Alliteration: The close repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words.
For example:
- Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered(r sound)
- Her asset was clinical, crushing…(k sound)
- By ill-mannered silence, surrender(s sound)
- Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification. (s sound)
- Silence for spectroscopic(s sound)
- Flight of fancy…(f sound)
- One moment madam…(m sound)
- Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap. (r sound)
-[Telephonic Conversation]
- And bosom beating with a heart renew’d
- Yearning for thy yoke
- Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears.
- Glow with the glow.
-[Tithonus]
- His father made a habit out of hitting him. (h sound)
- Little boy living in a house (l sound)
- half the passion that was held in the hands of a young boy who was hard of hearing (h sound)
- mock the man, make fun of the madness by mimicking the movements. (m sound)
- Causing comets to collide, creating crescendos (c sound)
- The main MUST be a genius. (m sound)
-[Beethoven]
- mist on the mountain tops
- for the future
- The dead are placed pointing west
- we all want to walk with the gods
-[Small Towns and the River]
- Die not, poor Death (sound ‘d‘)
- but thy pictures be (sound ‘b‘)
- Much pleasure; then from thee much more must’ flow (sound m)
- why swell’st thou then? (sound ‘th‘)
- we wake eternally (sound ‘w‘)
- Death, thou shalt die. (sound ‘d’)
-[Death be not Proud]
Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds in neighbouring words.
For example:
Lipstick-coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was fully.
“HOW DARK?”
-[Telephonic Conversation]
- The man got down on his knees for no one (o sound)
- His father made a habit out of hitting him. (i sound)
-[Beethoven]
- thou think’st thou
- much more must
- bones and soul’s
- slave to fate
- desperate men
-[Death be not Proud]
Allusion: A reference to other works or cultures in either prose or poetry.
Antithesis: An arrangement of words or phrases designed to stress contrasts or opposites.
For example:
Life and Death, life and death
-[Small Towns and the River]
Anti-climax: A sudden fall from a lofty to a mean, from an elevated to a commonplace subject
Enjambment: It is a poetic device where a sentence or phrase runs over the end of one line of verse into the next line without a pause or punctuation.
For example:
“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece.” WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,
“DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.”…
-[Telephonic Conversation]
- Living in a house where mercy had to be earned through each perfect note tumbling
- up through the roof to tickle the toes of angels who’s harps couldn’t hold half the passion that was held in the hands of a young boy who was hard of hearing.
- He couldn’t hear the audience clapping
- couldn’t hear the women in the front row whispering.
- So they tried to mock the man, make fun of the madness by mimicking the movements, holding their bow’s
- a quarter of an inch above the strings not making a sound.
-[Beethoven]
Onomatopoeia: Onomatopoeia is a language that mimics natural sounds, like “splash” or “boom,” enhancing descriptive vividness in writing and poetry, capturing auditory experiences with direct phonetic representation.
For example:
- pound out rhythms
- cymbals that crash together
- causing comets to collide
- creating crescendos
-[Beethoven]
Caesura: It is a poetic device in which there is a pause in the middle of a line of poetry.
For example:
“HOW DARK?”…I had not misheard…” ARE YOU LIGHT”
OR VERY DARK?”Button B. Button A. Stench
-[Telephonic Conversation]
Pun: A pun is a humorous play on words that exploits the multiple meanings of a word or the similarity in sound between different words with different meanings.
For example:
‘Stench/ of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.’
-[Telephonic Conversation]
Simile: A simile compares two unlike things using “like” or “as” to create vivid imagery. For example, “Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.”
For example:
You mean-like plain or milk chocolate?
Like brunette
-[Telephonic Conversation]
- A white-hair’d shadow roaming like a dreak.
- Like wealthy men, who care not how they give
- Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing
- While Ilion like a mist nose into towers.
–[Tithonus]
like the torrent of grief.-
[Small Towns and the River]
Metaphor: Similar to a simile, a metaphor directly equates two, unlike things for rhetorical effect, often without using “like” or “as”. For example, “Time is a thief.”
For example:
…Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped…..
In the above lines, the landlady’s voice is not literally ‘coated’ in lipstick,’ nor is it literally a ‘gold-rolled/Cigarette-holder. By comparing the landlady’s voice to these, the speaker suggests that her voice is haughty, aristocratic, and condescending.
- …Button B. Button A. Stench
- Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
- …wavelength adjusted
- …West African sepia
- Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
- My bottom raven black
-[Telephonic Conversation]
- ‘A white-hair’d shadow’ is a metaphor used for Tithonus, who became nothing but a mere shadow of his past after attaining the gift of immortality.
- ‘beat the twilight into flakes of fire’ is a metaphor to describe how Eos’ horses shake away the darkness from their loosened manes and make the twilight look like flakes of fire. It shows Eos getting ready for her daily chore of dissolving darkness with her bright light.
-[Tithonus]
- Small towns always remind me of death.
- in the dreadful silence.
- In the cool bamboo, restored in sunlight…
-[Small Towns and the River]
Personification: Personification attributes human qualities or emotions to non-human things or abstract concepts. For example, “The wind whispered through the trees.”
For example:
- angels who’s harps could not hold half the passion that was held in the hands of a young boy.
In the above lines, harps’ have been given the human characteristic of having passion.
- the music invade their nervous system. In the above line, music has been attributed with the human quality of having passion.
- invading amputated the legs of his piano.
In the above line, the legs’ of the piano are represented as being of a human and are amputated.
- entire universe had begun to cry.
In the above line, the universe has been given the human characteristic of crying.
-[Beethoven]
- the wind howling down the gorge.
In the above line, wind is personified by giving it the trait of howling and making it a symbol for the valley of death. The river has a soul In the above line, like a human being, the river has a soul. Further, it has been given human traits like having ‘torrent of grief’, holding its ‘breath’, the river ‘knows’.
- Small towns grow with anxiety. In the above line small towns have been attributed with the quality of growth.
-[Small Towns and the River]
- poor Death.
-[Death be not Proud]
Hyperbole: Hyperbole is an exaggeration used for emphasis or effect. For example, “I’ve told you a million times.”
For example:
- the distances reaching past the Towers of Babylon
- turning solar systems into cymbals that crash together
- shook the constellations until the stars began to fall from the sky.
-[Beethoven]
Imagery: Imagery refers to vivid and descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to create mental images and evoke emotions. Poets use imagery extensively to bring their poems to life.
For example:
Visual Imagery
- Like for the first time we could watch love and hate
Auditory Imagery
- We heard his father’s anthem every time he put finger to ivory.
- He couldn’t hear the audience’s clapping.
- cannon balls detonating every molecule in their body.
- cymbals that crash together.
- creating crescendos that were so loud.
Tactile Imagery
- tickle the toes of angels
- joy was a tangible thing like you could touch it.
-[Beethoven]
- my hometown lies calmly amidst the trees.
- looking at the sad wreath of tuberoses
- mist on the mountain tops
- cool bamboo
- restored in sunlight
-[Small Towns and the River]
Symbolism: Symbolism involves using symbols—objects, characters, figures, or colours—to represent abstract ideas or concepts. For example, a dove often symbolizes peace.
Irony: Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is opposite to their literal meaning or an outcome contrary to what was expected. There are different types of irony such as verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.
Polyptoton: It is a figure of speech that involves the repetition of words derived from the same root.
For example:
Silence. Silenced transmission
-[Telephonic Conversation]