Literary devices

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Romanticism 1785-1830

• The concept of the poet and the poem: poetry expresses the poet's feelings, the "I" in poems has traits of poet.
• Spontaneity and the impulses of feeling: "spontaneous overflow of feelings" (Wordsworth), free from rules
• Romantic "Nature Poetry": using natural scenes to describe personal feelings.
• The Glorification of the ordinary
• The supernatural
• Individualism

Victorianism 1830-1901

• Pictorial, using detail  to construct visual images representing an emotion or situation
• Distinctive use of sound
• Religious skepticism
• Critical look at society

Analysing poetry

Parts of a poem

1. Form: rhyme scheme, stanzas (and meter).
2. Content: message, use of literary devices.
   

Rhyming scheme

Rhyming scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.

An example of the ABAB rhyming scheme, from "To Anthea, who may Command him Anything", by Robert Herrick:
Bid me to weep, and I will weep         A
While I have eyes to see         B
And having none, yet I will keep         A
A heart to weep for thee         B

What is the rhyming scheme of Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice"

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza (/ˈstænzə/ is a grouped set of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line.

Literary Devices

metaphors, similes, personification and alliteration

What is a metaphor?

Metaphor 

A metaphor compares two similar things by saying that one of them is the other. As you'd likely expect, when it comes to literary devices, this one is a heavy hitter. And if a standard metaphor doesn't do the trick, a writer can always try an extended metaphor: a metaphor that expands on the initial comparison through more elaborate parallels.

Example: Metaphors are literature’s bread and butter (metaphor intended) — good luck finding a novel that is free of them. Here’s one from Frances Hardinge’s A Face Like Glass: “Wishes are thorns, he told himself sharply. They do us no good, just stick into our skin and hurt us.”

Similar term: simile

What is a simile?

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things in an interesting way.  A simile is one of the most common forms of figurative language. Examples of similes can be found just about anywhere from poems to song lyrics and even in everyday conversations.

Similes and metaphors are often confused with one another. The main difference between a simile and metaphor is that a simile uses the words "like" or "as" to draw a comparison and a metaphor simply states the comparison without using "like" or "as".

An example of a simile is: She is as innocent as an angel. An example of a metaphor is: She is an angel. Do you see the difference? The simile makes a direct comparison, the metaphor's comparison is implied but not stated.

What is personification?

Personification

Personification uses human traits to describe non-human things. Again, while the aforementioned anthropomorphism actually applies these traits to non-human things, personification means the behavior of the thing does not actually change. It's personhood in figurative language only.

Example: “Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin.” — The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Similar term: anthropomorphism

What is alliteration?

Alliteration

Alliteration describes a series of words in quick succession that all start with the same letter or sound. It lends a pleasing cadence to prose and poetry both. And if you have any doubts about the impact of alliteration, consider the following unforgettable titles: Love’s Labour’s Lost, Sense and Sensibility, and The Haunting of Hill House.

Example: “Peter Piper picked a pot of pickled peppers.”

Ozymandias by P.B. Shelley

What's this poem's rhyming scheme ?

What's this poem's rhyming scheme?

Find two examples of alliteration

What, according to you, is this poem about?

Is it a Romantic of a Victorian poem? What made you think this?