Kōkiri Learn

Background reading · English

The poet's toolkit

A quick guide to the language features poets use, with examples from everyday life in Aotearoa.

Every poet carries a toolkit. The tools are called language features or poetic devices. You already use many of them without knowing. When you say 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse', you are using hyperbole. The trick is to choose tools on purpose.

Tools that make pictures

  • Simile: comparing two things using 'like' or 'as'. 'The bus was as slow as a wētā in winter.' - Metaphor: saying one thing is another. 'The motorway is a river of red lights.' - Personification: giving human actions to things that are not human. 'The wind argued with the washing line.' - Imagery: words that let you see, hear, smell, taste or touch something.

    • Tools that make sounds

  • Alliteration: words close together that start with the same sound. 'Pōhutukawa petals pile on the path.' - Onomatopoeia: words that sound like what they mean. Splat, crunch, whoosh, sizzle. - Repetition: using a word or line again for effect. It can build power, like a drumbeat. - Rhythm and rhyme: the beat of the lines and words that end with the same sound.

    • Tools that make a point

  • Hyperbole: exaggeration for effect. 'I've told you a million times.' - Rhetorical question: a question that makes the audience think, not answer. 'Who decided kids can't change things?' - Contrast: putting opposites side by side. 'The city roars; the harbour whispers.' - Allusion: a quick reference to a story, event or person the audience already knows.

    • Choosing the right tool

    A poem stuffed with every device is like a sandwich with twenty fillings: too much to taste any of them. Strong poets pick one or two tools that fit the feeling. A gentle poem about a sleeping baby might use soft sounds and long lines. A poem about a storm might use short lines, hard sounds and repetition.

    When you read a poem, name the tool and then ask the more important question: what does it do to me as a reader? 'This is a metaphor' is a start. 'This metaphor makes the motorway feel alive and a bit dangerous' is real understanding.

    Sources and further reading

    Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

    Used in: Word Weavers: Poetry and Performance