Poetic Devices

Defined and Selected
for Elementary Students
by Judi Moreillon

Illustrated with Masks
by Sabino High School Students
(2003)

Japanese Noh Mask
by Beth

Meaning

repetition of the initial consonant sounds

Personal Mask
by Sandra Hallquist

The poorest juggler ever seen
was clumsy Clara Creech,
who juggled a bean, a nectarine,
a pumpkin, and a peach.

Jack Prelutsky

comparison of unlike things
(made without using like or as)

Colors loud enough to be heard

Walter Dean Myers

Personal Mask
by Matt Richards

a word that imitates the sound it represents

Venetian Mask
by Christia

All is still while the moon glows
save crickets chirping lullabies.

Juanita Havill

giving human qualities or characteristics
to animals or objects

el Sol
me llama
por la ventana

"despierta
levántate
ven afuera"

Francisco X. Alarcón

the Sun
calls me
through the window

"wake up
get up
come on out"

Personal Mask
by Kayla

using the same words or phrases in the same stanza or in a pattern in the poem

How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved hook of the moon tonight!

Langston Hughes

a pattern of words that contains similar sounds
at the end of the line

My Valentine
Has eyes of green
With twenty eyebrows in between.
Her skin is blue.
Her head is square.
She hasn't got a brain in there.

Myra Cohn Livingston

Personal Mask
by Randi Grossman

a repeated pattern of rhymed words
at the end of the line

Mexican Mask
by Joanna

I'll tell you the story of Clooney the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.

Shel Silverstein

Rhyme scheme: AABB

comparing two physically dissimilar things using "like" or "as"

Personal Mask
by Kim Troyan

a group of poetic lines

(The example shows two stanzas.)

Place, sound,
Celebration,
Memories of feelings, of place

A journey on the A Train
that started on the banks of the Niger
And has not ended

Walter Dean Myers