Top Literary Devices in Poetry You Must Learn: Definitions and Examples

The role of 'Sea' in the play, Riders to the Sea

Poetry is a beautiful form of literature that expresses emotions, thoughts and fantasies through words. To understand the poem deeply, it is necessary to know some major literary words. In this article, we will explain important poetry words like "Heroic Couplet", "Image", "Symbol", "Caesura", "Blank Verse" and "Carpe Diem" in simple language.

1. Heroic Couplet

Heroic couplet is a verse of two lines with the same rhythm and rhyme. It is usually written in the Iambic Pentameter. English poets George Herbert and Alexander Pope used it a lot.

Example:

Alexander Pope, “Essay on Criticism”

“A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the pierian spring. "

Here two lines do rhyme ("Thing" - "spring") and are completely in the Iambic Pentameter.

2. Image

In poetry, ‘image’ contains a word that draws a picture in the reader's mind. It can occur in the form of view, smell, touch, taste or sound. The image makes the poem alive.

Example:

"The calm water of the lake looks like a sleeping child in the moonlight night."

Here a beautiful image has been created by connecting the peace of the lake to the child's sleep.

Besides, William Wordsworth wrote in his poem, “Daffodils”, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

"A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. "

Here the view of flowers, lake and air - presents a beautiful natural image.

3. Symbol

Symbol is a word or object which reflects a deep meaning different from its general meaning. This can be a sign of any emotion, thought or concept.

Example:

William Blake, “The Tyger”

"Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright,

In the forests of the night;”

Here "Tiger" is a symbol - of power, mystery and the harsh creation of God.

4. Caesura

Caesura is a break in a line of poetry. This punctuation slows down the speed of poetry and depths emotions.

Example -1:

Alexander Pope's poem "An Essay on Criticism,

"To err is human || to forgive, divine."

Here in the middle '||' There is a break.

Here is '||' Caesura which gives the reader an opportunity to think.

Example- 2:

William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

"To be, || or not to be - that is the question."

Here "||" Or " -" is a sign of Caesura, which brings a mental stagnation.

5. Blank Verse

Blank Verse is a poem in which there is no rhyme but it has a rhythm. It usually occurs in the Iambic Pentameter. English playwright Shakespeare used it a lot.

Specialty:

There is no rhythm

Makes dialogues natural

Example:

John Milton’s “Paradise Lost (Book I, Line 1)”

"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree… ”

Milton wrote the entire Paradise Lost in Blank Verse.

6. Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase that means "enjoy today" or "live the present". This idea suggests that life is small, so every moment should be used.

Many poems present this feeling -

Example: