Unseen Poem: Figures of Speech, Rhyme Scheme and Types of Poetry — REET Notes
This page gives you a method for solving Unseen Poem questions, the literary devices (figures of speech) most often asked, how to work out a rhyme scheme, and the poetic forms — sonnet, elegy, ode — that matter for the exam. REET 2024 carried 18 questions from this topic in the English section, making it the single highest-scoring part of English.
- 18 questions in REET 2024
- Secondary-level poem comprehension
- 10 min read
How REET asks this topic
REET 2024 carried 18 questions from Unseen Poem, and most of them test poetic technique rather than the meaning of the poem. Around 12 questions asked for a literary device to be identified directly — for instance, Simile in 'The words fall like swords', Personification in 'Pain from words has left its scar', and Alliteration in 'Stones and sticks break only skin'. 2–3 questions tested rhyme scheme (abab, abba) and rhyming words, and 3 questions covered poetic forms — how many lines a sonnet has, the other name for an English sonnet, and the genre of Oliver Goldsmith's poem on the death of a mad dog (an Elegy). Note: BSER declared two questions BONUS and accepted two answers on two others, because a single line can carry more than one device at once — so practise spotting the 'most obvious' device in every line.
A 5-step method for solving an Unseen Poem
An Unseen Poem gives you a poem, or an excerpt, that may well be outside any textbook, and asks 4–9 questions based on it. Its purpose is to test whether you can follow a poem's language, feeling and craft on your own. It appears in both Language I and Language II at REET.
Step 1 — Read the whole poem twice: once purely to catch the feeling, and again while marking hard words and lines. Step 2 — Form a one-line sense of the title or central idea in your head; the 'suitable title' question is answered directly from this. Step 3 — Read the questions and go straight to the line number they reference ('the seventh line', 'the last four lines') by counting lines from the top. Step 4 — For device questions, check for 'like/as' first (simile), then human qualities given to something non-human (personification), then repeated initial sounds (alliteration). Step 5 — For rhyme scheme, write down the last word of every line and label the sounds with letters.
Remember: poem questions must be answered from what the poem actually says, not from your own guess. For 'The poet wants to say…' type questions, pick the option that matches the feeling of the whole poem, not just one line.
The most frequently asked literary devices
| Device | How to spot it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Simile | A comparison between two different things using 'like' or 'as' | The words fall like swords; as brave as a lion |
| Metaphor | A direct comparison with no like/as — one thing is simply 'called' another | Words are ghosts that haunt me; Time is a thief |
| Personification | Giving a human quality or action to a non-living thing, feeling or animal | The wind whispered; Pain has left its scar |
| Alliteration | Nearby words starting with the same consonant sound | Bats and Bricks; Stones and sticks |
| Assonance | The same vowel sound repeated inside nearby words | Hear the mellow wedding bells (the /e/ sound) |
| Onomatopoeia | A word whose sound itself suggests its meaning | buzz, hiss, splash, tick-tock |
| Hyperbole | Deliberate exaggeration | I have told you a million times |
| Oxymoron | Two contradictory words placed side by side | sweet sorrow, deafening silence |
| Apostrophe | Directly addressing an absent person or a non-living thing | O Death, where is thy sting? |
| Transferred Epithet | An adjective that really describes a person, attached instead to an object | a sleepless night, a sad day |
| Repetition | A word or whole line repeated deliberately, for emphasis | Miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep |
| Imagery | Words that create a picture for the senses — sight, sound, touch and so on | the golden daffodils fluttering in the breeze |
Alliteration is about the consonant sound at the start of words; Assonance is about the vowel sound inside words. Look at sound, not spelling — 'cat' and 'kite' show alliteration.
Rhyme, rhyme scheme and stanza
A rhyme occurs when two words share the same final sound, as in tender–remember, song–long, sort–short. A rhyme at the end of lines is called an end rhyme; a rhyme within a single line is an internal rhyme.
Method for working out a rhyme scheme: label the last word of the first line 'a'. If the last word of the next line rhymes with it, that line is also 'a'; if not, it's 'b'. Each new sound gets the next letter. Example — the opening stanza of Oliver Goldsmith's 'An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog': sort (a), song (b), short (a), long (b) — that is, abab. If the line-ending words in order are day, way, night, light, the scheme is aabb; if they are yes, sky, high, less, it's abba.
