poetry terms

Ballad

A narrative poem that is usually sung or recited, with a regular meter and rhyme; popular in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter; common in Shakespeare’s plays and most English-language poetry.

elegy

A poem of sorrow, often about the death of someone admired by the poet. E.g., What Whitman’s elegy for Abraham Lincoln, “O Captain! My Captain!”

Epic

A long narrative poem (see “narrative poetry”) that tells of the deeds of a legendary hero of history or tradition.

Free Verse

A poem without a set rhyme or meter. E.g., Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.”

Haiku

A short poem about an essence of things linked to Nature; traditionally Japanese poems of 3 lines. E.g., “This road--- / no one goes down it, / autumn evening.”

Limerick

A humorous five-line poem, with the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines in 3 beats and rhymed. B E.g., “There once was a man who supposed, / That the street door was completely closed; / But some very large rats, ate his coats and his hats, / Whilethat lazy old gentleman dozed.”

Lyric Verse

Poems that are like songs, with a musical quality, that express a poet’s emotions; often tell a brief story that engages the reader in the experience

Narrative Poetry

Poetry that tells a story.

Ode

Usually a long, serious poem written in honor or praise of someone or something.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter and with a traditional rhyme scheme

Connotation

The attitudes and feelings associated with a word

Denotation

The literal or dictionary meaning of a word.

Diction

Writer’s or speaker’s choice of words and way of arranging words in sentences.

Figurative Language

Language that is based on a comparison that is not literally true.

Imagery

Description that helps readers imagine how something looks, sounds, feels, smells, or tastes.

Inversion

A reversal in the expected order of words.

Metaphor

Comparison of two unlike objects not using “like” or “as”

Personification

When a non-human thing or quality is talked about as if it were human. E.g., “In the fall, the trees weep.”

Simile

Comparison of two unlike objects using “like” or “as.” E.g., “A Chevy truck is like a rock.”

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. E.g., “consonants closely cramped and compressed.”

assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within words of a line.

Cachophony

Harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition.

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, whichisalliteration)

Lambic Pentameter

A line consisting of five units of one stressed and one unstressed syllables. E.g., the lines in most Shakespearean sonnets and blank verse, as in “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand.”

Onomatopoeia

Words or phrases that sound like the thing to which they refer. E.g., “bees buzz.”

Rhythm

Pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry;