the deliberate repetition of consonant sounds

example:  Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

the deliberate repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds

example:  Too sweet to eat and can't be beat.

The poet's distinctive choices in vocabulary.

example:  Shakespeare wouldn't say, "Hey, dude;" he would say, "Hello, good fellow."

Repetition of a key word for effect.

example:  "I think about it over and over again...I replay it over and over again...over and over again."

-Nelly and Tim McGraw

Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meanings of the words.

Note:  Most poetic devices involve using language figuratively.

Exaggeration for dramatic effect.

example:  I have a million papers to grade.

Descriptions of people or objects that relate to the five senses:  sight, sound, taste, touch and smell.  Appealing to the senses.

example:  "Or fester like a sore - and then

run?  Does it stink like rotten meat?

A direct comparison not using like or as when one thing is said to be another.

example:  War is a game of checkers. 

Her early leaf's a flower.

Use of words that resemble the sounds they mean.

example:  Boom!  Bang!  Pow!  Crash!

A seeming contradiction in two words put together.

example:  Jumbo Shrimp, Little Giants, Pretty Ugly, Plastic Glasses, A Fine Mess.

Combining ideas that seem to contradict each other.

example:  "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

Applying human characteristics to inanimate objects/inhuman objects.

example:  The trees stared into the breeze.  The wind whispered softly.

A play on words.

example:  When going to a butcher shop you say, "I'll meet you there."  Get it...MEAT!

RHYME

(Ending Rhyme)

Repetition of the same sounds

•End Rhyme - Rhyme in which the rhyming words occur at the ends of lines

Example:  Roses are red; violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet and so are you.

RHYME

(Internal Rhyme)

Rhyme in which the rhyming words occur within a line or lines of poetry

example:  Mother Nature sends fresh showers for thirsty flowers.

Consists of two successive lines of verse with the same end rhyme.  They convey a sense of completion.

example:  Hickory dickory dock,

                         The mouse ran up the clock.

Internal "feel" of beat and meter perceived when poetry is read aloud.

example:  There once was a student at school

Who would not conform to the rule

He used all his time

To write funny rhyme

And limericks he used as his tool.

A comparison using "like" or "as"

example:  You are as skinny as a rail.

You look like a train wreck.