Reading and Literature Studies · Reading Like a Grade 10 Critic: Literature, Information and ShakespeareElements of Style in Poetry: Diction, Imagery, Figurative Language and Sound
2.3 1.6About 70 minutes
Learning goals- I can identify a variety of elements of style in poems.
- I can explain how sound devices support meaning.
- I can explain how figurative language, including extended metaphor and apostrophe, communicates ideas.
- I can compare how different poets use style for different effects.
Words to know
style
The way a writer uses words, images, sounds and sentences.
diction
Word choice.
imagery
Language that appeals to the senses.
personification
Giving human qualities to something non-human.
extended metaphor
A metaphor developed over several lines or a whole text.
apostrophe
Speaking directly to something absent or non-human.
alliteration
Repetition of starting consonant sounds.
assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds.
enjambment
When a sentence runs on past the end of a line of poetry.
Hook: say it plain, then say it like a poet
The eagle sat on a rock and then dove. True, but forgettable. Tennyson wrote: He clasps the crag with crooked hands... And like a thunderbolt he falls. Same event. The difference is style: the choices a writer makes with words, images, sounds and sentences.
Remember from Grade 9
In Grade 9 you studied voice, word choice, word patterns and sentence structure in poetry and prose. Grade 10 asks you to identify a variety of elements of style and explain how they communicate meaning and make a text more effective.
A toolkit of style elements
Diction (word choice): formal or informal, concrete or abstract, words with strong connotations.
Imagery: language that appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).
Figurative language:
- Simile: comparison with like or as (like a thunderbolt).
- Metaphor: says one thing is another.
- Extended metaphor: a metaphor developed over several lines or a whole poem.
- Personification: human qualities given to non-human things (the wrinkled sea... crawls).
- Apostrophe: speaking directly to something absent or non-human (O wind!).
- Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration.
Sound devices:
- Alliteration: repeated starting consonant sounds (clasps the crag with crooked).
- Assonance: repeated vowel sounds (the long o in Close and lonely in line 2 of The Eagle).
- Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds (crack, hiss).
- Rhyme and rhythm: patterns of matching sounds and beats.
Structure: line breaks, enjambment (a sentence running on past the line end), stanza shape and punctuation.
The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1851; public domain)
He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Words to know: crag = a steep, rough rock face; azure = bright blue.
Worked exampleLet's analyse style in The Eagle
Identify four elements of style in The Eagle and explain how each helps communicate meaning.
- Alliteration: clasps the crag with crooked repeats a hard /k/ sound. The harsh sound suggests strength and grip.
- Personification: the eagle has hands, and stands like a king ring'd with the azure world. This makes the eagle seem human, proud and powerful, ruling its kingdom.
- Perspective and imagery: from up high, the wrinkled sea beneath him crawls. The huge, dangerous sea looks tiny and slow, like wrinkled skin. This imagery shows how high and mighty the eagle is.
- Simile and structure: And like a thunderbolt he falls. The whole poem is still until the last line, then sudden speed. A thunderbolt suggests power, speed and danger. Placing it last makes the ending strike like the dive itself.
- Rhyme: each stanza uses one rhyme sound three times (hands/lands/stands; crawls/walls/falls). The tight, repeated rhymes make the poem feel compact and controlled, like the eagle.
Alliteration (strength), personification (pride and power), imagery from above (height), a final simile (sudden speed and danger), and triple rhymes (control) all build a picture of the eagle as a powerful ruler.
More poems, more styles
From I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (1807, revised 1815; public domain)
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
From The Song My Paddle Sings by E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) (1890s; public domain)
West wind, blow from your prairie nest, Blow from the mountains, blow from the west. The sail is idle, the sailor too; O! wind of the west, we wait for you.
From "Hope" is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson (written about 1861; published 1891; public domain)
"Hope" is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -
Worked exampleLet's compare elements of style across poems
Identify one key element of style in each of the three excerpts and explain its effect.
- Wordsworth, simile and personification: lonely as a cloud compares the speaker to a drifting cloud (isolated, aimless). Then the daffodils are a crowd, dancing in the breeze: personified as joyful company. The contrast between lonely cloud and dancing crowd shows nature lifting the speaker's mood.
- Johnson, apostrophe and repetition: the speaker speaks directly to the wind (O! wind of the west, we wait for you) as if it were a person who can choose to come. Blow repeats three times, like a call or chant, and the w sounds (West wind... west... wind of the west, we wait) create a soft, breathy sound like wind itself. The effect: impatience and a close, personal relationship with the natural world.
- Dickinson, extended metaphor and dashes: hope is a bird throughout (feathers, perches, sings). The metaphor suggests hope is light, lives inside us, and never stops. Her dashes break lines into short bursts, slowing readers down and making each idea land separately.
- Overall: the same toolkit, used differently: Wordsworth to show change of mood, Johnson to show relationship with nature, Dickinson to make an abstract feeling concrete.
Wordsworth: simile/personification contrast (loneliness to joy). Johnson: apostrophe, repetition and alliteration (calling to the wind). Dickinson: extended metaphor and dashes (hope made concrete and steady).
Just for funBiology check: real eagles have talons, not crooked hands. Tennyson wasn't confused about birds. Giving an eagle hands is personification, and it makes the bird seem like a proud king rather than just a bird on a rock.
