Free Figurative and Descriptive Language Posters for English Classrooms

OVERVIEW

This poster pack breaks down eighteen essential English language techniques into clear, visual explanations that students can refer to all year round. Each poster pairs a plain-English definition with a memorable example, making abstract concepts easy to grasp and apply.
The set spans three key areas: figurative language, sound features, and specialised language. Together they give students the vocabulary and confidence to analyse texts more deeply and experiment with their own creative writing.
Designed for display, these posters work equally well as a classroom reference wall, a revision aid before assessments, or a springboard for discussion and writing tasks.

This poster pack provides:

• Figurative Language posters – Cover metaphors, similes, personification, and symbolism, showing students how writers create images and make unexpected connections.
• Sound Features posters – Explore alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, repetition, and homophones/homonyms, highlighting how sound shapes meaning and rhythm.
• Specialised Language posters – Unpack clichés, hyperbole, irony, jargon, oxymorons, rhetorical questions, slang, and synonyms/antonyms.
• Clear definitions – Each poster states what the technique is in accessible language, with no edu-jargon getting in the way.
• Worked examples – Every technique is paired with a real example, from “The sun is a golden coin” to lines from Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise.
• Consistent visual design – A clean, colourful layout keeps the focus on the concept and makes each poster easy to read from across the room.

Teaching Tips

• Build a reference wall: Display the full set together so students can revisit techniques throughout a unit rather than seeing them only once.
• Start with a hunt: Ask students to find each technique in a shared text or song lyric, using the posters as a checklist.
• Prompt creative writing: Set short tasks where students must include a specific technique, using the poster example as a model.
• Use for revision: Turn the posters into quick-fire recall activities before assessments, covering the definition and asking students to supply their own example.
• Compare and contrast: Group related techniques (similes and metaphors, or synonyms and antonyms) to help students notice the subtle differences.