English I (Pre-AP): Literary Devices in "Poetry"

In class we will be examining Pablo Neruda's "Poetry" to find the literary devices he used.

If you don't have your copy from class, print out another copy from this earlier blog post, then annotate it by underlining such things as:

• simile (a comparison using like or as),


• metaphor (a comparison NOT using like or as),


• alliteration (words close to each other beginning with the same sound),


• onomatopoeia (sound effects/sound imagery),


• personification (giving human attributes to non-human things),


• diction (words chosen because their meaning hold special significance),


• oxymoron (a two-word phrase like "jumbo shrimp" or "pretty ugly" that appears to contradict itself, but is true)


• paradox (a self-contradictory statement that nevertheless holds truth: "Socrates: The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." "Chang-Tzu: Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.")


• hyperbole (extreme exaggeration)


• allusion (reference to a literary/historical character or event, for the purpose of drawing a comparison)


• etc.