Poetry Terms
Alliteration
The repetition of constant sounds at the beginning of words. The repetition of the initial consonant sound in a series of
words. It adds rhythm or emphasizes emotion (e.g., The menacing moonlight created mystery.)
Allusion
A hidden or indirect reference to events, people, and places in history and other literary works. A reference in a work to a
person, place, event, object, or other work that is meant to extend the reader’s understanding; also an expression designed
to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. Allusions, therefore, may be direct or indirect. (e.g., In his
poem, “And If You Should Leave Me”, Ben Okri makes a direct allusion to the Princess Cassandra from Greek mythology
who rejected love and died a lonely death.)
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words close together in a piece of poetry.
Ballad
A narrative poem with a song-like form usually based on a folk legend, love story, or legend.
Blank Verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter. A type of poetry using five iambic feet. i.e. In the speeches of the major characters in
Shakespeare’s plays.
Color
The effect of color and shading is emotional. Color can be used symbolically. i.e. Green for jealousy or red for danger.
Comparison
Showing the similarities and differences between two things that have something in common.
Contrast
Showing only the differences between two things that have something in common.
Couplet
A pair of rhyming lines.
Diction
Choice or selection of words.
Emphasis
Drawing attention to something by use of color, size, or placement.
End Rhyme
Common form of rhyme at the end of a line of poetry.
Extended Metaphor
When the comparison is carried throughout the text.
Figurative
Meaning/Language
When writing is meant to be understood at a deeper level. Figures of speech such as simile, metaphor, personification, and
other techniques are used to create more vivid, interesting images.
Free Verse
A form of poetry that does not follow a set rhythm. Poetry which has no regular patterns of rhyme, meter, or line length. It
relies on natural speech rhythms and allows the writer flexibility.
Haiku
A seventeen syllable poem, (5, 7, 5). A traditional Japanese three-line poem describing a single image which is usually
about nature or everyday life. The revealed emotions of the speaker are a brief, condensed view of life. The first line is five
syllables, the second line is seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables for a total of seventeen syllables.
Example:
The day dark with rain
Young leaves struggling to open
You too have your tears
Iambic Pentameter
A line of poetry consisting of five feet. E.g.
“When I / see birch / es bend / to left / and right ...” /
Imagery
Language that appeals to the senses of touch, sight, taste, hearing, and smell. When the writer creates a vivid image of
something by appealing to one of the reader’s senses.
Internal Rhyme
Occurs within a line of poetry.
e.g. The deep cut, rough and angled seeped into his grin
Limerick
A five-line nonsense stanza. The form is exact: five lines with a scheme of AABBA with the first, second and fifth lines
having three stresses, the third and fourth having two stresses. The last line is frequently a “punch line”. Punch line – the
phrase or sentence making the point of a joke. Example:
There was a young woman from Gimli
Who sought to walk slender and slimly
She won her heart’s wish
On a diet of fish
And the gravedigger smiled rather grimly.
Literal Meaning/Language
When writing means exactly what it says.
Lyric Poems
Express intense emotional thoughts and moods.
Metaphor
A direct comparison. {The wind is a dancer.}Meter The pattern of rhythm in a line of poetry.
Ode
A longer lyric poem having a serious subject and dignified style, often addressed to some person, natural creature, or
material object. A coronation, a funeral or a birthday are popular vehicles for odes.
Onomatopoeia
The sound of a word resembles its meaning. {e.g. Snap, Crackle, Pop, Buzz, Hiss}
Oxymoron – contradictory
terms
Personification
When human qualities are given to animals or objects.
Poetic Feet
Have been given technical names according to the number and arrangement of the accented and unaccented syllables
within a foot. Iambic – unaccented – accented. E.g. em bark; re late, de fer.
Quatrain –
a four line stanza in a poem
Refrain
A recurring passage or phrase in a poem.
Repetition
The constant statement of an idea.
Rhyme
Matching word sounds; often used in poetry. When these matching words occur at the end of the lines of a poem it is called
End Rhyme. The repetition of the same sound in different words; words are usually positioned close together.
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhymes created by the words used at the end of each line. The repeated patterns of end rhyme in the stanzas
of a poem. It is usually marked by the use of the letter of the alphabet, beginning with and using the same letter to denote
all lines which rhyme.
Rhythm/Meter
A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem. Scansion The analysis of a poem to determine its meter and the
length of its lines.
Simile
A comparison using like or as. {He is as light as a feather.}
Sonnet
A fourteen line poem which follows a set rhyme scheme.
Stanza
Divisions of a poem.
Symbol
An object, which stands for a quality or idea. {e.g. A dove as a symbol for peace or a heart as a symbol for love.}