Rhythmic Devices

Alliteration (use the same initial consonant sound at the beginning of

words)

EXAMPLE: The bumble bee buzzed over the babbling brook.

The chatty children were chastised for throwing chalk.

Rhyme (use the same vowel and consonant combination sound at the
end of sentences in order to create cadence; the number of syllables in
each sentence should be similar)

EXAMPLE: My mother baked a cake (6 syllables)

It wasn’t hard to make (6 syllables)
It became so hard to wait (7 syllables)
For dinner that was at eight (7 syllables)

Onomatopoeia (a word is placed in the poem that sounds like the sound
it makes)

EXAMPLE:Crack! The bat hit the ball at full force!

I finally squished that bug flat.

Repetition (a word or phrase is repeated throughout a line or poem)

EXAMPLE: My grandmother could take a rainy day

And fill it with sunshine.
My grandmother could make a candy bar taste sweeter.
Oh, I wish my children could know my grandmother.
 Figurative Language

Simile – a comparison that use “like” or “as”

EXAMPLE: It was as hot outside as an oven.

Sitting in the pool was like laying in the snow making an
angel.

Metaphor – a comparison without like or as in which one object becomes

the other object

EXAMPLE: Mica was a jewel; always sparkling even when things

looked grim.
The tree was my protector. I could run to it and hide
whenever things got bad.

Hyperbole – an exaggeration that seems truly impossible

EXAMPLE: The sun was beating so strongly I thought I would melt.

The teacher wanted the classroom as quiet as a funeral
when she taught. (This is also a simile!)

Allusion – the writer refers to an event, a story or a pop culture reference

that which everyone should be familiar

EXAMPLE: I am no Mother Theresa.

The girl’s love of sweets was her Achilles’ heel.

Symbolism – using an object to represent something else; the meaning of

symbols can change

EXAMPLE: a “heart” can represent “love”

“red, white and blue” represents “freedom” or “America”
or “patriotism”