A stanza is a group of lines in a poem. A group of two lines is a couplet, three is a tercet, four is a quatrain, six is a sestet, and eight is an octave. Blank verse has no rhyme but does have rhythm (iambic pentameter), while free verse has neither a fixed rhyme nor a fixed rhythm.
Major forms of poetry
| Form | Key feature | What to remember for the exam |
|---|---|---|
| Sonnet | A 14-line poem, originally Italian | Petrarchan (Italian) = octave (abbaabba) + sestet (cdecde or cdcdcd); Shakespearean (English) = three quatrains + a final couplet (abab cdcd efef gg) |
| Elegy | A mournful poem written on someone's death | Goldsmith's 'An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog' (1766) is a comic, mock elegy |
| Ode | A serious, heartfelt poem of praise, addressed to a person, thing or feeling | Recognise it from a title beginning 'Ode to' |
| Lyric | A short, song-like poem expressing the poet's personal feelings | Sonnets, odes and elegies are all considered sub-types of the lyric |
| Ballad | A narrative, song-like poem that tells a story, often in quatrains | Rooted in folk tradition, with dialogue and repetition |
| Limerick | A 5-line comic poem, rhyme scheme aabba | The 'There was an old man…' type |
| Haiku | A 3-line poem of Japanese origin | Traditionally 5-7-5 syllables, depicting nature |
See 'octave and sestet' — think Petrarchan sonnet; see 'a final couplet' — think Shakespearean sonnet.[Source 1]
How to teach this to children
Enjoyment first, analysis later
For Classes 1–5, present the poem with expression and rhythm, sung if possible, with children joining in. For Classes 6–8, do a read-aloud first, then discuss the feeling, and only then move to identifying devices. Drilling a poem like grammar kills interest in it.
Rhyme-hunt activity
Circle the last word of each line of a short poem in coloured chalk and have children find the rhyming pairs, then label each pair a, b, c. Afterwards, they write two of their own lines using the same rhyme.
Teaching aids
Device flashcards (name on one side, example on the other), a picture chart of the poem, and audio recordings; for onomatopoeia, play sounds like rain, a bell, or a bee.
Common misconceptions
Children tend to call every comparison a simile — point out that a comparison without 'like/as' is a metaphor. They often identify alliteration by the letter, when it's really about the sound (city–sun shows alliteration, cat–city doesn't). Rhyme scheme, too, is about pronunciation, not spelling.
Assessment idea
Give a new poem with a 5-question worksheet: the title, the meaning of one word, one device, the rhyme scheme, and 'which line did you like best and why' — that last question assesses appreciation.
Memory trick
Remember the order for spotting devices — 'L-P-S': first look for Like/As (found it? Simile), then check whether something non-living is doing something human (Personification), then match the starting Sound of words (Alliteration). If none of these fit and it's a direct comparison, it's a Metaphor. For sonnets: '14 lines — Italy's 8+6, England's 4+4+4+2'.
REET 2024 questions (solved)
Question 61
The correct example of alliteration is
- ABats and Bricks
- BSlant and Curved
- CCuts and Bruises
- DMind and Heart
Explanation
Alliteration में पास-पास के शब्दों की शुरुआत एक ही व्यंजन ध्वनि से होती है। ‘Bats and Bricks’ में दोनों शब्द /b/ से शुरू होते हैं। ‘Slant and Curved’, ‘Cuts and Bruises’, ‘Mind and Heart’ में आरंभिक ध्वनि समान नहीं है।
Question 62Bonus — dropped in the final key
Identify the literary device used in the line ‘Slant and curved the word sword fall’.
