1. Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in close proximity. For example, in the lines “But came the waves and washed it away” and “My verse your virtues rare shall eternize.”
2. Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds within words. For example, in the lines “A mortal thing so to immortalize” and “Where whenas death shall all the world subdue.”
3. Personification: Giving human qualities or attributes to non-human entities. For example, the waves are personified as actively washing away the written name, and death is personified as subduing the world.
4. Metaphor: A comparison between two unrelated things to create a vivid image or evoke a certain emotion. For example, the line “let baser things devise / To die in dust, but you shall live by fame” compares the beloved’s immortality through fame to the mortality of other things that perish in dust.

Amoretti Summary