Poetic Devices[1] 

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more words in a series (e.g. "Fields ever fresh and groves ever green").

Assonance

A partial rhyme in which the stressed vowel sounds are alike but the consonant sounds are not (e.g. bike and light).

Chiasmus

An inversion of the second of two parallel phrases (e.g. do not live to eat but eat to live).

Hyperbole

An exaggeration meant to emphasize a point rather than to be taken literally (e.g. The whole world is in an uproar over this teaching. This is as old as time).

Inclusio

Personification

The presentation of an idea or value through its expression as a person (e.g. Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares...)

Wordplay

A clever exchange of words, a malapropism^[2]  or a pun.

Notes:

^[1]  A great debt is owed to H. M. Wolf, Interpreting Isaiah and Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, for these materials. Return to Text

^[2]  A silly misuse of words, particularly words that sound like the words substituted (e.g. He is a legend in his own mind (substitution of mind for the correct word - time)). Return to Text