Poetic Devices
The poet’s job is to choose the right words. The right words can move the reader. The right words can give the reader a new lens through which to view the world. The right words can change lives.
Poetic devices are the internal workings of the poem, rather like our heart and lungs. We don’t see these but they are crucial to the life of the poem. Poetic devices provide a bridge over which we can access the poets truths.
A Woman Speaks
I have been woman
for a long time
beware my smile
I am treacherous with old magic
and the noon’s new fury
with all your wide futures
promised
I am
woman
and not white.
A Woman Speaks by Audre Lorde
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Maya Angelou
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.