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 unlike things or concepts based on resemblance of a particular aspect.

Assonance

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

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.

Cacaphony

A harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

Caesura

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

Connotation

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Consonance

A resemblance in sound between two words, or an initial rhyme. Can be shared consonants, whether in a sequence or reversed. (“bed” and “bad”) (“bud” and “dab”)

Denotation

The literal or primary meaning of a word.

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

A rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.

Irony

Implies a distance between what is said and what is meant.

Juxtaposition

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

Line break

The termination of one line and the beginning of a new line.

Meter

The rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a verse.

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

A self-contradictory phrase or concept that illuminates a truth.

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 that engages the readers 5 senses.

Sibilance

Deliberate repetition of hissing or hushing sounds (s, sh, z, f, ch) to create a specific auditory effect or mood.

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.

Volta

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

Simile

A comparison made with “as,” “like,” or “than”.

Vowel Sound

The sound from vowels where air flow is not blocked.

Authorial Purpose

An author’s reason or motivation for writing a specific text.

Anecdote

A short, interesting, or amusing story about a real incident or person. Usually used to illustrate or support a point in a conversation, speech, or text.

Consonant Sound

A sound such as p, f, n, or t which you pronounce by stopping the air flow freely through your mouth.

Contrast

The state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association.

End-Stopped Lines

A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break or punctuation or if it contains a complete phrase.

Eulogy

A speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically someone who just died.

Figurative Language

A type of descriptive language used to convey meaning and a way that differs from its literal meaning.

Imagery

Vivid, descriptive language to appeal to the human senses.

Narrator

The voice or character who tells a story in a book, movie, or other narrative.

Ode

A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea.

Personification

When a nonhuman object is described as if it were a human.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme.

Metaphor

Directly compares two unrelated things by stating that one is the other.