- APersonification
- BAssonance
- CAlliteration
- DRhyme
Explanation
BSER ने final answer key में इस प्रश्न को BONUS (रद्द) घोषित किया है। पंक्ति ‘Slant and curved the word sword fall’ में ‘word’ और ‘sword’ की समान ध्वनि के कारण एक से अधिक उपकरण (जैसे internal rhyme/assonance) तर्कसंगत माने जा सकते हैं और कोई एक विकल्प निर्विवाद रूप से सही नहीं बनता, संभवतः इसी कारण इसे bonus दिया गया।
Question 63
‘The words fall like swords,’ the device used in this line is a
- AAlliteration
- BSimile
- CPersonification
- DHyperbole
Explanation
‘The words fall like swords’ में शब्दों की तुलना तलवारों से ‘like’ शब्द के प्रयोग द्वारा की गई है। ‘like’ या ‘as’ से की गई प्रत्यक्ष तुलना simile (उपमा) कहलाती है।
Question 64
Identify the literary device used in the line ‘Stones and sticks break only skin’.
- ASimile
- BMetaphor
- CAlliteration
- DRhyme
Explanation
‘Stones and sticks break only skin’ में ‘Stones’, ‘sticks’ और ‘skin’ — तीनों शब्द /s/ ध्वनि से शुरू होते हैं। पास-पास के शब्दों में एक ही आरंभिक व्यंजन ध्वनि की पुनरावृत्ति alliteration है।
Question 65
The rhyming words in the poem are
- ATender-Remember
- BFall-Bones
- CBones-Skin
- DScar-Healed
Explanation
कविता के अंतिम पद में ‘tender’ और ‘remember’ पंक्तियों के अंत में आते हैं और दोनों ‘-ender/-ember’ की समान ध्वनि पर समाप्त होते हैं, अतः ये rhyming words हैं। अन्य जोड़ियों के अंत की ध्वनियाँ मेल नहीं खातीं।
Question 66Multiple answers accepted
‘While words are ghosts that haunt me’ the literary device used in this line is
- AMetaphor
- BSimile
- CAlliteration
- DAssonance
Explanation
BSER की final key में (A) और (C) दोनों स्वीकार किए गए हैं। ‘words are ghosts’ में शब्दों को सीधे ‘भूत’ कहा गया है (like/as के बिना), इसलिए यह metaphor है। साथ ही ‘While words’ में /w/ ध्वनि की पुनरावृत्ति है, इसलिए alliteration भी माना जा सकता है।
Question 67
‘Pain from words has left its scar’ is an example of
- ASimile
- BPersonification
- CAlliteration
- DRhyme
Explanation
‘Pain from words has left its scar’ में अमूर्त भाव ‘pain’ को ऐसे दिखाया गया है मानो वह कोई सजीव कर्ता हो जो निशान छोड़ जाता है; अमूर्त वस्तु को सजीव जैसा कार्य करते दिखाना personification (मानवीकरण) है। पंक्ति में like/as नहीं है, इसलिए यह simile नहीं है, और पंक्ति में न तो आरम्भिक व्यंजन की पुनरावृत्ति है न तुकांत। अतः दिए गए विकल्पों में BSER की कुंजी (B) Personification सबसे उपयुक्त है।
Question 88
A sonnet is a short poem of _______ lines.
- Afourteen
- Bsixteen
- Cthirteen
- Dfifteen
Explanation
Sonnet चौदह (14) पंक्तियों की एक छोटी कविता होती है, जैसे Shakespearean sonnet (3 quatrains + 1 couplet) और Petrarchan sonnet (octave + sestet)।
Question 86
______ is the rhyme scheme in the last four lines.
- AA B C D
- BA B A B
- CA B B A
- DA A B B
Explanation
अंतिम चार पंक्तियाँ हैं – 'It pours and pours;' (A), 'and swift and wide,' (B), 'with a muddy tide' (B), 'Like a river down the gutter roars.' (A)। 'pours–roars' और 'wide–tide' की तुकबंदी है, इसलिए rhyme scheme A B B A है।
Question 87
The seventh line is an example of :
- AMetaphor
- BSimile
- CPersonification
- DAlliteration
Explanation
सातवीं पंक्ति 'It pours and pours;' में 'p' व्यंजन-ध्वनि का दोहराव है ('pours … pours')। पास-पास के शब्दों में एक ही आरम्भिक व्यंजन-ध्वनि की पुनरावृत्ति alliteration (अनुप्रास) कहलाती है, इसलिए BSER कुंजी ने (D) माना है। इस पंक्ति में like/as वाली तुलना, रूपक या मानवीकरण नहीं है।
Question 88
Which literary device is used in second and third lines of the extract ?
