Description
Explore poetic devices and engage students with pop-culture references using this Literary Device Matching Game! These poetic device game cards showcase examples from both classic literature and contemporary song lyrics. Includes 16 literary device vocabulary terms and 32 examples.
Included with this Literary Device Game Cards:
- Literary Device Match-Up Game Cards – Colour & Greyscale
- Explore 16 common poetic devices including simile, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, alliteration, and onomatopoeia
- Activity features examples from classic literature and contemporary song lyrics
- Answer Key
- Teacher Instructions for using these resources
How to use these Literary Device Game Cards:
Connect your language arts curriculum with student interests by exploring the world of poetry and song lyrics! Use the Match-Up Game Cards to motivate students to explore engaging and relatable examples of literary devices found in both classic literature and pop culture alike. These Literary Device Game Cards are designed to make analyzing figurative language and poetic techniques fun, interactive, and meaningful, giving students the chance to connect academic learning with music, poetry, and everyday expressions. Whether used as an introductory activity or as a review, Literary Device Game Cards help bridge the gap between traditional literature and the modern world your students live in.
To play this Poetic Device Match-Up Game, divide the class into small groups and distribute the game cards. Each set is carefully organized to ensure that students match the correct literary device with its corresponding example, offering a hands-on and collaborative approach to literary analysis. Be sure that each group receives a complete set of cards that align with the literary devices they are meant to explore. To make the setup process simple and efficient, an answer key is provided, making it easy to double-check that all sets are accurate before students begin playing. These Literary Device Game Cards not only reinforce important literary concepts but also encourage active participation, teamwork, and critical thinking.
The poetic devices explored in this activity include a variety of essential literary techniques such as:
- Simile
- Metaphor
- Personification
- Hyperbole
- Symbolism
- Irony
- Alliteration
- Onomatopoeia
- Imagery
- Mood
… and more!
With a total of 16 literary device terms and 32 real-world examples, these Literary Device Game Cards provide a comprehensive review of poetic and figurative language. What makes this set especially engaging is the diverse range of artists and poets featured in the examples, including Lorde, Billie Eilish, Sylvia Plath, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, T.S. Eliot, Queen, Oscar Wilde, Adele, Robert Frost, Bruno Mars, and many more! By connecting literary devices to popular music and famous poetry, students can recognize these techniques in the texts they already love, making learning both authentic and impactful. These Literary Device Game Cards help students see that literary devices are not just confined to classic literature but are all around them—in songs, poems, and everyday language.
This interactive game encourages students to apply their knowledge of literary devices in a fun and engaging way, enhancing both retention and comprehension. By collaborating in small groups, students also build essential teamwork and communication skills, as they must work together to analyze, interpret, and justify their choices. The Literary Device Game Cards serve as an excellent review tool before assessments, a brain break that still promotes learning, or a creative way to launch a unit on poetry and figurative language. This game-based learning activity taps into students’ natural love of music and creativity, turning literary device identification into a dynamic classroom experience.
After the game, you can lead a class discussion to review the correct matches and address any lingering questions, making sure that students understand why each example fits a particular literary device. This post-game discussion is a key opportunity to reinforce learning objectives and promote a supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and sharing their insights. Because figurative language can often be open to interpretation, there are instances where more than one answer may be acceptable, and these possibilities are noted in the answer key provided. This flexible approach encourages critical thinking and analysis, reminding students that literary interpretation can be multifaceted. These Literary Device Game Cards thus serve not only as a review activity but also as a springboard for deeper conversations about language, meaning, and expression in both literature and everyday life.
✨ Kindly note that due to copyright restrictions, this resource is not editable. This is a common practice within the online marketplace in order to protect the clipartists and software providers that have authorized their intellectual property for the development of this resource.
See what other teachers are saying about this Literary Device Game Cards:
“This is a colorful and good resource. I did forget to reduce it a bit to have it fit the page the first time, so I had to reprint – so don’t forget to check that! It is fun for the students and I would definitely recommend it for instruction review variety.”
– Vinessa P.
⭒ For classrooms utilizing Google Classroom® ⭒
To access the digital version of these worksheets, simply follow the instructions within the resource to copy the files directly to your Google Drive®.
