Theme

Theme Something that is repeatedly often and is one of the main ideas of the story/poem

Example

Metaphor A figure of speech in which one object is compared to another

Example He was a bulldozer on the football field.

Simile A figure of speech in which one object is compared to another by using the words “like” or “as”

Example “I’m exploding like a firework.”

Sensory Images Images in your head from a very detailed description of something often using more than 1 of the 5 senses

Example The vibrant red strawberry juices fell onto the table.

Figurative Language A word or phrase that departs every day literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness

Example He growled like a grizzly bear in the morning.

Parallelism When a writer expresses ideas of equal worth with the same grammatical form

Example I thought about yesterday. I executed today. I planned for tomorrow.

Personification When a nonhuman object takes on a human quality or characteristic

Example The tree danced in the wind.

Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds

Example The black cat sat back and observed.

Repetition Repeating of a sound, word, line, or stanza in a poem

Example “Knock Knock” by Daniel Beaty

Alliteration When two or more words in a poem begin with the same letter or sound

Example Poetry is powerful and purposeful, exceeding in potency.

Allusion A reference to an outside idea.

Example The Simpsons—American Idol

Onomatopoeia When a word sounds like the sound it represents

Example Boom, hiss, buzz, pop

“Ghetto Almanac”