Poetry Terms and Examples

Swimming with the fishes

• assonance

• euphemism

• idiom

• oxymoron

He passed away

• idiom

• onomatopoeia

• parallelism

• euphemism

She is awfully pretty

• oxymoron

• simile

• alliteration

• personification

She sells seashells

• metaphor

• simile

• alliteration

• consonance

Joan groaned in a low tone

• assonance

• consonance

• alliteration

• onomatopoeia

The thick bricks stick quick

• parallelism

• repetition

• consonance

• assonance

It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times.

• repetition

• parallelism

• simile

• hyperbole

Her eyes were as blue as the sky

• metaphor

• repetition

• parallelism

• simile

The devoted father was a rock for his family

• simile

• hyperbole

• metaphor

• euphemism

The trees whispered their songs of spring

• personification

• idiom

• hyperbole

• oxymoron