Poetic Devices Class 10 — Explanations and Examples

1. Simile Comparing two different things using words like 'as' or 'like'.

• Example: 'As brave as a lion.' / 'Her face, ashen like that of a corpse' (My Mother at Sixty-six).

2. Metaphor A direct comparison between two things without using 'like' or 'as'.

• Example: 'He is a lion in battle.' / 'The world is a stage.'

3. Alliteration Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of closely placed words.

• Example: 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore.'

4. Personification Giving human qualities to non-human things or ideas.

• Example: 'The wind howled in the night.' / 'The trees danced.'

5. Repetition Repeating a word or phrase for emphasis.

• Example: 'Smile and smile and smile.'

6. Oxymoron Placing two opposite/contradictory words side by side.

• Example: 'Bitter-sweet', 'Deafening silence', 'Cruel kindness'.

7. Enjambment When a sentence runs over from one poetic line to the next without any punctuation mark at the end of the line.

8. Onomatopoeia Words that imitate the natural sound of a thing.

• Example: 'The buzzing bee', 'The water splashed'.