CLASS: SENIOR TWO
COURSE CONTENTS
UNIT I: KEY ASPECTS OF PROSE
UNIT II: SUBJECT, THEMES AND MESSAGES
UNIT III: LITERARY DEVICES AND AUDIENCE
UNIT IV: BALLADS
UNIT V: POETIC DEVICES
UNIT VI: SUBJECT, THEME AND CONTEXT
UNIT VII: DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES
UNIT VIII: SUBJECT MATTER, THEME AND MESSAGE
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UNIT V: POETIC DEVICES
V.1. REVIEW OF POETIC DEVICES
Poetic devices are literary techniques that are used in poetry to create sounds and mental pictures within a poem. Poetic devices make poems pleasant to listen to.
They are also tools that a poet uses to create rhythm, enhance a poem’s meaning, or intensify a mood or a feeling.
- Repetition
It refers to the deliberate use of a word or a group of words over and over again or recurrently in a poem. It is a poetic device that is commonly used.
It is the repeating of a word, a phrase, line, stanza or idea in a poem. Repetition not only creates rhythm in a poem but also establishes unity in the poem as well as helping the poet to emphasize certain ideas.
When repetition is used in the poem, it
–creates rhythm.
–lays emphasis on the theme and main idea in a poem.
–emphasizes the poet’s message and keeps it constantly stuck in the mind of the reader or audience.
Ex1: Smile by Mark Chetambe
They say she smiled at me
I will notslaughter my only cock
I will not throw a party
I will not bring down my flute
I will not compose a song
I will not change my walking style
I will not go to the barber for a box haircut…
Ex2:The Stem of the Branch by L.M. Asiedu
None on earth is like her,
She that made me breathe.
None on earth is like her,
She that filled my stomach.
None on earth is like her,
She that knew why i cried.
None on earth is like her,
She that protected me.
None on earth is like her,
She that gave me my first lessons.
None on earth is like her,
She whose death orphans me.
Ex3: Freedom song by Marjorie Macgoye
Atieno washes dishes,
Atieno plucks the chicken,
Atieno gets up early,
Beds her sacks down in kitchen,
Atieno eight years old,
Atieno yo.
Ex4: Late, Late, So Late
Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill!
Late, late, so late! but we can enter still.
Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.
Ex5: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,….
Remember that there are many types of repetition like anaphora, epistrophe, among others
- Personification
It is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.
Ex1: Pomegranate by Rabiarivelo
The rays of the new-born sun
search under the branches
the breast of ripe pomegranate
and bite it till it bleeds.
Discreet and shuddering kiss
hard and scalding embrace,
Soon the pure thrust
will draw purple blood.
Its taste will be sweeter,
because it was pregnant with desire
And with fearful love
and scented blossoms-
Pregnant by lover sun.
Ex2: Perfume Bottles by Kelly Roper
Pretty little bottles of perfume
Stood at attention on the dresser.
“Which one of us will she choose today?”
And they each took turns being the guesser.
“She’ll choose me,” the first one said,
“Because I smell like roses.”
“Not likely today,” the second bottle said.
“You’ll stink up everyone’s noses.”
“She’ll choose me,” the third bottle said.
“She loves how I smell like sandalwood.”
The second bottle replied again,
“She won’t choose you. I know I never would.”
The woman came in, looked at her perfumes,
Sniffed bottle two and choosed her.
Bottle two cried, “Yes! She chose me, the best;
I guess you other two are the losers!
- Simile
It is a figure of speech which uses the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’ to show the resemblance between two things or it is a comparison which shows similarities between two different things by using words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’.
Ex1: My husband’s tongue
Is bitter like the roots of the lynno lily
It is hot like the penis of the bee,
Like the sting of the kalang!
Ocol’s tongue is fierce like the
arrow of the scorpion,
Deadly like the spear of the
buffalo-hornet.
It is ferocious
Like the poison of a barren woman
And corrosive like the juice of the gourd.
From Song of Lawino by Okot p’ Bitek.
Ex2: During Christmas
We gather as a mass
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums go as we hum.
Like a wild hyena
We laugh in the dance arena
The children graceful as Mary
And together we make merry:
Ex3: The Face of Hunger by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
I counted the ribs on his concertina chest
bones protruding as if chiselled
by a sculptor’s hand of famine.
He looked with glazed pupils
seeing only a bun on some sky-high shelf.
The skin was pale and taut
Like a glove on a doctor’s hand.
His tongue darted in and out
Like a chameleon,
snatching a confetti of flies.
Oh! child,
your stomach is a den of lions
roaring day and night.
Ex4: A Simile by N. Scott Momaday
What did we say to each other
that now we are as the deer
who walk in single file
with heads high
with ears forward
with eyes watchful
with hooves always placed on firm ground
in whose limbs there is latent flight
V.2. FURTHER POETIC DEVICES
- Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line or lines of a poem. It is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Ex: Fleet feet them
Looting hoofers of Bloomington
Blood and blooming
Footing and glooming.
Ex2: -Men sell the wedding bells
-We light fire on the mountain
– How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes
-I see mean people seeking.
-He took a good look
At the nuisance tooth
N.B: You must be very sure of the pronunciation of words. They may seem similar yet they are pronounced differently.
- Alliteration
It is the repetition of initial consonant sounds within words. It is the repetition of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Ex: On his watch
Bleeds black blood
Brothers broken backs
Creature craving for crunches
They snarl.
Farewell for fools
He says
Ex: Plain plan pronounced
Sincere since seventh sabbath
Sweet smell of success
Bigger and better.
. Consonance
It is a repetition of consonant sounds within lines or verses or in a poem.
Ex: –Mike likes his new bike
– I will crawl away the ball
-The zoo was amazing,
especially the lizards and the chimpanzees.
-There is no right time to imitate the teacher.
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