Poetic Devices Practice
& Quiz
1 Poetry Devices Exercises © 2001-2011 www.traceeorman.com
Practice in identifying poetic devices Name: __________________________
1. CIRCLE the letters that demonstrate alliteration in lines 5-8 by Bob Dylan:
1 Then take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
5 Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
10 I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you.
--from “Mr. Tamborine Man”
2. WRITE the words that demonstrate personification from lines 1-4 in #1:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. UNDERLINE the example of a simile in the following lines by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel:
1 When you're weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all.
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough and friends just can't be found,
like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.
4 Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.
--from “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
4. CIRCLE the example of eye rhyme from the lines of poetry by Robert Burns:
1 Poor is the task to please a barb'rous throng,
It needs no Siddons' powers in Southern's song;
But here an ancient nation, fam'd afar,
For genius, learning high, as great in war.
Hail, Caledonia, name for ever dear!
6 Before whose sons I'm honour'd to appear?
--from “Prolouge”
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5. CIRCLE the words that demonstrate near/half/impure rhyme from the lines of poetry by Wilfred
Owen:
But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,
That they should be as stones.
Wretched are they, and mean
With paucity that never was simplicity.
By choice they made themselves immune
To pity and whatever moans in man
Before the last sea and the hapless stars;
Whatever mourns when many leave these shores;
Whatever shares
The eternal reciprocity of tears.
--from “Insensibility” by Wilfred Owen
6. UNDERLINE the two words of the metaphor in the lines from the lyrics by Madonna:
You must be my lucky star
'Cause you make the darkness seem so far
And when I'm lost you'll be my guide
I just turn around and you're by my side
--from “Lucky Star”
7. CIRCLE the words that rhyme (true rhyme) in #6.
8. UNDERLINE the words that demonstrate near/half/impure rhyme in the rap lines by Nas:
I got so many rhymes I don't think I'm too sane,
Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain,
And be prosperous, though we live dangerous,
Cops could just arrest me, blaming us, we're held like hostages.
--from “NY State of Mind”
9. CIRCLE the simile in #8.
10. Which poem is an example of “carpe diem” poetry? ________ WHY?
________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
A. “She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep” B. “The Taxi” by Amy Lowell C. “Come, My Celia” by Ben Jonson
by Robert Graves When I go away from you Come, my Celia, let us prove
She tells her love while half asleep, The world beats dead While we may, the sports of love;
In the dark hours, Like a slackened drum. Time will not be ours forever;
With half words whispered low; I call out for you against the jutted stars He at length our good will sever.
As earth stirs in her winter sleep And shout into the ridges of the wind. Spend not then his gifts in vain.
And puts out grass and flowers Streets coming fast, Suns that set may rise again;
Despite the snow, One after the other, But if once we lose this light,
Despite the falling snow. Wedge you away from me, 'Tis with us perpetual night.
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes Why should we defer our joys?
So that I can no longer see your face. Fame and rumor are but toys.
Why should I leave you, Cannot we delude the eyes
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of Of a few poor household spies,
the night? Or his easier ears beguile,
So removed by our wile?
'Tis no sin love's fruit to steal;
But the sweet theft to reveal.
To be taken, to be seen,
These have crimes accounted been.
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More Practice!
Poetic Devices Name: _____________________________
In Maya Angelou’s poem “Alone,” FIND & LABEL (by circling the words and letters and writing
off to the side the poetic device it’s using) the examples of the following: alliteration,
Draw a line to and list the example(s) of alliteration:
personification, metaphor, and simile.
______________________________________________
Lying, thinking
Last night ______________________________________________
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty ______________________________________________
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing ______________________________________________
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody, ______________________________________________
But nobody
Can make it out here alone. _____
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody Draw a line to and list the example(s) of personification:
Can make it out here alone.
______________________________________________
There are some millionaires ______________________________________________
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees ______________________________________________
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors ______________________________________________
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody ____
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Draw a line to and list the example(s) of metaphor:
Alone, all alone
______________________________________________
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
______________________________________________
Now if you listen closely ______________________________________________
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering ______________________________________________
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering ____
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody Draw a line to and list the example(s) of simile:
Can make it out here alone.
______________________________________________
Alone, all alone
______________________________________________
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone. ______________________________________________
______________________________________________
____
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QUIZ over what you learned!
Poetic Devices Name: _____________________________
Read the poem “Dream Deferred” and answer questions 1-3 about ALLITERATION, RHYME, & SIMILE:
A Dream Deferred 1. Write the words and CIRCLE the letter in the
by Langston Hughes
words that demonstrate alliteration:
What happens to a dream deferred? ________________________________________
________________________________________
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore— 2. Annotate the rhyme scheme and number the
And then run?
stanzas.
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet? 3. Circle one example of a simile from this poem;
make sure you write BOTH things that are being
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. compared: ________________________________
________________________________
Or does it explode?
Ex. The bride was glowing like the morning sunrise.
The bride is compared to a morning sunrise.
READ the poem “Time” and answer questions 4-5 regarding METAPHOR & PERSONIFICATION:
Time
by Valerie Bloom
Time’s a bird, which leaves its footprints
At the corners of your eyes,
Time’s a jockey, racing horses,
The sun and moon across the skies.
Time’s a thief, stealing your beauty,
Leaving you with tears and sighs,
But you waste time trying to catch him,
Time’s a bird and Time just flies.
4. Give one example of a metaphor; make sure you write BOTH things that are being compared:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Write the word that is being personified & what it is doing to demonstrate this: ___________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Poetry Devices Quiz Name: ________________________________
MATCHING: Look at the bolded letters in each example and match with the appropriate term.
_____ 1. Alliteration A. We are stuck on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of an
ocean of prosperity. -Martin Luther King, Jr.
_____ 2. Assonance B. The snow tickled our cheeks as it fell from the sky.
_____ 3.Simile C. She circled the city streets, looking for someone.
_____ 4. Metaphor D. The mad, sad, dad did real bad!
_____ 5. Onomatopoeia E. Like a diamond, my new iPod sparkled when I held it in my hand.
_____ 6. Personification F. His alarm beeped until he threw it across the room.
MATCHING: Match the term with its definition.
_____ 8. Lyric Poetry A. The repetition of vowel sounds within or at the beginning syllables of
sentences/phrases.
_____ 9. Alliteration B. A poem that evokes a feeling or emotion; repeating verse
_____ 10. Assonance C. non-human things or ideas possess human qualities or actions
_____ 11. Personification D. A comparison of two unlike things without using like or as.
_____ 12. Simile E. The repetition of a sound at the beginning of neighboring words.
_____ 13. Hyperbole F. A comparison of two things using like or as.
_____ 14. Metaphor G. An obvious and deliberate exaggeration.
_____ 15. Onomatopoeia H. Words which imitate the sound they refer to.
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YOUR NAME: ___________________________________________________________
Poetic Devices Project
SHOW ME THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED HOW TO RECOGNIZE POETIC DEVICES!
Objective: You will identify poetic devices in songs of your own choosing & share with the class in a
presentation.
Assignment: Create a Keynote (or Powerpoint) Presentation Identifying the Poetic Devices from Song
Lyrics.
You will “teach” the class how you identified each device in one or more songs. You may include the
music to the song, BUT you must not go over EIGHT MINUTES. At eight minutes your presentation
will end, and you will only be graded on the first eight minutes. Therefore, you may have to “splice”
your song (just use a portion of it). You do NOT have to have the music to use those lyrics.
Assignment is Due: _________________________________________________________
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