Poetic Terms Study Guide

terms.

Alliteration

The same initial consonant sound is repeated in two or more neighboring words to create rhythm.

Allusion

A brief indirect reference to a person, event, literary work, or cultural artifact from outside the poem itself.

Analogy

A literary device that compares two different things or concepts to provide a deeper understanding.

Assonance

A literary device where vowel sounds are repeated in nearby words, create a smooth musical flow.

Anaphora

A rhetorical device that involves the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or phrases.

Cacaphony

The literary device of using harsh, discortant or unharmonius sounds to create a jarring, noisy, or unpleasant effect.

Caesura

A natural pause or break within a line, a verse, separating it into two logical parts.

Connotation

The emotional or cultural association that a word carries beyond its literary definition.

Consonance

A resemblance in sound between two words, or an initial rhyme.

Denotation

A word points to, names, or refers to, either in the world of things or in mind, this only includes the words literal meaning, no metaphors and stuff.

Dissonance

A disruption of harmonic sounds or rhythms. Like cacophony, it refers to a harsh collection of sounds, dissonance is usually intentional.

End-Stopped Lines

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break, such as a dash or closing parenthesis, or with punctuation like periods. 

End Rhyme

When the last syllables with a verse rhyme.

Enjambment

The running over of a sentence or phrases from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped.

Euphony

The pleasing harmonious arrangement of sounds in language

Homonym

Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, to create wordplay, ambiguity, puns, and deeper thematic connections.

Homophone

Words pronounced the same but with different meanings and often different spellings. (like: to, too, two, see, sea)

Hyperbole

A figure of speech composed of a striking exaggeration.

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs in the middle of lines and not at the end.

Irony

As a literary device, it implies a distance between what is said and what is meant. Based on the context, the reader is able to see the implied meaning in spite of the contradiction.

Juxtaposition

Literary device that places two or more contrasting ideas, images, or themes side by side to highlight their differences or similarities.

Line break

Where one line ends and another begins.

Meter

Fundamental rhythmic structure of a poem, pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Mood

Overall emotional atmosphere or feeling that a poem evokes in the reader.

Motif

A central or recurring image or action in a literary work that adds to the work’s larger meaning, unlike themes.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which a word imitates the sound associated with an action or an object, effectively mimicking the sound it describes.

Paradox

Figure of speech, it is a seemingly self-contradictory phrase or concept that illuminates a truth. Ex: “Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”

Repetition

Intentionally repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas to emphasize a key idea.

Rhyme

The repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line.

Rhythm

An audible pattern in verse established by the intervals between stressed syllables.

Sensory Detail

Descriptive language to appeal to the readers 5 senses.

Sibilance

Repetition of s and sh sounds and sometimes f, z, or v to create a distinct hissing or whispering effect.

Stanza

A grouping of lines separated from others in a poem.

Synechdoche

A figure of speech where a part of something is used to represent the whole, or the whole is used to represent a part.

Symbol

Uses objects, people, places, actions, or images to represent deeper, often abstract, ideas beyond their literal meaning.

Syntax

Arrangement and order of words within a line or sentence.

Tone

The poet’s attitude toward the poem’s speaker, reader, and subject matter, as interpreted by the reader.

Volta

A significant shift in the poem's tone, topic, or emotional direction, often marked by words like "but" or "yet."