In addition to structure, there are many devices that are hallmarks of poetry. Other writers sometimes use these devices in their prose, but they are much more common in poetry. There are many poetic devices, but the most common ones are:

• Imagery is illustration through language. The poet creates a mental image using words that appeal to the five senses.
• Alliteration is the repetition of a sound or letter in multiple words. The repeated sound or letter appears at the beginning of each word, and it is frequently a consonant.
• Assonance, on the other hand, is the repetition of vowel sounds in multiple words. These vowel sounds appear within or at the end of each word.
• Personification is when a writer describes an inanimate object using anthropomorphic (human-like) terms. The object cannot literally perform or possess these human actions and traits, but personification allows readers to more closely imagine what the writer is describing.
• Metaphor is a comparison between two things that are unrelated to one another.
• Simile is a metaphor that uses the words “like” or “as.”
• Onomatopoeia is when a word reflects the sound to which it refers. The word “buzz” mimics the “bzzz” sound of a bee as you say it aloud.
• Repetition is the use of the same word many times in a poem or other text. The author emphasizes the importance of the word by repeating it.

Let’s see these terms in action in the following excerpts:

Then from the moorland, by misty crags,
with God’s wrath laden, Grendel came.
The monster was minded of mankind now
sundry to seize in the stately house.
Under welkin he walked, till the wine-palace there, gold-hall of men, he gladly discerned,
flashing with fretwork.

–Beowulf trans. by Frances B. Grummere

This translation of Beowulf uses alliteration. The first line repeats “M” sounds, the second repeats “G” sounds, and so on. Try reading it aloud to hear how alliteration contributes to the rhythm of the poem. Stress the syllables that contain the repeated sounds, and you might be able to hear a beat something like the heavy footsteps of the monster, Grendel.

When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade.
We’ve braved the belly of the beast,
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

Gorman’s poem uses assonance. Pay close attention to the vowel sounds, and you will notice that many of them mimix one another. Examples include “never” and “ending”; “shade” and “wade”; “beast” and “peace”; and “norms” and “notions.”

Alliteration and assonance can help set a mood depending on which sounds they accentuate. The Bouba-Kiki effect speaks to this possibility in an intriguing way. Studies related to this phenomenon have revealed that people frequently associate certain sounds with types of images and features. Take a look at the two shapes below, and guess which one is named Bouba, and which is named Kiki.

Which one is named Bouba, and which is named Kiki?

Most often, people associate the shape on the right with the word “Bouba,” and the one on the left with “Kiki.” It appears that some sounds feel sharp and jagged, while others feel round and smooth. How do you think these associations might impact the mood of an alliterated poem?

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

-“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

The excerpt above uses simile, imagery, and personification. The narrator’s comparison between himself and a cloud in the first line appears as a simile: “lonely as a cloud.” The presence of the word “as” assures readers that the phrase is a simile, rather than a metaphor. The imagery appeals to readers’ senses of sight. One can picture the golden color and vast expanse of the daffodils based on Wordsworth’s words. Personification contributes to this image by making the daffodils “dance.” This action carries a happy, carefree type of movement that would not have been present had Wordworth used a verb like “shuddered” or “jerked.”

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

– “The Bells” by Edgar Allen Poe

Poe uses plenty of onomatopoeia and repetition in this poem. Words like “tinkle” and “jingling” mimic the sounds a bell might make. Through the words themselves, we hear the bells. The repetition of the words “time” and “bells” contribute to the rhythm of the poem, perhaps reflecting the repeating sounds of the bells. What else might these poetic devices contribute to “The Bells”?

As we can see, poetic devices are just like the other “tools” we discussed in our last section; poets can use them to alter the aesthetic of their work, but they are not required in order for a text to qualify as a poem. This often means that poets will use different combinations of poetic devices to create beauty, mood, and complex meaning in their writing.