Literary Elements Used in Poetry

1. Literary Elements Used in Poetry

2. Alliteration • Repetition of beginning consonant sounds

3. Example of Alliteration “There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground and swallowscircling with their shimmering sound;” Sara Teasdale

4. Imagery • Use of vivid language to convey sensations

5. Example of Imagery “That morning we galloped through the grassed-over mounds and named each stone for a lost milk tooth. Each dollop of sherbet, later, is a miracle, like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter.” Rita Dove

6. Metaphor • An implied comparison between two unlike things

7. Example of Metaphor “An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick . . .” William Butler Yeats

8. Onomatopoeia • Words that sound like what they mean

9. Example of Onomatopoeia “The rusty spigot sputters, utters a splutter, . . .” Eve Merriam

10. Personification • Giving human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea

11. Example of Personification “Death grinned, and his eyes lit up With the pale glow of those lanterns That workmen carry sometimes To light their way through the dusk.” Donald Justice

12. Simile • An obvious comparison between two unlike things, using “like,” “as,” or “than”

13. Example of Simile “Bulging like a coin purse fallen on the ground Of damp woods.” W. D. Snodgrass