Common poetic devices
Poetic devices are unique ways through which the poet presents the message to the audience. Some of them are usually figurative while others are related to the patterning of sounds. In K.C.S. E, figurative ones are mostly tested in paper 2 while sound patterns are tested in paper 1. Below is a list of some of these poetic devices.
Allusion-this is a reference to a well-known material. A good example is the poem The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, which refers to the coming again of Jesus.
Apostrophe-happens when the persona talks to something that has no hearing ability. This may be a dead person, a tree or an abstract thing such as kindness, life or even death. A. E. Housman's poem To An Athlete Dying Young demonstrates this since the persona addresses a dead athlete.
Assonance-the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close to each other in a line. The words involved must not have similar consonant sounds at the end. For example, "tame" and "plate" have the same diphthong /ei/. On the other hand, what's seen in the words "same" and "tame" is a rhyme and not assonance because they have the same consonant sounds at the end apart from sharing the diphthong /ei/.
Atmosphere-the general/overriding feeling created in the audience by the poem.
cacophony-harsh sounds/words that are difficult to pronounce, usually used in the poem for poetic effects
Caesura-a pause in the middle of a poem. Punctuation marks may or may not be used to indicate this pause
conceit-happens when two very different things are compared
Concrete poem/picture poem-it is a poem whose structure imitates the shape of the subject it talks about. For example, a poem that talks about a flower may have it's lines combined into stanzas that look like a flower.
consonance-is the repetition of end consonant sounds in words that come close to each other in a line but they do not rhyme/the repetition of consonant sounds before and after vowel sounds that are different. For example, "form" and "stem" demonstrate consonance and so do "sign" and "feign".
Enjambment- the continuation of lines of poetry/when lines of poetry jump into the next without pausing. This is usually meant to complete the meaning of lines. The stanza below is an excerpt from Those Winter Sunday by Reobert Hayden. All its lines jump into each other. The reader does not have to stop at the end of any of the lines.
Sundays too my father got up early
And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
From labour in the weekday weather made
Banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
Epic-is a long narrative poem whose subject is a heroic figure from a high social class and performs supernatural things
Epigram-this is a short poem that is witty and philosophical. Usually, it has a moral teaching to the audience.
Hyperbole-also known as overstatement, is the exaggeration of the qualities of somebody or something
A common Swahili expression: Sauti ya kumtoa nyoka pangoni (a voice that's so good that it can attract a snake from its hiding) is an exaggeration of the quality of the voice.
Ideophone-is the imitation of the sound produced when a certain action is performed. It should be known that unlike onomatopoeia, ideophones are abstract words that do not have denotative meanings. Examples include "puuuuu", "tuuf" etc
Imagery-this is made up of stylistic devices that appeal to all the five senses. They include metaphors, similes, vivid descriptions among many other devices that help draw mental images.
Irony-this when the opposite of what is expected is true. There are many types of irony including situational, verbal and dramatic irony (used in plays) among many others.
Limerick-a type of poem meant for children and usually has five lines whose rhyme scheme is aabba
Lyric poem- a very musical poem expressing the feelings of one persona
Metaphor-the comparison of two different things without using words that show comparison. One thing is directly called another thing that is not similar to it,
Meter-the careful patterning of stressed and unstressed syllables (beats) to create rhythm/musicality.
Metonymy-a closely related thing is substituted with the thing itself. For example, the White House to mean the president of the US.
Ode-a lyrical poem usually addressing serious topics such as the essence of life, liberty and truth among others
Onomatopoeia-words that imitate the sounds produced when certain actions are done. Unlike ideophones, they have distinct meanings that are even recorded in the dictionary. Words such as crush, zoom, smash and squeeze are good examples of onomatopoeia.
Open form-these are poems that do not conform to the rules and restrictions of poetry. They lack metering and rhythmic organization. Such poems are also called free verse.
Oxymoron--This is when two contradictory words are used together: clever fool, bitter sweet.
Paradox-this is usually a statement longer than two words. Like oxymoron, the statement contradicts itself. A good example is William Wordsworth's line the child is the father of the man.
Parody-is a poem that humorously imitates an original and more serious poem. Timothy Wangusa's The State is my Shepherd is a parody of Psalms: 23. Consider these two lines from the poem:
The state is my shepherd, I shall not want;
it makes me to lie down in a subsidized house
Persona-this is usually the voice the poet chooses to use in communicating with the audience. The persona is different from the poet: the poet is the writer of the poem while the persona is the voice that speaks in the poem.
Personification-happens when non-human things are given human abilities. Shel Silverstein in the poem "What If" says,
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some Whatifs crawled inside my car
Whatifs are given the ability to crawl
check out personification in context
Prose poem-the The structure of such poems is not versified like ordinary poems. Instead, it is written in paragraph forms like short stories and novels.
Pun-is a wordplay, where a word is used to bring out two or even more meanings. For example, "He nose how to smell it." The word "nose" means both the organ used for smelling and the action of "knowing"
Rhetorical question-a question that does not need to be answered. It is meant to jog the mind of the addressee or demonstrate how much the speaker is engaged in thinking. The poem Ah, Are you Digging on My Grave? has many such questions, including the title itself.
Rhyme-the similarity in end sounds. Usually, it entails the similarity in both vowel and consonant sounds.
Rhythm-also known as musicality, is the regular patterning of beats in a poem in order to make it easier to be performed.
simile-the comparison of two different things using comparative words such as "like" and "as".
sonnet-a type of lyrical poem that has 14 lines that rhyme abab cdcd efef gg
symbol/symbolism-when a concrete object is used to represent an abstract thing or idea. Whereas metaphors compare indirectly, symbols are usually inferred. It's is usually said, "The book came first to Africa then followed by the sword. " Here, the book symbolizes religion, mainly Christianity, while the sword symbolizes the colonist and his ruthlessness when handling Africans.
synecdoche-part of something is made to represent the whole thing. For example, wheels to represent the whole vehicle.
Tone-The quality of voice used by the persona in the poem. Tone can be described using many words.
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