- AMetaphor
- BSimile
- CAlliteration
- DAssonance
Explanation
दूसरी और तीसरी पंक्तियाँ हैं – 'How it clatters along the roofs, / Like the tramp of hoofs'। यहाँ छत पर बारिश की आवाज़ की तुलना 'like' शब्द द्वारा घोड़ों के खुरों की टाप से की गई है। 'like' या 'as' द्वारा सीधी तुलना simile कहलाती है।
Question 74Multiple answers accepted
‘To every Christian eye;’ The literary device used here is
- ASimile
- BAssonance
- CAlliteration
- DMetaphor
Explanation
BSER की अंतिम कुंजी ने इस प्रश्न के लिए (B) Assonance और (D) Metaphor दोनों को सही माना है। Assonance में निकटवर्ती शब्दों में समान स्वर-ध्वनियों की पुनरावृत्ति होती है, और 'Christian eye' को 'eye' के माध्यम से लोगों की दृष्टि/नज़र के लाक्षणिक प्रयोग के रूप में पढ़ा जा सकता है। बोर्ड ने दो उत्तर स्वीकार करने का कारण नहीं बताया। इस पंक्ति में like/as वाली तुलना (Simile) नहीं है।
Question 75
The line that has the use of alliteration is
- AThe wound it seem’d both sore and sad
- BBut soon a wonder came to light
- CThey swore the Man would die
- DThe Dog was it that died
Explanation
Alliteration (अनुप्रास) में निकटवर्ती शब्दों की आरंभिक व्यंजन ध्वनि दोहराई जाती है। 'The wound it seem’d both sore and sad' में seem’d, sore, sad — तीनों में /s/ ध्वनि की पुनरावृत्ति है। अन्य पंक्तियों में ऐसी स्पष्ट पुनरावृत्ति नहीं है।
Question 76
‘It cannot hold you long’ the object used for personification in this line is
- Adog
- Bsong
- Cmen
- Dpeople
Explanation
'It cannot hold you long' में 'It' कवि के 'song' (गीत) के लिए आया है। गीत को 'hold' (रोककर रखना) जैसा मानवीय कार्य करते दिखाया गया है, इसलिए यहाँ मानवीकरण (personification) का विषय 'song' है।
Question 77
The rhyme scheme in the given stanzas is
- Aabcd
- Baabb
- Cabab
- Dabc abc
Explanation
प्रत्येक पद (stanza) में पहली और तीसरी तथा दूसरी और चौथी पंक्ति की तुक मिलती है — sort/short, song/long; sad/mad, eye/die; light/bite, lied/died। अतः rhyme scheme 'abab' है।
Question 78Bonus — dropped in the final key
‘The man was good as us saint’ the literary device used in this line is
- Apersonification
- Bsimile
- Cassonance
- Dalliteration
Explanation
BSER ने अंतिम उत्तर कुंजी में इस प्रश्न को BONUS (रद्द) घोषित किया है, अर्थात् सभी को अंक दिए गए। संभावित कारण यह है कि 'The man was good as us saint' पंक्ति दी गई कविता में है ही नहीं और प्रश्न में त्रुटि ('as us') छपी है, इसलिए कविता के आधार पर कोई विकल्प निश्चित रूप से सही नहीं ठहराया जा सकता।
Question 82
The English sonnet is also known as
- AShakespearen sonnet
- BMiltonic sonnet
- CWordsworth sonnet
- DColeridge sonnet
Explanation
English sonnet को Shakespearean sonnet भी कहते हैं; इसमें तीन quatrains और एक couplet (abab cdcd efef gg) होते हैं। Miltonic sonnet, Italian (Petrarchan) रूप पर आधारित है।
Question 88
The poem composed by Oliver Goldsmith on the death of a mad dog is
- AElegy
- BSonnet
- CLyric
- DOde
Explanation
ओलिवर गोल्डस्मिथ की कविता 'An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog' है, जो शोकगीत (Elegy) का व्यंग्यात्मक रूप है। दी गई कविता की पंक्तियाँ ('Good people all, of every sort…') इसी से ली गई हैं।
Practice questions
Question 1
Identify the figure of speech in the line ‘The moon smiled at the sleeping village.’
