The poetic devices used in The Canterbury Tales include alliteration, allegory, personification, and hyperbole.

In the fourteenth century, alliteration was one of the most popular poetic devices, and though Chaucer does not use it as much as, for instance, Langland does, there are still many examples throughout The Canterbury Tales, as when the Wife of Bath asks:

Who wolde wene, or who wolde suppose
The wo that in myn herte was, and pyne?

Allegory is also used extensively. The entire pilgrimage might be taken as an allegory for the journey of life, while individual tales, such as the Pardoner's Tale, also present allegories within this structure.

Personification also occurs in the Pardoner's Tale, where Death is described as a thief who stabs the hearts of his victims. There is also personification in the way nature is described in the General Prologue. Finally, the poem abounds in hyperbole, often used for comic effect, as when the Miller describes a fart that is as loud as thunder (this, of course, is a simile and an aural image as well as being hyperbole).