Poetry Terms

Alliteration

Alliteration

A device in which consonance, especially at the beginning of words, or stressed syllables, are repeated.

Allusion

An implicit reference to another work of literature or art, to a person or an event. An appeal to a reader to share some experience with the writer.

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together.

Consonance

The repetition of identical consonant sounds.

Diction

Word choice - intentional in style and meaning.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech that contains an exaggeration for emphasis.

Imagery

The use of language to represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, states of mind, and any sensory or extra-sensory experience.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another.

Onomatopoeia

The formation and use of words to imitate sounds.

Personification

The attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects.

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyming pattern in a poem, such as ABAB CDCD, etc.

Simile

A figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another. Uses “like”, or “as” to do so.

Stanza

A group of lines of verse. Can be of any number, but usually between 4 and 12.

Symbolism

An object, animate or inanimate, which represents or stands for something else.

Theme

The central idea of a work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Tone

The reflection of a writer’s attitude, manner, mood, and moral outlook in their work; even, perhaps, the way their personality pervades the work.

Haiku

A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the world.

Sonnet

A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Paradox

A rhetorical device or a self-contradictory statement that can actually be true.