“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”
― Robert Frost
― Robert Frost
A simile is the comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as". Writers use similes to help a reader visualize or understand something, or to help readers see something in a new way.
The similes in this poem about two trees, a willow and a ginko, are italicized:
"Simile: Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merrriam
The willow is like an etching,
Fine-lined against the sky.
The ginkgo is like a crude sketch,
Hardly worthy to be signed.
The willow's music is like a soprano
Delicate and thin.
The ginkgo's tune is like a chorus
With everyone joining in.
Metaphors also compare two unlike things, but they do not use the words "like" or "as". The following poem contains two metaphors about life:
Dreams
By Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Personification is the technique of giving non-human things human qualities, such as the ability to talk, hear, feel, or make decisions. Writers might use personification to make something easier to understand by making it relate to humans, or they might use it for emphasis to make something stand out.
This poem is an excellent example of personification:
"Summer Grass" by Carl Sandburg
Summer grass aches and whispers
It wants something: it calls and sings; it pours
out wishes to the overhead stars.
The rain hears; the rain answers; the rain is slow
coming; the rain wets the face of the grass
Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound almost exactly like the sound they make. Examples are "crash," "slurp" and "bang."
Onomatopoeia (by Eve Merriam)
The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash
splatters
scatters
spurts
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
The similes in this poem about two trees, a willow and a ginko, are italicized:
"Simile: Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merrriam
The willow is like an etching,
Fine-lined against the sky.
The ginkgo is like a crude sketch,
Hardly worthy to be signed.
The willow's music is like a soprano
Delicate and thin.
The ginkgo's tune is like a chorus
With everyone joining in.
Metaphors also compare two unlike things, but they do not use the words "like" or "as". The following poem contains two metaphors about life:
Dreams
By Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Personification is the technique of giving non-human things human qualities, such as the ability to talk, hear, feel, or make decisions. Writers might use personification to make something easier to understand by making it relate to humans, or they might use it for emphasis to make something stand out.
This poem is an excellent example of personification:
"Summer Grass" by Carl Sandburg
Summer grass aches and whispers
It wants something: it calls and sings; it pours
out wishes to the overhead stars.
The rain hears; the rain answers; the rain is slow
coming; the rain wets the face of the grass
Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound almost exactly like the sound they make. Examples are "crash," "slurp" and "bang."
Onomatopoeia (by Eve Merriam)
The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash
splatters
scatters
spurts
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.