Some poets use tools of comparison to suggest a likeness between one subject and another. A simile is utilized to suggest that two things are much alike, and in doing so point out to the poem's audience the similarity between each thing; a poet might describe a place as being as hot as the Sun, for example. A poet will use a metaphor to describe a subject as something else entirely, and thus illustrate the similarity; "the soldier was a rhino, charging across the battlefield" is an example.
Poets often look to make a person or place in their work more interesting or appealing by exaggerating its qualities. Intense exaggeration is referred to as hyperbole, and is often utilized to illustrate the qualities of a subject in a more dramatic fashion. On the other hand, if a poet wishes to play down the effect of a particular line, she might use a euphemism, which is a deliberate understatement that can often serve to actually emphasize a point.
Repetition can be utilized by a poet to enhance the effect of sounds or the impact of words in his work. Repetition tools include assonance, in which the poet repeats a vowel sound in a line; for example, the lyrics to "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel include the words "moonshot" and "Woodstock" in quick succession. Alliteration is a poetic device that repeats consonant sounds. These sounds are typically found at the start of words, and an example would be: "the silly spaceman signals south."
A key element to some poets' work is that the piece is effective when spoken aloud; this is often the case for performance poets, for example. Such poets might use rhythm as a tool, for instance by using word sounds which, when placed in order, give the work a definite beat. Some poets use onomatopoeic words to add impact to a poem. A word is onomatopoeic if the sound it makes when pronounced aloud resembles the actual sound the word is describing. Examples include "crash," "ping" and "woof."