poetic devices + other stuff - poetry

alliteration

a repetition of the same letter in a list of words (Lazy lamb)

anaphora

a repetition of a word, phrase at the beginning of stanzas/lines of clauses

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words

caesura

a pause within a line of poetry (usually - :;.,)

emotive language

language that arouses emotion

enjambment

lines that end without punctuation

half-rhyme

words that have the same final consonant but does not rhyme

hyperbole

an exaggeration

metaphor

when one thing is described as if it is another thing for comparison

onomatopoeia

a word that sounds like a noise it describes

personification

giving human qualities to something that is not human

plosive sounds

hard constant sounds “pop”

free verses

a poetic form where there is no fixed structural rules

repetition

repeating something that has already been written

sibilance

using words that produce a hissing sound

simile

when a comparison is made using ‘like’ and ‘as’

zoomorphism

giving animal qualities to a human or objectm

iambic pentameter

a poetic meter in which each line consists of ten syllables arranged in five iambic feet: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

iambic tetrameter

a poetic rhythm where each line consists of four "iambs," with each iamb being a two-syllable unit of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, creating a de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM rhythm

volta

a rhetorical shift or turn in thought, emotion, or argument

villanelle

a pastoral or lyrical poem of nineteen lines, with only two rhymes throughout, and some lines repeated.

petrachan sonnet

a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter with an octave (eight lines) rhyming ABBAABBA and a sestet (six lines) with a variable rhyme scheme (like CDECDE or CDCDCD