Hands-on activitySound and image lab
You need: a notebook, a window or a walk outside (dress for the weather), and a phone or voice recorder if a grown-up says it's okay (optional).
- Spend five minutes observing one thing in nature: a crow on a hydro wire, snow on a cedar hedge, a squirrel, a puddle.
- Write a plain sentence describing it. Then rewrite it as a 4 to 6 line poem using at least three elements of style: one sound device, one figure of speech and one strong image.
- Label each element in the margin and write what effect you intended.
- Read your poem aloud and listen. Revise one line to make the sound match the meaning better (sharp sounds for sharp things, soft sounds for soft things).
What to look for: correctly labelled elements, and explanations of effect (not just it sounds nice).
Your turn
1What is the difference between alliteration and assonance?
Alliteration repeats starting consonant sounds; assonance repeats vowel sounds.
2Identify the simile in The Eagle and explain its effect.
Like a thunderbolt he falls: suggests sudden speed, power and danger.
3Why does Tennyson say the sea crawls?
From high above, the sea looks slow and small, showing how high the eagle is (also personification).
4What is an extended metaphor? Give the example from Dickinson.
A metaphor developed across several lines. Dickinson's hope = a bird (feathers, perches, sings) runs through the stanza.
5What is apostrophe, and where does Johnson use it?
Speaking directly to something absent or non-human. Johnson addresses the wind: O! wind of the west, we wait for you.
6What effect do Dickinson's dashes have?
They create pauses, breaking ideas into short bursts and slowing the reader down.
7Find the personification in Wordsworth's lines.
The daffodils are a crowd, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
More practice: warm-up
2Name the five senses imagery can appeal to.
Sight, sound, touch, taste, smell.
3Is I wandered lonely as a cloud a simile or a metaphor?
5What is the rhyme pattern in each stanza of The Eagle?
AAA then BBB: one sound three times per stanza.
More practice: on your own
1Explain how the structure of The Eagle (stillness, then a final action) creates an effect.
Five lines of stillness build tension; the last line's sudden dive feels as fast and shocking as a thunderbolt. The structure imitates the event.
2Why might Johnson repeat blow three times?
It sounds like a call or chant, showing impatience and urging the wind to come; repetition also creates rhythm, like paddling.
3Explain the contrast between lonely and crowd in Wordsworth's stanza.
The lonely speaker meets a crowd of daffodils. Nature becomes company, suggesting it can cure loneliness.
4What does sings the tune without the words suggest about hope?
Hope is a feeling, not a reasoned argument; it can comfort us even when we can't explain why things will be okay.
5Write a line about a snowstorm using onomatopoeia and personification. Label both.
Sample: The wind whooshed (onomatopoeia) down the street, shoving (personification) the parked cars with icy shoulders.
Challenge
1Write an analytical paragraph explaining how two elements of style in The Eagle work together to present the eagle as a ruler.
Sample: Tennyson uses personification and perspective to crown the eagle a king. Giving the bird 'crooked hands' and having it 'stand' 'ring'd with the azure world' makes it a proud human figure surrounded by its realm, almost like a king encircled by a crown. The perspective from above reinforces this power: 'the wrinkled sea beneath him crawls', so even the ocean seems small and humble below him. Together, these elements turn a bird on a rock into a monarch watching over its kingdom.
2Compare how Wordsworth and Johnson present the relationship between people and nature. Use one quotation from each.
Wordsworth's speaker is a passive observer who is surprised and cheered by nature (all at once I saw a crowd). Johnson's speaker is in a relationship with nature, speaking directly to the wind and depending on it (O! wind of the west, we wait for you). One watches; the other calls and waits as if to a partner.
3Rewrite Dickinson's first line as a simile instead of a metaphor. Argue which version is more effective.
Sample simile: Hope is like a thing with feathers. Most readers find the metaphor stronger: it says hope is the bird, making the link more confident and the image more vivid. A like comparison keeps hope and bird apart and weakens the extended metaphor.
Quiz
1. He clasps the crag with crooked hands mainly shows...
2. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls is an example of...
3. In Dickinson's poem, hope is compared to...
4. O! wind of the west, we wait for you uses...
5. Why is like a thunderbolt placed in the last line of The Eagle?
6. Which repeats a vowel sound?
What this lesson teaches: ENG2D Reading 2.3 (identifying elements of style and explaining how they communicate meaning and enhance effectiveness), with analysis of how figures of speech help create meaning and mood (1.6).
How to help at home:
- Read The Eagle aloud together twice, once fast and once slowly. Talk about which way suits it.
- When your teen names a device, ask "What does it do?"
- Point out style in songs your teen likes; lyrics use the same toolkit.
Common difficulties:
- Device-spotting without effect. The marks are in the explanation.
- Alliteration by letter, not sound. Cat and city start with the same letter but not the same sound.
- Old words (o'er = over; host = a large crowd).
Facts used: The Eagle (Tennyson) was first published in 1851. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (Wordsworth) was first published in 1807; the lines quoted are from Wordsworth's revised 1815 version, the one usually printed today (the 1807 text reads A host of dancing Daffodils; / Along the Lake, beneath the trees, / Ten thousand dancing in the breeze). "Hope" is the thing with feathers (Dickinson) was written around 1861 and published after her death in 1891. The Song My Paddle Sings by E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) was published in the 1890s and collected in The White Wampum (1895). All are in the public domain.