Poetry can follow a strict structure, or none at all, but many different types of

poems use poetic devices. Poetic devices are tools that a poet can use to
create rhythm, enhance a poem's meaning, or intensify a mood or feeling.
These devices help piece the poem together, much like a hammer and nails
join planks of wood together. Some of these devices are used in literature as
well, but for the sake of clarity, we will look at all of these devices through the
lens of poetry.

Devices That Create Rhythm

Let's start with some of the devices that can be used to create rhythm,
including repetition, syllable variation, and rhyming.

In poetry, repetition is repeating words, phrases, or lines. For example, Edgar

Allen Poe's poem 'The Bells' repeats the word 'bells.' By doing so, Poe creates
a sing-song rhythm similar to that of bells ringing.

To the swinging and the ringing

of the bells, bells, bells--
A unit of poetic meter, also known as a foot, consists of various combinations
of stressed and unstressed syllables. There are several types of feet in poetry,
and they can all be used to create rhythm. One example is an anapest. An
anapest consists of two unaccented syllables with an accented one right
after it, such as com-pre-HEND or in-ter-VENE.

An anapestic meter creates rhythm in Byron's poem 'The Destruction of

Sennacherib.' Read the lines and count out the syllables, noting how every
third syllable is the accented one. Anapestic meter is challenging to craft, but
it creates a powerful rhythmic flow as seen below.

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
The reverse of an anapest is a dactyl. It is a stressed syllable followed by two
unstressed ones, such as FLUT-ter-ing or BLACK-ber-ry. Tennyson's poem 'The
Charge of the Light Brigade' uses dactyl meter. As you read the lines, you'll
notice that the poet consistently follows the pattern of one stressed syllable
then two unstressed syllables.

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Half a league, half a league
Rhyming is another common poetic device used to create rhythm. There are
several types of rhyming devices.

One example is a couplet, or two rhymed lines that are together and may or
may not stand alone within a poem. Shakespeare's sonnets end in couplets,
as in his Sonnet 29. Shakespeare's couplet below consists of two lines that
have end rhyme because of the words 'brings' and 'kings.'

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Another example of rhyming in poetry is internal rhyme, which is a rhyme that
typically occurs within the same line of poetry. Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven'
uses internal rhyme with the words 'dreary' and 'weary':

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary

Unlike an internal rhyme, an end rhyme occurs when two words at the end of
lines rhyme. Emily Dickinson's poem 'A Word' uses end rhyme by rhyming the
words 'dead' and 'said' at the end of the lines.

A word is dead
When it is said

Devices That Enhance Meaning

There are many devices that can enhance the meaning of a poem. A simile is
a comparison between two unlike things. Similes use the words 'like' or 'as.' A
simile can get the reader to look at something in a different way. In 'Harlem,'
Langston Hughes compares a dream deferred to a raisin using the word 'like.'
His comparison encourages the reader to look at raisins and dreams
postponed in a new way.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
In contrast to a simile, a metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things
without using the words like or as. A metaphor uses the senses and compares
two things in a meaningful way. John Donne's poem 'The Sun Rising' uses a
powerful metaphor:

She is all states, and all princes, I.

Through this comparison, Donne is saying that his beloved is richer than all
states, while he is richer than the princes because of their love, and he does
not use 'like' or 'as' in his comparison.

Many poets also use a symbol, or an object that means more than itself and
represents something else. In Robert Frost's poem 'The Road Not Taken,' he
talks about deciding which path to take when coming to a fork in the road.
The fork and the two routes that result symbolize choices in life, a specific
decision that must be made, etc. So, the actual road that he describes
represents something much greater that what it is.

Poets may also use imagery, or words to create an image in the reader's mind.
Imagery is based on our five senses, though visual imagery is used the most.
The images contribute to a poem's meaning. In William Wordsworth's poem 'I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,' his emotions build with the images he creates.
Notice how Wordsworth's lines create images in your head because of the
specific details that he uses, thereby creating imagery.

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;

Devices That Intensify Mood

Some devices are used solely to intensify the mood of the poem. An example
is a hyperbole, an exaggeration that is used for dramatic effect. John Donne
uses hyperbole in his poem 'Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star.'

Ride ten thousand days and nights,

'Til age snow white hairs on thee,
Obviously, ten thousand days and nights might be a bit of an exaggeration (as
is claiming that we'll be white-haired by the time the journey is over), but the
point gets across: a long, long time will pass.

The effect of an alliteration is to add artistic style to a poem or other literary form. ...
An alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound that typically occurs at the
beginning of words appearing in a series.
What is the effect of alliteration in poem? A: The effect of an alliteration is to add artistic
style to a poem or other literary form. An alliteration creates a musical quality when reading
or reciting...