- AOnomatopoeia
- BPersonification
- CSimile
- DAlliteration
Explanation
The moon is non-living, and 'smiled' is a human action, so this is Personification. There's no like/as in the sentence, so it isn't a Simile.
Question 2
Which of the following is an example of alliteration?
- ABig blue balloons
- BSun and moon
- CHeart of stone
- DSilver and gold
Explanation
All three words in 'Big blue balloons' start with the /b/ sound — that's alliteration. The other options have different starting sounds.
Question 3
‘Her smile was as bright as the morning sun.’ The device used here is
- ASimile
- BMetaphor
- COxymoron
- DHyperbole
Explanation
Here 'as … as' compares the smile to the sun, so it's a Simile. A Metaphor would make the same comparison without like/as.
Question 4
The last words of four lines of a stanza are ‘light, rain, night, pain’. The rhyme scheme is
- Aabcd
- Babab
- Caabb
- Dabba
Explanation
light (a), rain (b), night (a), pain (b) — the first and third lines rhyme, as do the second and fourth, giving abab.
Question 5
A Petrarchan sonnet is divided into
- Atwo tercets and an octave
- Bthree quatrains and a couplet
- Can octave and a sestet
- Dfourteen couplets
Explanation
A Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet opens with an 8-line octave followed by a 6-line sestet. Three quatrains and a couplet describe the Shakespearean sonnet instead.
Question 6
‘The buzzing bees hummed around the hive.’ Which device is most clearly present in ‘buzzing’ and ‘hummed’?
- AApostrophe
- BPersonification
- COnomatopoeia
- DMetaphor
Explanation
'Buzzing' and 'hummed' are words whose sound itself carries their meaning, which is Onomatopoeia. There's no comparison or direct address here.
Question 7
‘Life is a long journey.’ The figure of speech is
- AMetaphor
- BHyperbole
- CAlliteration
- DSimile
Explanation
Life is directly called a 'journey' without like/as, which makes this a Metaphor.
Question 8
A poem written to mourn the death of a person is called
- Aa ballad
- Ban ode
- Can elegy
- Da limerick
Explanation
A poem written to mourn someone's death is called an elegy. An ode is a poem of praise, a limerick is a 5-line comic poem, and a ballad is a narrative poem.
Question 9
While teaching a poem to Class 4, the teacher should first
- Arecite the poem with rhythm and let pupils enjoy it
- Bmake pupils memorise the meanings of difficult words
- Cask pupils to find all figures of speech
- Dgive a written test on the poem
Explanation
At the primary level, the first goal of teaching a poem is enjoyment and a feel for its rhythm, so the teacher should recite it with rhythm first. Hunting for figures of speech or memorising word meanings comes later and is secondary.
Question 10
Which of these is NOT a feature of a Shakespearean sonnet?
- AIt ends with a rhyming couplet
- BIts usual rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg
- CIt has an octave and a sestet
- DIt has fourteen lines
Explanation
An octave-and-sestet division is a feature of the Petrarchan sonnet, not the Shakespearean one. A Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines, three quatrains, a closing couplet, and the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions does REET ask from Unseen Poem?+
There's no fixed number, but REET 2024's shifts together carried 18 questions from this topic, mostly on literary devices and rhyme scheme.
What's the difference between Alliteration and Assonance?+
Alliteration is a shared starting consonant sound across nearby words (Bats and Bricks). Assonance is a repeated vowel sound inside words, even if the consonants differ.
How do you tell Simile and Metaphor apart?+
A simile compares using 'like' or 'as' (fall like swords); a metaphor makes the comparison directly, without those words (words are ghosts).
How many lines does a sonnet have, and what are its types?+
A sonnet has 14 lines. The main types are Petrarchan or Italian (octave + sestet) and Shakespearean or English (three quatrains + a couplet).
What is an elegy?+
A poem written to mourn someone's death. Oliver Goldsmith's 'An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog' is a comic, mock version of this same form.
Keep reading
Official Sources
Change Log
- 17 September 2026 — English page published — mirrors the fact-checked Hindi page, independently bilingual-accuracy checked