Poetic Devices for My Papa's Waltz

POETIC DEVICES IN MY PAPA’S WALTZ

1. Rhyme Scheme- a repeated pattern of rhymed words at the end of the line
This poem has a simple ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH rhyme scheme, meaning that every other line within a stanza rhymes.

Example: The whiskey on your breath (A) Could make a small boy dizzy; (B) But I hung on like death: (A) Such waltzing was not easy. (B)

The lines with corresponding letters rhyme. The B rhyme in this stanza is an example of a slant rhyme – "dizzy" sounds a bit like "easy," but isn't a perfect rhyme.

2.Rhyme- a pattern of words that contain similar sounds at the end of the line. It consists of four quatrains, each line being an iambic tritameter.

Example: You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt. The waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt

3.Stanza The poem consists of four stanzas, with four lines each.

4. Alliteration – repetition of the initial consonant sounds Example : 1. Such waltzing was not easy. (Stanza 1 line 4)

2. My mother’s countenance (Stanza 2 line 3) 3. The hand that held my wrist(Stanza 3 line1)

5. Simile- a comparison using like or as

Example: 1. But I hung on like death( Stanza 1 line 3)

6. Hyperbole-obvious and intentional exaggeration

Example: 1. But I hung on like death( Stanza 1 line 3)

2. We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf; (Stanza 2 line 1 and 2)

7. Metaphor-comparison of unlike things

Example: 1.You beat time on my head(Stanza 4 line 1)can mean harsh or depicting an abusive relationship. 2. Such waltzing was not easy (Stanza 1 line 4) - Waltzing could be a metaphor for playful roughhousing ,wrestling or romping that the father and son engaged in.

8. Imagenery-language that evokes sensory images

Example: 1. The Whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy;( olfactory/smell) The two lines relate to the father being drunk.

2. My right ear scraped a buckle (tactile/touch) The pain that the pressed buckle on the belt is causing the boy.

3. The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” can give the image that maybe the father is forcing the boy to dance.

9. Consonance- repetition of consonant sound

Example : knuckle and buckle

Dizzy and easy

10.Type of line- enjambment- line does not end with a punctuation

Example: 1.The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle:

2. You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt