Stylistic Devices

Front 1

Alliteration

Back 1

When a few words begin with the same letter (it has to be a consonant).

E.g "cry of a child"

Front 2

Assonance

Back 2

The repetition of vowels.

E.g "Bare-handed I hand the combs"

Front 3

Consonance

Back 3

When several words end with the same consonant.

E.g "red / Shred"

Front 4

Cacophony

Back 4

A few harsh sounding words strung together to create an unpleasant sound.

E.g "Black bunched in there like a bat" (in this example harsh alliteration makes that)

Front 5

Euphony

Back 5

A few melodic sounding words strung together to create a pleasant sound.

E.g "Kindess glided about my house"

Front 6

Onomatopoeia

Back 6

When a word sounds like the sound it is describing.

E.g "Giving a shriek and pop"

Front 7

Repetition

Back 7

E.g "The dead bell. / The dead bell."

Front 8

Rhyme

Back 8

E.g "I am ill. / I have taken a pill to kill."

Front 9

Rhythm

Back 9

How a line/ stanza sounds depending on the pattern of accented and non-accented syllables. 2 Feet are 4 syllables.

Front 10

Meter

Back 10

Measured by the number of feet in a line.

Front 11

Syllables

Back 11

E.g "old" is one syllable; "sweetness" is two syllables.

Front 12

Allegory

Back 12

A word or a phrase which has connotations or which symbolises divinity. Metaphorical symbols used consistently throughout a poem to represent a historical event.

E.g "O You"

Front 13

Metonym

Back 13

A word or an object used to represent a big idea.

E.g "The vivid tulips eat my oxygen"

Front 14

Oxymoron

Back 14

E.g "living doll"

Front 15

Paradox

Back 15

A line which expresses a controversy.

E.g "With her lion-red body, her wings of glass"

Power and fragility

Front 16

Personification

Back 16

E.g "Kindness glides about my house"

Front 17

Simile

Back 17

E.g "Your mouth opens clean as a cat's"

Front 18

Symbol

Back 18

E.g "The tulips are too excitable"

Front 19

Synecdoche

Back 19

When a part of an object is used to represent the entire object.

E.g "The throats of our wrists bare lilies."

Front 20

Allusion

Back 20

E.g poem "Edge" alludes to Greek goddess Medea which killed her children.

Front 21

Speaker
Line
Pun
Stanza

Back 21

Who is the speaker?
How long is the line?
What mood/tone does this pun create?
How many stanzas are there?

Front 22

Ambiguity

Back 22

Vagueness.

E.g "it will work without thinking"

Front 23

Analogy

Back 23

Often a far fetched example or comparison.

E.g "Dying / Is an art, like everything else."

Front 24

Apostrophe

Back 24

The poet/speaker directly addressing the intended reader/addressee.

E.g "Will you marry it?"

Front 25

Cliché

Back 25

Often used to create an ironic tone.

E.g "Your handful of notes; The clear vowels rise like balloons"

Front 26

Connotation

Back 26

E.g "mirror" has connotations of superficiality and vanity.

Front 27

Denotation

Back 27

E.g "mirror" is a reflective surface.

Front 28

Contrast

Back 28

E.g "He does not smile or smoke. / The other does that"

Front 29

Euphemism

Back 29

E.g "This is the easy time"

Front 30

Hyperbole

Back 30

E.g "I could not run without having to run forever."

Front 31

Irony

Back 31

E.g "she is so nice!"

Front 32

Metaphor

Back 32

E.g "I have been flickering, off, on, off, on."

Front 33

Rhetorical question

Back 33

E.g "why am I cold."

Front 34

Rhyme scheme

Back 34

Rhyme schemes are used to create a certain rhythm or to draw attention to certain words or phrases.

Front 35

Enjambment

Back 35

A sentence running through to the next line. This is heavily used to create a stream of consciousness.

Front 36

Form

Back 36

Structure
E.g Blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter

Front 37

Point of view

Back 37

1st person uses "I"
3rd person, the speaker speaks of other characters without directly mentioning themselves.
3rd person omniscient, the speaker is not part of the story and is objective.

Front 38

Speaker

Back 38

Is the speaker a persona or the poet herself?
From what point of view is the speaker narrating the poem.

Front 39

Free verse

Back 39

No prescribed pattern or structure. Plath uses this most of the time.

Front 40

Imagery

Back 40

E.g "Each dead child coiled, a white serpent"

Front 41

Synaesthesia

Back 41

E.g "odours bleed"

Front 42

Tone

Mood

Back 42

Tone is created by the diction used an influences the mood.

E.g "It can sew, it can cook" -- ironic tone.