Alliteration--  Repeated beginning consonant sounds, such as "Bob bounced the basketball on the bench," "multi-colored flowers in the meadow below Moses Mountain."

Consonance-- Repeated consonant sounds, such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." For example: "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" 

Personification-- Giving HUMAN attributes to an animal, object or idea; such as "The clouds parted and the sun smiled down upon us," "Thunder growled," "The book sits on the desk waiting for me."

Onomatopoeia-- (ah no mah toe pee ah) Words that sound like the sound they make, such as Bam! Pop! Bang! slap gurgle Phzzzzt

Simile-- Comparing two things that are different and finding a similarity -- write it using like or as , such as comparing how high the eagle flies to how a skyscraper is. The eagle flies as high as a skyscraper, or comparing the speed of the runner to a cheetah: Hank sprinted as fast as a cheetah, or comparing eyes to stars: Her sparkling eyes were like stars.

Metaphor -- comparing two different objects without like or as ---  "He was a cheetah sprinting on the track," "Her sparkling eyes are stars."

Imagery: Use The Senses-- Write all sights, sounds, smells, tastes, texture, feelings about your topic

Describe what it LOOKs like.

What does it sound like?

How might it smell, taste?

How might it feel if you touched it?

Ideas from the poem: piercing eyes; white head; crooked yellow talons; munching grass; flapping in the cold winter wind

Hyperbole -- extreme exaggeration. “His grin is as wide as the ocean!”  "She is as tall as a mountain!”

Author Musts:

Vivid verbs-- Action words like flies, spread, searching, hops, munches, drops, fold, dives, scoop, flaps, flows

Nifty nouns-- Specific nouns (persons, places, things, ideas); instead of dog, say German Shepard; instead of fast, say 100 miles an hour; instead animal, say rabbit or snake

Assonance-- Repeated vowel sounds, such as flies across the skies

Consonance— Repeated consonant sounds: bounce the basketball on the backboard

Repeated words--  Repeat words for effect, like "hops, munches, hops, munches" to show the rabbit doesn't know the danger

Other Poetic Devices:

Rhyme-- Repeated ending sounds, such as fold, cold; poems do NOT need to rhyme

Line breaks-- Wherever you want the reader to pause or look carefully at a phrase, put a line break there (hit return).