the reader on a more personal level. This makes the poem more interesting and adds more style to the writing. The human brain makes sense of metaphors automatically, so poets use this literary device to help the reader understand.

Speaker

Definition: the person who is telling the poem from their perspective.

Example:

 Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I rise.

~Maya Angelou

(In this case, the speaker can be anybody, but most likely it is the poet.)

Significance: The difference of the speaker and the poet is very important. The poet is not always the speaker. The poet may be writing from the perspective of a family member, friend, or even a complete stranger! The speaker is also the narrator of the poem.